Pack In Added Value To Boost Your Profits

by Bonnie Boots

 When your mind is focused on marketing, great examples are everywhere. There's no surprise in this. Since commerce makes our world go around, we're naturally surrounded by marketing techniques and tactics everywhere we go.

Whether it's a mall, a medical center, a supermarket or a house of worship, every institution greets you with it's own form of “buy me” message. Being alert to these messages and studying the way they're framed and delivered is a wonderful way to see how the pros market and get ideas for your own business.

When I was designing for corporations, one of the phrases I heard thrown around in every meeting was “adding value.” 

Marketing professionals know that perception is the key factor in whether or not a consumer chooses to buy a product. That means the impression a product creates is often more important than the product itself. Corporations, then, are very focused on “adding value” to products.

I vividly remember one of the first design jobs I had for a major toy manufacturer. I'd been brought in by one of their subdivisions, which produced items for the gift market. I was shown a beautiful art doll with a cloth body and porcelain head and hands sculpted by an American artist. My job was to redesign the cloth body so it could be sewn at factories in China.

The original design was articulated with movable joints and complex seaming. My challenge: the design had to be simple enough to allow for inexpensive construction, yet retain some perception of the movement that made the original sculpture so whimsical.

I turned in my design, which was sent to China so a sample could be made. When the finished sample arrived, I was delighted. It looked very much like the original doll, even though I'd reduced the material and labor cost by 70%. I expected to be roundly congratulated, but the marketing department had a complaint.

“The original doll is very heavy,” they said. “Your doll is a featherweight.”

“But that's good,” I said. “It will cut the cost of shipping from China into American markets.”

“That's BAD,” they said. “A heavy art object has a higher perceived value. When a woman picks up the original doll in a store, she holds it in her hands, hefts the weight of it and thinks, “It's so heavy. It must be worth a lot.”  Your version of the doll is so stripped down, it weighs nothing. The shopper that picks up that doll will immediately feel it's not worth the price.”

“We have to add value,” said the department head. And the rest of the afternoon was spent in a discussion about how weight would be added, how it would affect the movement, how it would affect shipping costs and how it would affect the perception of value.

I learned a tremendous lesson through that experience, and forever after, when I spoke to corporations, I was always careful to let them know I was focused on ways to add value.

Sometimes adding value is as simple as putting a product in a pretty package. Any cosmetics manufacturers knows that the key to selling a twenty-five cent tube of lipstick for $15. (Yes, that's the typical the mark-up) is to put it in a fancy holder.

Other times, adding value means adding on services like warranties.

This week, while shopping for groceries, I saw an outstanding example of adding value. The supermarket had a sign on each cash register advertising “Santa Dollars.” A Santa Dollar is a one-dollar bill with a removable sticker of Santa applied. The Santa dollar comes with a one-piece gift card/envelope that lets the Santa face show through. “Ideal for Christmas giving!” said the sign. “All you have to do is sign the card!”

The price for a one-dollar bill disguised as a Santa Dollar was…..three dollars.

How does someone sell one-dollar bills for three dollars? By adding value. In this case, the dollar bill has extra value because the stick-on Santa face makes the bill special. It makes it worthy of holiday gift giving. Adding in the special envelope also makes it convenient. The gift is instantly wrapped. Selling it at the cashier's station also makes it convenient. All this serves to add value, making a mere one-dollar bill well worth three dollars to a harried Christmas shopper.

Keep this in mind in for your own business. No matter what product or service you're selling, there are simple, inexpensive ways you can add value. You can add value to an audio report by providing a typed transcript. You can add value to a class by providing a printed, spiral bound workbook. You can add value to a software application by delivering it on a CD rather than through download.

There are so many ways of adding value if you just use your imagination. And if imagination fails, use observation. Look around you at restaurants, shops and supermarkets. You'll soon see how many of your own purchases have been influenced by “adding value.”

 
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