We have all heard the phrase “value-added services.”
Value-added services are designed to give sales organizations a competitive advantage. It essentially says to the buyer, “We are providing more stuff, therefore we are a better value than your current provider.”
Compelling? Not really. Why? Because we don’t need more stuff – we need results!
This is what is going through the mind of every somewhat sophisticated buyer: If we do business with you, what is our Return on Investment?
Simple question right? Not exactly easy to answer, but it can be done.
The business world has evolved and the data is out there. Every business, small or large, has some sort of metrics or analytics they use to track their performance. Translating your performance to their metrics is the key to success.
Here is a personal example of where I fell short:
A client of mine in the health care industry had some challenges with ongoing Workers’ Compensation claims. We provided a whole host of Value Added Services to help prevent claims and mitigate the impact when they did occur. In fact, we provided about ten different services throughout the previous 12 months.
I showed them our slick stewardship report detailing all the Value we provided to them. I thought for sure they would say “Wow, you are doing a great job. Thank you so much!” with a huge smile.
In reality they said “Oh, that’s nice. Thank you” in a very ho-hum manner. They weren’t impressed at all! I thought to myself, “What do I need to do to please these people?!”
I missed the mark. I showed them all the “stuff” and not the results! Looking back, here is what I should have said:
“As part of our services, we were able to reduce these particular claims by $38,431. At current rates, this is a savings of $39,673 in future insurance premiums. But it doesn’t stop there. As you know, for every dollar the insurance company pays in claims there is an indirect cost to the organization. Based on our data, that translates to another $46,117 in indirect loss cost savings for a total of $85,790. So we have helped add another $85,790 to your bottom line, which is a 43 percent increase in profits. These additional profits can be used to buy new equipment, fund two new employees, etc. What do you plan to do with these additional profits?”
Compelling? Absolutely!
Why? Because it quantifies our results and ties them directly to their business performance.
Lesson learned.
