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It's The Experience, Stupid!

It's The Experience, Stupid!

In articulating value, many of us are hobbled by a limited perception regarding possible sources of value, and focused on me, my product and my company.  Even those with a well-developed customer focus usually ignore a wide array of differentiating firepower that is readily available.

It's high time we started to use a more robust, three dimensional, "living" perspective.

As an example, let's start with a guy that owns a grove of spruce trees.  He needs to make some money, so he goes into the firewood business.  Cut down a tree, sell the commodity, compete mainly on price, differentiate based on BTUs produced by burning spruce vs. maple or whatever.  Tough, low margin business. 

Differentiating wood-for-fuel "A" from wood-for-fuel "B" - or in terms of the diagram below - moving up and to the right is really, really tough.  So how about moving in front and/or in back of the page?  Partnering with a coal vendor and a kerosene vendor (other commodity providers) enables our entrepreneur to add value by offering a broader line to a wider set of customers.

He can take things a step further when he learns that spruce is the perfect wood for making violins.  Suddenly, he can get into the product selling business by adding a boat-load of differentiation to spruce - turning it into a violin - which provides higher margins.

He can repeat the in-front/in-back strategy by partnering with fife and drum makers.  AND...  He can also partner with new and different commodity vendors.  How about a cardboard box maker to protect the instruments during shipping?

Jumping up yet another level, the guy can perform the service of renting an auditorium, promoting a concert and selling tickets.  That entails partnering with other service providers, from musicians to clean-up crews; other product suppliers, from providers of additional instruments to providers of commemorative T-shirts; and other commodity vendors, from parking lots to rest room facilities.

Then we have the "Experience" economy.  The industrial revolution in the late 18th century launched us beyond the "Commodity" to the product "Manufacturing" economy.  The explosion of productivity starting in the 1970s propelled us into the "Service" economy.  I'm convinced that a lot of sales professionals still don't "get" the implications of services and cannot articulate their value.  That leaves a lot of wide open space for those who can make the next leap to the experience economy.

Back to our guy, who by the way, gets it...  During one of his performances, he realizes that his concert management services are only part of the picture.  What he's really selling is a concert experience.  That includes not just the music, but also what each audience member does and senses (i.e., experiences) before, during and after.  He decides to partner with a restaurateur who provides fine dining experiences so they can jointly provide a richer, higher margin "gastronomic/musical" experience.  That opens the door to more partnerships with cooking and music lesson services, products like songbooks and commodities like foodstuffs.

So, how can a sales rep actually use the "Dynamics of Value" model on a daily basis? 

  • Establish where you are now - Commodity, Product, Service or Experience

  • Establish where your customer is now - Commodity, Product, Service or Experience

  • From there, explore front/back, up/down, left/right with your customer and start connecting the dots and realizing the value available by aggressively enabling the packaging of unique experiences in all three dimensions

  • Recognize that competition (yours and your customer's) is relentlessly pushing you both down and left

  • Commit - jointly commit - to continuous improvement, to providing ever-better experiences for your mutual customers

Value is created by organizing and making sense out of complexity.  Use this model to help your customers navigate through the ever-changing possibilities to discover the combination of factors that produces the most valuable experience today.  Then come back and do it again tomorrow... next week ...next month...





Its The Experience Stupid - To learn more about this author, visit Todd Youngblood's Website.

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Kim Castle
With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals.

She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com   Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences.  Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

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Anne Barr
Anne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website

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John Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website

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David Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns.  David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website


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Todd Youngblood
(Visit Todd's Website) Todd Youngblood is passionate about sales productivity. His 30+ year career in Executive Management, Sales, Marketing and Consulting has focused on selling more, better, cheaper and faster. He began his career in 1976 as a Marketing Representative with the IBM Corporation and for fifteen years progressed through a wide variety of field and staff assignments. He then founded and operated an Information Technology Outsourcing firm providing Software Development and Maintenance Services. In 1994, he joined an electronic commerce firm serving the insurance and healthcare industries, as Vice President of Sales & Marketing. He established The YPS Group, Inc. in 1999 based on his years of experience in Sales Process Engineering � that is, combining creativity and discipline in the design, implementation and use of work processes for highly effective sales teams. Todd has worked extensively with firms in the Distribution, Manufacturing, Insurance, Services, and Telecommunications industries. He is the author of two sales management books, The Dolphin And The Cow and Think About It� He is married, has two daughters, enjoys cycling, is a second degree black belt in Choi Kwang Do and serves on the board of the Cobb Symphony Orchestra.

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