6 types of value you can create in a Customer Relationship

As a sales professional, you can add positive Customer value under the following 6 areas

1. Revenue enhancing values

You could highlight the value of your product or service in helping your Customer acquire more clients and improving the turnover

Example:

If your company is offering payment solutions which are more convenient than competition, you can highlight the value in terms of your solution’s potential to add more Customer because of sheer convenience.

Or you may be a company offering personalised car instrumentation panels that enable car makers to charge better margins on cars, growing their topline in the process. That could be a value worth highlighting

2. Cost-saving values

Improvements to productivity and efficiency resulting from your solution, leading to reduction in total costs in another area of value creation.

Example:

Costs saved through streamlining of business, integrating processes, reducing failure points and eliminating waste that your offering can help achieve should be distinctly mentioned

Benefits from your product or service contributing to improved productivity and enhanced efficiency are value elements that can be quantified and presented

3. Risk-reducing values

Opportunities for value creation also exist in ways in which offerings help mitigate or reduce possible negative effects on revenue and cost.

Example

A software that comes with inbuilt features that reduce chances of cyber frauds adds greater value to users, in comparison with similar software that do not have such features

Record of on time delivery of materials critical for production process, with zero delays, is a value proposition that a materials supplier can showcase, besides other standard benefits

4. Strategic values

Extending advisory support to decision-makers involved in and responsible for developing the business creates strategic value for Customers.  

Example:

An auto part maker supplying to Original Equipment Manufacturers shares regular updates on how their products will meet the evolving norms on emission and the futuristic benefits this can bring

5. Subjective values

Even in a B2B setting, it is ultimately people who buy from other people. So, the human element has a tremendous influence on purchase decisions and on the perception of value created and received. B2B purchase decisions have to be justified by the buyers within the company to their senior management and their stakeholders. This will in turn impact their internal standing and career prospects. Hence, helping internal decision makers to highlight the tangible benefits of the purchase decision to their company, amounts to creation of subjective value

Example

“We ensure that your purchase experience is seamless and we take care of all the paperwork for you”

“We understand your data needs for internal procurement related presentations and our proposals and post-sale reports structure datapoints in a way that is aligned to your information needs”

6. Identity values

Finding answers to the question of what is the core of the buyer company’s business philosophy and values and how our offering or solution feeds into them, will enable creation of identity value

Example

To a company that prides itself in being environmentally responsible, detailed reports on the eco friendliness of the materials you sell to them, is of significant identity value

Value – a multifaceted concept

The concept of customer value is multifaceted. You can create different forms of value in and around an offer, and understanding this is the first step in enabling us to work using a value-based approach

(Adapted from: Mercuri International’s What is Value Creation in Sales?)