Provide Exceptional Value - Grow Your Business

The primary objective of a business is to get and keep customers. Growing a profitable business requires providing exemplary customer service and products or services of exceptional value.

In the classic book, The Science of Getting Rich, Wallace D. Wattles writes that it is essential to provide customers with more in use value than you receive from them in cash value. Exactly what does that mean?

Imagine purchasing a training course contained on a set of CDs, and that its price is $1,200. Some would consider this rather expensive, especially if they are working with a small budget. The costs of copying a few CDs, and the packaging and shipping costs would not nearly be worth $1,200!

However, suppose you used the knowledge and resources contained in the course to generate several million dollars of income during your lifetime. In this case, you have obtained far more in use value than you paid in cash value. In fact, you might consider your purchase of $1,200 to be a real bargain.

The seller was not responsible for whether or not you would use the material. Nevertheless, he or she provided a product of extraordinary value.

This principle is easy to understand. It is also one of the most essential business practices in today's volatile economy. Just like you and me, our customers and clients are particular about how they spend their money. They deserve the most value possible for each dollar they spend.

Here is a little exercise that is fun to do, and provides some valuable insight. Think about all the companies you've done business with over the past year. Pretend you are holding a personal "Company of the Year Contest." Who would win, and why?

It would probably be the company whose product or service gave you far more in use value than you paid in cash value. It would be one whose product satisfied important wants or needs-one you enthusiastically told your friends about.

Consider also that both you and your winning company benefited when you made the purchase. By using this simple value principle, you and your customers will benefit beyond expectations.

You'll grow a profitable business because you'll get and keep more customers over time. They'll keep coming back and keep giving you referrals because they know you'll give them truly exceptional value!

© Copyright 2005 by Steve Brunkhorst. Steve is a professional life success coach, motivational author, and the editor of Achieve! 60-Second Nuggets of Inspiration, a popular mini-zine bringing great stories, motivational nuggets, and inspiring thoughts to help you achieve more in your career and personal life. Get the next issue by visiting http://www.AchieveEzine.com


AddThis Social Bookmark Button

From You Flowers. LLC

In The News:


Trillion Increases IT Performance With Nimsoft
MarketWatch - 1 hour ago
"With central and proactive views, managed service providers can identify the root of issues more quickly and thereby increase customer satisfaction. ...

Bulgaria's Mobiltel Selects Amdocs' Software and Services to ...
SYS-CON Media, NJ - 1 hour ago
The Amdocs software will provide M-Tel with a single view of all customer information to reduce time to market for new services and deliver improved ...

Imports Customer Service Assistant
New Zealand Herald, New Zealand - Oct 6, 2008
Join a large multi national company and take your Import Customer Service career to the next level? This well known company is looking for an ideal ...

HML selects Thunderhead NOW to speed up processing times, improve ...
MarketWatch - 13 minutes ago
Continuous improvement in customer service is critical for our future business growth and we believe Thunderhead NOW best supports this strategy, ...

PSC May Require 'Better' Customer Service
WTOK, MS - 19 hours ago
Commissioner Lynn Posey said the rule is simply an attempt to require utility companies to provide better customer service.
Business briefs Jackson Clarion Ledger
all 4 news articles

GSI Commerce to buy fulfillment and customer service vendor for ...
InternetRetailer.com, IL - 15 hours ago
E-commerce platform provider GSI Commerce is buying Innotrac Corp., an e-commerce fulfillment and customer service vendor, for $52 million in cash and stock ...
GSI Commerce will buy Innotrac for $52 million CNNMoney.com
GSI Commerce to Acquire Innotrac Corporation Earthtimes (press release)
all 28 news articles

Contact Solutions Announces Columbia Bank Chooses Its Shared IVR ...
MarketWatch - 22 hours ago
"Our focus has always been on fundamental banking and strong customer service. Outsourcing key customer service functions to Contact Solutions, ...
Columbia Bank Picks Contact Solutions Shared IVR Services TMCnet
all 12 news articles

How Can I Train My Staff on My Customer Service Policy?
New York Times, United States - Oct 5, 2008
By AllBusiness.com Your customer service policy is only as good as the employees who carry it out. For that reason, it's very important to train them on how ...

