What Does Your Client Value?

By Brandon Allen - Dec 09 , 2010

Values are important in business.  Understanding your values allows you to make better business decisions (relative to you), hire better employees, and thus create more value in the marketplace.  Understanding your client’s (insert whatever phrase you want for what you call your end user) values allows you to speak to the heart of what is really important.

What does your client value?

If you have followed Michael Drew, for any length of time, chances are you have heard him talk about the use of personas in your marketing.  When I first heard about this concept, I knew that there was a ton of validity to it for the simple reason that it allows you to create a story centered around real people and what they value, fear, struggle with etc.

With values at the forefront of your mind, here are a few other things to consider when uncovering your clients’ values.

One important point right up front is to get out of your own head.  You are not your client and most likely don’t value things in the same way that they do.  Unless you are God, it’s difficult for the creator to put themselves in the shoes of the end user.  Put away the attachment to your assumptions and have real conversations with potential end users of your product or service to see what it is that they truly value.  This is one of the beautiful aspects of using social media correctly.  You can engage the public to find out what it is they truly want.

When you are creating a product or service, you can design the whole product or experience around your client’s values.  This can affect how your website is designed.  How your product is packaged.  How easy it is for your product to be used etc.  For instance, you are designing a product/service for a stay-at-home-mom like a make money from home course.  You wouldn’t put together a curriculum with long modules of information that would require the mom to sit in place for an extended period of time to get the information.  Moms don’t have time for that and they aren’t going to do it when their kids are in bed, so forget that notion.

You can enhance the experience by looking at what the end user values.  In a mom’s case, it may be time and time with the kids.  In other people’s cases, it could be the environment.  Is your packaging green enough?  They may be concerned with their self image.  Is this product or service going to make me look cutting edge and smart? All of these things center around values.

It all comes down to learning where your clients are spending time, and engaging them in meaningful conversation about what they want or perceive that they need.  The better you are at putting aside your own values and understanding what your end user will value, the more likely your product or service is going to be successful.

I ask again, what does your client value? Your business doesn’t have a more important question to answer.