What 'adding value' really means

What "adding value" really means...

Last week I wrote a post called "The Death of the Salesman”. I made the point that, in the new economy, if all your sales force is doing is managing the relationship between the company and the customer, companies will forgo the expense of a salesforce for smarter options.

With digital media and digital technology, people can find all the information they need to make a buying decision and complete the ordering process, without having to speak to a sales person.

In order to be relevant in the new economy, salespeople and companies need to add significantly more value to the customer if they are to survive. The term “adding value” has become a bit of buzz phrase and gets thrown around a lot in blogs, boardrooms and bars. But what does adding value actually mean?

I think there is two types of value: Transactional Value and Transformational Value.

Transactional Value is the value a person receives from interacting with a sales person throughout the sales process. Sales people that provide great transactional value, make the sales process easy for the customer and focus on building strong relationships.

Transformational Value is the value a person receives from discovering new insights and learning how to improve their world. Sales people that provide great transformational value, teach the customer what they need to know to become successful, focusing on education.

I think that to add real value, you need to score high on both. Without transformational value, salespeople could be replaced by digital media and digital technology.  Without transactional value, the customer will know what to do, but it would be up to them to make it happen. The customer will probably lose the value  and the company will probably lose the sale.

Creating massive value is like teaching a man to fish and then providing him with the boat, line and bait (and then ten week advanced course on snapper fishing). So... how are your and your company creating massive value?

Onwards and upwards!

Mark