Wall Street Journal Blogs

Customer Service: Old Technology is Often the Best
Wall Street Journal Blogs, NY - Oct 6, 2008
People are more likely than ever to spread the word after a bad customer-service experience. That’s according to a new survey of more than 2000 consumers ...
RightNow Study Reveals Consumer Expectations for Customer Care ... MarketWatch
all 11 news articles

Online Customer Service: Mixing Live Talk With Automated Tech
CRM Buyer - 14 minutes ago
Rather, given the fact that more consumers are shopping online, is online customer service able to handle the rising traffic seen on retail sites? ...
customer service - Google News
Your Ad Here

Games at Buy.com

Holiday Home Store at Buy.com

The History of CRM -- Moving Beyond the Customer Database

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the business world in the 1990's with the promise of forever changing the way businesses... Read More

Cheap To Keep

You've heard it all before when it comes to stats about customer retention. Acquiring a customer costs five to 10 times more than retaining one. Repeat customers... Read More

Over Delivering Provides Big Results

Over promising is a problem only when you under deliver. There are a number of ways that you can overdeliver to your customers or prospects, and as... Read More

Customer Service - How Good Are YOU?

At 8.30 am a wealthy client (on his way to make a presentation to the local council at 9 am) walked into a store that sells photocopiers.... Read More

Quality vs. Quantity

There is a battle in Call Centers. The teams are Quality vs. Quantity; two performance factors that don't seem to get along.? Representative Super Speedy says, "I've... Read More

The Art of Giving Great Service

Sales is tough to get right, and depends on retaining those customers, yet people do it badly and unprofessionally all the time. It's really not difficult to... Read More

Whatever Happened To Customer Service?

Do you remember the last time you went into a shop and the person 'serving' raced over to you, greeted you with a lovely smile, heaps of... Read More

Customer Service For Huge Profits

Customer service is the most vital asset for Business either it is online or offline. It's the critical factor which determines if your business has a future... Read More

10 Customer Service Quality Statements to Measure up Against

It might sound quick and simple, to say how well your business does in satisfying it's customers. Hearing such as:-"We're increasing our turnover by 14% year to... Read More

The death of customer servie

The other day a reporter call to interview me on the "Death of Customer Service". My first reaction was to deny that charge and claim that customer... Read More

Should I Have My Company Mystery Shopped?

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone said to me, "Oh, you do Mystery Shopping; I always wanted to do that!" I think most... Read More

Mastering Challenging Service Situations

During the course of everyday business, many of you encounter unsatisfied customers. How you and your staff handle these situations, will shape your service image and ultimately... Read More

Make Sure You Get The Customer Perspective

Businesses that fail, often forget to seek out the customer perspective. I have talked to some folks at businesses that were less than succesful, and when asked... Read More

Everyone talks in code!

How often have you left a meeting with a customer or your boss telling yourself he likes my ideas. Only to find later that you didn't get... Read More

Customer Service Tips for Mail Order Businesses

Can we be too good to our customers? No way! Our customers are the backbone of our business! They're right no matter what! But I'm... Read More

Stellar Customer Service in 10 Simple Steps

If you're like me, you've had plenty of experience with BAD customer service. Just think about the last time you had a bad experience with a product... Read More

5 Ways Customer Service Managers are Implementing to Increase Customer Focus

According to a Forum Corporation survey of commercial customers lost by 14 major service and manufacturing companies:15% found a better service/product15% found a cheaper service/product20% cited "lack... Read More

Communicating Value

Abstract: People buy for their reasons, not yours. This article covers the key elements that prospects want to hear you talk about.Always, but especially during lean times,... Read More

Be the Customer: See Yourself as Your Customers Do

What do your customers experience when they interact with your business? As a mystery shopper, I help businesses see themselves through the eyes of their... Read More

Sales Marketing: 10 High Impact Ways To Improve Your Customer Service

If you want to last a long time in business and succeed, you must learn how to make your customers happy.You have to know who are your... Read More

It?s Customer Service Stupid: Delivering Customer Service Training That Sticks

"Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense."This Ralph Waldo Emerson quote opens one of the most impressive works on customer service:... Read More

The Importance of Good Customer Service

Do you have good customer service? Even for your free giveaways?I have been thinking over the past couple of weeks why some WAHP's have trouble growing their... Read More

Increase Sum in Your Check Account with Follow-Ups

We'll be examining what makes follow up to prospects/customers so important on our online world today.Are you familiar with this scenario? Joined an affiliate program with... Read More

Complaints Are Actually A Good Thing!

Nobody likes to get complaints. They make you question your judgment, they can ruin your day, and they almost always leave you in a bad mood. But... Read More

Over Deliver - The Key to Customer Satisfaction

Client satisfaction starts with meeting or beating the contractual obligations of the relationship. There are also some intangibles that can help you to over deliver to a... Read More

7 Bits Of Critical Information You Cant Afford NOT To Know About Your Customers

If you think customer relationship management is just a piece of software, you're dead wrong. Customer relationship management is about understanding your customers. It's about really knowing... Read More