Doug DavidoffColorful new brochures, catchy new advertising, Blackberrys for the salespeople -- do any of these actually create value? Value creation is among the most common buzzwords used in business today. There is only one definition of value to use in business: something someone is willing to pay for. Your company can create great things, but if people aren't willing to pay for what your company creates, they give no added value. The only way to avoid or escape commoditization is to deliver more of what people are willing to pay for. Nowhere is this issue more important than in the implementation of your business development systems.
The most common sales techniques used today were developed to provide great value to consumers. Salespeople gave buyers information in an era when information was not easily available. As recently as the early 1990s, if a traveler wanted to find out a flight schedule or how much an airline ticket cost, she had to contact a travel agent. If a buyer wanted to know how much a product cost or what a product does, they buyer had to interact with a salesperson. A salesperson's primary job was to communicate the value provided by a business' products and services and to process orders. Because the supply of information, of goods and of services could not keep up with the demands of a growing nation, commoditization was of no concern to businesses.
As the 20th century unfolded, information remained the force propelling the evolution of sales and marketing. Rather than serving as an added value, information has become ubiquitous. Buyers often have more information than the people selling to today's consumers. The primary value a sales force provided in the past is no longer valuable today. The result of this is widespread commoditization. The impact of commoditization is impacting businesses more powerfully and faster everyday. How can business successfully compete in this new era?
My next posting will begin to answer this question.