Peter Drucker says “Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay for what is of use to them and gives them value.”
Warren Buffet has been quoted as saying “Price is what you pay, value is what you get”
Both suggest value is in the eye of the receiver.
If that’s true and we apply it to a consulting relationship, what would clients probably NOT value?
* Egomaniacs pushing their off the shelf models of everything and anything
* Long reports that tell them what they already know but in a condescending know it all manner and to pay for the privilege
* To be charged fees that are in no way commensurate with the delivery of results
* Senior contract winners followed by schoolboy deliverers
Or is this too harsh? Surely there aren’t consultants that do that!
So what might clients actually value from a consulting relationship?
Well value can come in different guises.
It can be in the products or services that you offer e.g. workshops, training programmes or coaching. It can be in the skills, knowledge and attitudes of the people that work with them. It might even be in the alignment of a common set of principles and values.
Core value is what a client contracts with you to deliver. It is the delivery of the objectives set out in the contract as specified. Getting this right is pretty basic. Deliver what you said you would deliver exactly as you said you would (at the very least)
In addition to the delivery of core value you can also deliver unexpected value. This is when you help your clients improve their business or themselves in unexpected ways. For example,
Discovery: Helping them to see what they would have not seen or discovered by themselves.
Hidden Gems: Highlighting issues, problems or opportunities which would have gone undetected if you had simply stuck to your brief
Connection: Enabling connections for your clients to people, networks and information.
Reflection: Offering an objective ear as a sounding board or a fresh pair of eyes for an idea or problem.
Education: Enabling the transference of skills and knowledge to improve their organisational capability.
Facilitation: Acting as a guide and giving structure to problem solving, decision making and innovation
Change Management: Helping to align and engage people to changes in structure, process, or behaviours. Supporting clients to influence and communicate positive change.
Emotional Value: This might include having fun while working with you, getting promoted as a result of your joint work, feeling recognised and validated.
So when working with clients, strive to meet Einstein’s quote – “Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.”
At Total Flow we passionately believe unexpected value is part of our core value.