Value Counts More Than Price Alone!

Value Counts More Than Price Alone!

By Richard Brody

Whether it is about selling or marketing a product, service, oneself, or effectively and meaningfully leading an organization, there is invariably a choice that must be made between simply addressing the price (or costs/ expense areas), or rather providing better value that justifies any expense and makes others believe that whatever something costs is well worth the expense. This requires a mindset that understands and perceives these four prerequisites: 1. It's not about what you pay, but what you get/ receive for that cost; 2. That value means different things to different people, and so both true value as well as perceived value must be addressed; 3. That whatever the expense or cost, that it fits a need and motivates others; 4. That it shows that you care!

1. Nearly everything that is done has some sort of associated expenditure involved. Those that lack vision (I often refer to these types of individuals as myopic leaders) focus merely on the costs and act to slash costs, often without examining or understanding potential ramifications and/ or alternatives. On the other hand, the better approach is generally examining expenses with the focus on productivity and purpose, and addressing what the expenses bring forth that is meaningful or needed. In other words, what do you get for the monies expended and is this the best use of those funds?

2. There is both real value, as well as perceived value. Often, those in positions of leadership focus on the expenditures merely in terms of how the monies were spent and whether they paid the right amount. Perceived value is not simply based on whether the correct amount was paid, but rather whether stakeholders received valuable services, etc., as a result of these expenses. In most cases, members of organization are far more interested in how they perceive the value that they receive for their money, than merely the absolute costs.

3. Does the program, service, or any other expenditure fit the needs, and thus motivate others to get more involved, care more, and are positive about their membership? Is the cost addressing either a need or some sort of niche that distinguishes the organization in a significant manner, which makes it more attractive to either belong to, or support in some other meaningful way?

4. When others perceive membership as being valuable, and it is combined with a leader with the attitude, integrity and desire to serve others, it is indicative of caring. In order for someone to lead effectively, he must prioritize value, and show how much he cares. Every organization fares better when its leaders care.

While price may sell a product once, it never attracts loyal customers, clients or members! On the other hand, when there is a perception of value, the result is generally more far reaching and longer lasting!

Richard has owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, and Director of Development, as well as a consultant. He has professionally run events, consulted to over a thousand leaders, and conducted personal development seminars, for over 30 years. Rich has written three books and well over a thousand articles. His company, PLAN2LEAD, LLC has an informative website http://plan2lead.net and Plan2lead can also be followed on Facebook http://Facebook.com/Plan2lead
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Working Hard Vs. Working Smart

Working Hard Vs. Working Smart

By Ilya Shambat

When people get asked what builds prosperity, the most frequent response is "working hard." That however is not always the case. India has a billion people, most of whom work hard, and most of whom are poor.

What actually builds prosperity is working smart.

America was not born wealthy. It became wealthy through not only working hard, but through working smart. It became wealthy through identifying market needs; through implementing science and technology; through figuring out what people may want and supplying it - while tapping into scientific knowledge and applying it toward that effect.

It is this - working smart - that actually creates prosperity. We have seen a very powerful example of that with China in the last three decades. The Chinese worked as hard under Mao or under Empress Dowager as they do now. Only now, the Chinese are, for the most part, a lot wealthier than they were just 33 years ago.

How did the Chinese do it? Once again, by working smart. They realized that they had a country of a billion hard-working people who were, at the time, very poor. This created an obvious solution: Become the manufacturing shop of the world. So now, China is the world's second-largest economy and has some of its biggest buildings and supercomputers, as well as the biggest vehicle market in the world.

India has all the potentialities that does China; but there is too much bureaucratic red tape and too many people who think that poverty is righteous. I do not see how the latter idea has any currency at all. I've known people from all levels of income, and I absolutely did not find the poor to be more righteous than the wealthy. In fact, the worst abuses I've seen were among the poorer people. And on global scale, we see the worst abuses likewise in the poorer places such as Afghanistan and Somalia and much less so in Scandinavia, Canada or Japan.

The Indians need to do what has worked for others. They need to learn to work smart. They need to identify what people may want to buy, that they can produce, and produce it. The software industry has worked for many people; but there are still hundreds of millions people in India who are dirt-poor. As Chinese people grow wealthier, the low-end jobs will need to go to other countries; and that creates an obvious market potential for India's poor.

Nobody who is not a jerk wants to see people having to live in abject poverty. And to this, there are real solutions. America had one solution: Spontaneous development. China had another solution: Growth through exports. India, Africa and any number of other places stand to learn from both and arrive at their own way to work smart.

The more this is done, the more is there progress against poverty and the better the lives of people all across the board.

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