Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

The Exchange of Value
I read an excellent post today about one of my favorite subjects, value. It got me thinking about the subject from some different angles, so I thought I'd share my response to it with you.

Marketing is not about coercing unwitting dupes to give you their money. Marketing is about solving people's problems.

Many business owners approach the exchange of value with the viewpoint of, "I've got a whole bunch of stuff that is absolutely worthless to me. I can't buy groceries with it; I can't pay the mortgage with it. I've got way too much of it and I need to get rid of it! What do I need to do to get rid of all this stuff and get people to give me more money than it's worth to me?"

If you walked into a store and someone said that to you, would you want to buy from them? Not a chance! You'd go flying out the door to find someone who isn't trying to rip you off.

When you look at it, though, from the perspective of your potential buyer's needs, you see a far different picture. They have a pressing need that you have a solution for. It's worth far more to them than it is to you. Focus on the value it has to them rather than on your eagerness to get rid of it and you'll get far more than it's worth to you while they feel they're getting a real bargain.

There's a lot more to it than just giving random stuff away and hoping you eventually make something out of your generosity. It's a matter of infusing what you give them with as much value as you possibly can so they're eager to do exchange their money for the value you offer.

Business transactions exist only when both sides feel they got more value than they're giving up.
Jeff

Labels: marketing