Who defines value?

I've noticed something interesting about customers buying the same product

They can have completely different reasons for wanting it

Take two manufacturers investing in exactly the same piece of equipment

One might be interested in increasing capacity

The other might be trying to reduce reliance on skilled labour

Same machine. Same capabilities. Same technical specification

Very different reasons for buying.

And probably very different ideas about what represents good value.

Which is interesting when you think about how suppliers tend to communicate value.

We explain the benefits, efficiencies, performance, ROI

All good

But whose definition of value are we using?

Because sometimes the customer hasn't fully worked out what matters most either

They know something needs to change but they are still addressing

- What would make that change worthwhile?
- What matters most?
- What would a good result actually look like?

That's where 'Customer-Defined Value' becomes important

And The VALUE Framework gives us a useful way of approaching a sale with this in mind

🔸 Validate = right opportunities

Is there a problem or ambition important enough to justify doing something?

🔸 Align = right research

Who might be influencing how this customer sees value right now?

🔸 Leverage = right conversations

Explore what matters to them rather than assuming our benefits will matter

🔸 Underpin = right solutions

Connect our capabilities to the outcomes they've helped define

🔸 Evolve = right outcomes

Keep checking whether we're delivering what they actually wanted

I've probably said this so many times in training

"You don't sell products or services. You sell outcomes"

And perhaps the important word there is outcomes

Not the outcomes we think they should want

The ones that matter to them

Because two customers can buy exactly the same thing and be buying something quite different

(Customer-Defined Value is one of the 7 Shifts to Move From Technical Expert to Trusted Advisor -  explore all seven in this free live 45-minute webinar: https://lnkd.in/eegaZtt7 )