Discussing business with a mate today – we discussed ‘justifying your own existance’.
More people need to understand that long term they need to justify their existance.
You need to understand the value your provide your customer.
If that value is only in the one transaction, then you have a flawed business model, and probably not enough value for your customer longer term.
If you are merely selling someone elses product, and providing a match making service – then you need to be clear about that. You also need to be careful that the value you are providing is probably small.
Understanding the value chain you work within can help. You need to look at the whole transaction as viewed by your customer. What other purchases were part of the transactions. What other influences were there, or what other people or channels lead to the transaction.
Once you understand the value chain of the transaction – you can go beyond, and look at the lifecycle of the transaction. How does the product get consumed, ans disposed of. Is there any support needed, or implementation, or does it drag other products ?
Understanding the transaction lifecycle and the value chain, you might find another way to package your transaction. You may be able to add value to the chain or the lifecycle. This might be as difficult as vertication integration, or via partnering, reselling, or simply referalls. Not only might your pie get bigger, but you may transition from a single transaction to a long term client relationship.
Remember, look from the customer point of view, what value are you providing? can you provide more value ?
Tags: customer focus
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