How often have you heard the phrase “add value”?
I’m telling you right now, that it is the #1 killer of ALL businesses.
So many businesses have succumbed to the pitfalls of trying to “add value” to their product or customers.
Tell me if this story rings true.
You’re selling a service, it does ok, and you land a few clients.
As time goes on, you see more changes in the market and in the technology that you use.
Over time, your clients expect a little more.
You decide that you want to really ramp up your efforts and make a big push.
Maybe a re-launch or a price increase.
And every dickhead YouTuber and influencer you hear from repeats “you need to add value” over and over.
It makes sense, right?
Add more “stuff” to the service or product that justifies the price increase.
Or if you want to become well known – your offer needs to have more value.
And so you add more features to the service.
You expand the offer.
Make it better.
And with all of that, you’re adding value.
Except when push comes to shove…
The result…
Nothing.
All your hard work and added value and improved features.
All that’s happened is that you’ve increased your workload.
Now, you’re having to deliver even MORE to the client.
Yes, you might make more revenue.
But is it more profitable?
I see this all the time.
Imagine you had to create a $2000 a month product.
Most people would PACK that offer with dozens, maybe even HUNDREDS of features.
Group calls, communities, channels, programs, audits, surveys, automation, A.I., campaigns, copy…
And it’s even more exhausting than when you were just selling $2000 one off projects.
Which is why “adding value” is absolute, grade-A bollocks.
And I’ll tell you why.
The value that your customer gets from your product, has absolutely NOTHING to do with you.
That’s right.
Read that again.
The value your customer gets – is none of your business.
You can’t control it.
You can’t add to it.
You can’t tell people the value they’ll get.
And I can prove it to you.
To some people in the world, having a cheap frisbee for the beach isn’t enough.
They need a $175 plastic frisbee (yes really).
They need people to know that they can afford the best.
They get an entirely different value from the money they spend.
It’s not the plastic.
It’s about what the plastic says about them.
They place value on status, perception, and hierarchy.
It’s got nothing to do with you.
My niece LOVES this weird webtoon called “School Bus Graveyard”.
It’s not for me.
But then neither is Game of Thrones and people love that shit.
She loves this comic so much that she’ll re-read it over and over.
And she’ll post in forums.
And share it with her friends.
She gets something from that webcomic.
The art is simple. It’s pretty basic.
The plot is…there.
But she loves it.
And yes, being her age, she’ll probably move on pretty soon.
But the value isn’t created from the “stuff” like the quality of the art.
Or even how “big” the comic is (some versions are just a few cells).
It’s that the essence of the story, overlaps perfectly with what she values.
And when we create products, the best we can hope for is an overlap in value.
PEOPLE have values.
It literally means that people value different things.
They have priorities.
And you can’t change that with new interfaces or more features.
If someone believes that status or community or strength are important.
They’ll be drawn to products that make it easier to get those things.
Don’t add “stuff” thinking it’ll bring more customers.
Chances are, you haven’t scratched the surface of what’s important to your customers yet.
And when you understand that.
The delivery is 100x easier.
