Even the most savvy of us find ourselves in a position where they sacrifice leverage, pay more and give up higher margins than we want to. This deck looks at the 8 value principles that allow marketers to take more than their natural share off the table.

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2. V III
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The closer you bring the product to the customer at the time of need, the more it is
worth. Anyone who’s ever bought a hot dog at the ballpark knows how this works.
How close are you to your customer when he or she
needs you most? Where do your customers get the
most value out of what you do? Are there
opportunities to be more convenient, present
and spontaneous?
Companies sell shampoo in beauty salons and
energy bars at workout centers. Where are the
high value locations where your users would be
glad to encounter your products?
Note: this is even true on-line. No matter how good your app or
interface is, it still has to be in the right place with the right answers at
the right time for your customer.

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Some of the most potent value adders are actually
subtractors – the entrepreneurs who break large
lots into more convenient units of consumption.
Few of us need a metric ton of sugar, a tanker
car full of gasoline or an entire pig.
People who break these large lots into smaller consumable
portions can take away some of the easiest added value margins in the value
chain – think pharmacists and gas stations, single-serving food packages, and
“travel versions” of health and beauty products (thank you, TSA).
Applying this to your business, how does the scale of what you supply align
with the proportions that your customers need at given times? Where do you
fit on the supply chain between bulk supply and individual user – are there
opportunities to go smaller? What would a single item of yours look like?
Where might it be useful?

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On the opposite end of the scale, aggregating is one of
the oldest forms of entrepreneurship. Few people
bother to bake from scratch when someone else has
combined all of the ingredients in the perfect
proportions in a cake mix. Hobbyists pay for “kits” that
put everything for a project together in one box. In
industry, the companies with the biggest “bundle”
generally find themselves in the strongest competitive
position.
What other products do your customer need when
using yours? Even “professional” customers who once took pride in picking their own tools
or ingredients are turning to kits as their positions are dumbed down and processes
standardized. Also as companies become more concerned about toxicities and storage
hazards they’re increasingly willing to pay for solvents, paints and other chemicals in as-
needed proportions.

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quo favors big
products, make yours small. If everyone else is light, make yours heavy, or vice versa. The key
is to confront the market with a difference that can’t be ignored. As soon as you do this,
everything else becomes the old way and suddenly less attractive and valuable.

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