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Value Addition: Creating Value for your Customers

15 Jul 2011

Value Addition’ is a relative proposition assuming magnanimous importance in today’s dynamic world. Especially in the service industry, the word ‘Value’ is synonymous with your existence. To put it in absolutely simple terms, Value addition is the perceived benefit; a customer derives from using your solution/service.

The word ‘Perceived’ is the focal point of this explanation for ‘Value Addition’. The service provider needs to check mark the following attributes before claiming to the ‘Value addition’ to the customer:

Through empathy with the customer, its business model, industry dynamics, challenges, etc:

Every prospect of yours’ has a problem; this problem exists in two forms, identified or explored and unidentified or unexplored. To understand the problem, you will have to (quite literally) live it. With a different perspective to their business, your exploration of prospect’s business areas, also helps you identify potential (future) risk or pain-areas that you can address in the present and score some brownie points with the prospect (moving towards being a customer).

Conduct a Need-Want-Desire-Delight (NWD2) analysis of a customer problem:

A structured marketer (Marketer and not a sales person), should conduct and clearly articulate a customer’s:

  • Needs: The basic requirements
  • Wants: These are the needs that are backed by Purchasing Power. A word of Caution, DO NOT think of your profit at this stage.
  • Desires: A pictorial explanation of an ideal solution for a customer as per his perception. An ability to crack this code holds the key to success. Be honest to yourself and do not be judgmental in deciding whether ‘it’ is possible or not, as this is simply not the stage at which you take a call on it.
  • Delight: Once you have a clear idea of customers’ desires about your product, get into reaching the subconscious nerves of both the individual and the company you are dealing with. Envisage what things will make your customer feel ‘Delighted’ about being associated with you.

75-100-125% Self-Analysis:

At this point of time, I would like to make a bold statement, obviously subject to readers’ knowledge and acceptance, I believe, most companies especially in the service industry, serve their customer at 50-60% of their capabilities. Map each resource available with you to each of the NWD2 parameters. Create a responsibility matrix of how much each allocated resource should contribute to serve the NWD2 phases. Create a activity framework of each resource on the project if he performs 75%, 100% and 125% of his expected role and its pertinent impact on the outcome of the project vis-à-vis normal outcomes.

As a next step, draw three scenarios of Value addition Outcomes for the customer. The customer with a 75-100-125% activity moves the Wants-Desires-delight ladder and therein is retained with your company. As I began with saying, ‘Values are perceived Benefits’ and if you are able to show the correct picture, you will end up finding takers ready to walk that extra mile with you. This ‘Extra’ journey would recover your extra cost incurred, if any.

Contact us today or call 1-877-RISHABH (1-877-747-4224) and learn more about the value added software development services Rishabh can provide for your next software project.