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How to Create and Communicate the Value In Your Product

As builders, we create value in our projects in a number of ways. 

• The products we install;
• the processes we use;
• the design features we originate;
• the conveniences we incorporate;
• the status we enhance;
• the innovations we add;

all add to value for our market.

One caution, though.  You must know your market well enough to understand for which added values it is willing to pay.  A couple of examples will make the point.

The first-time homebuyer will certainly be impressed by a luxury item like a surround-sound theater system in the living room.  They will appreciate it being there for them.  But, in all likelihood,  they will be unwilling to pay what it is worth.   Economically speaking, it would have a value less than its cost.  That is why few starter homes have full-blown theater rooms.

The retired senior would not be willing to pay for the nursery off the master bedroom.  They may not appreciate the value of such a room the way a young family might.  So, for them, that design feature becomes a reading or project or fitness room.  The perceived value changes with the utility of the design.  Knowing your market can help you meet the specific needs.

Maslow's Needs Hierarchy provides a useful methodology for structuring your thoughts about your market.

Take a look at the following form.  Use it to start to corral your ideas.  Enter the appropriate items in the form provided.

How does the Builder communicate value to the market?

If you wish to be successful, it is not sufficient to identify the needs and values of the market.

You must also be able to communicate to that market that you understand and are in a position to provide what it needs. 

You must understand that it is not just about being able to provide value, it is about being able to communicate that your company is UNIQUELY able to provide the value. 

You must establish your company as the ONE company able to provide what your market seeks.  You must identify a market that you can lead or redefine a market so that you can lead. 

If there is nothing else you get from this discussion, GET THAT.

To get the message of your uniqueness across to your potential market, you develop the Position Statement, the Value Statement and the Unique Value Proposition (UVP).

This is a very difficult process.  You are going to have to use words with more precision than you ever have before.  The tendency here is to use too many words.  Your market won't read a lot of words about your company, so you are going to prune, prune, prune until you have used the fewest words possible to express your case.

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