There are a number of ways that you can increase the actual or perceived value of what you offer. This can set you apart from competitors, justify higher prices and help you position your business as a leader in your marketplace.
1. New features
Adding new features to an existing product is a logical way to increase value, but involves additional costs. These costs not only include the cost of redesigning the products, but also ensuring through market research that these features will be perceived by customers as adding value.
2. Serving a specific niche
People want to do business with those who understand their industry, problems and concerns. Providing solutions for a specific industry or segment within an industry helps to position you as an expert and increases your perceived value.
3. Add-on products or services
Sometimes you can add a relatively inexpensive product or service to your primary offering and make your customer’s life much easier. For example, if you sell a product, you can add technical support or access to a support community.
In some instances, you can do this by partnering with a provider of a complementary product so you both can benefit.
4. Done-For-You
For certain services, particularly those requiring some set-up time or technical implementation skills, you can offer a “Done-For-You” option. Instead of your customer’s purchasing your product and relying on a set of written instructions or technical manual, they can simply pay you to handle the set-up and/or on-going operation of your product or service. Increasingly, we see this option being offered for services ranging from social media management to pay-per-click advertising management. For a product or service that generates revenue, but is not your core area of expertise, it may make sense to pay a premium to let experts handle the entire process for you and simply deliver the results.
5. Customization
While standardized products have their advantages, offering customization as an option will usually appeal to a certain segment of your customer base. In many instances, solutions tailored to a customer’s unique needs and method of operation will deliver a higher ROI for them, and hence can command a higher price.
6. Multiple content formats
Simply offering content, particularly for training and education, in a combination of text, visual and audio format can make it much more valuable. Since individuals have different learning styles, giving customers options as to how they can consume your information is an added benefit.
7. Proprietary Information
If you are able to provide exclusive information or original research, this increases its value because it is only available through you. This is usually costly to produce, but can pay off handsomely depending on the audience and other factors such as the timeliness, usefulness and benefits provided by the information.
If you have found ways to deliver more value to your clients, please chime in with your comments.