12 Suggestions to "Give Value First" that Help Build Trust

When searching for a new vendor or professional service provider, do you seek companies that “Give Value First”?

As the saying goes, “it takes a village to raise a child”.

Well, it also “takes a village” to raise a business.

Partnering with the right company or individual delivers powerful results for your business.

Teaming up with vendors and service providers dedicated to your success……..

Improves productivity
Increases profitability
Enhances quality
Helps protect your investments
Delivers peace of mind
Helps achieves goals

However, selecting the wrong company to partner with typically leads to frustration and disappointment.

Possibly even worse.

Think back to the reasons that contributed to you selecting your current vendors or service providers in the beginning of the relationship?

How did you find them in the first place? Online search? Through word of mouth? A sales rep?

What factors contributed to you selecting them as a supplier?

So what separated these vendors from their competition?

Price? Quality? Delivery times? Reliability? Comfort?

More importantly, let’s think about what separates you from your competition?

Why do customers partner with you?

Give Value First

So to turn it around, does your company “Give Value First”?

Many companies talk about “added value”.

Wouldn’t it be great if they would “Give Value First”, instead of adding it on later?

Here is a fantastic video from sales guru Jeffrey Gitomer who is also a highly acclaimed and best selling author, sharing his thoughts on “Give Value First”:

Teaming Up With The Experts

“Give Value First” is all about building business relationships based on trust.

For example, hate doing your own taxes? Team up with a trustworthy and reliable accountant.

Additionally, the same can be said for an attorney, insurance representative and banker.

In each case, you team up with professionals that provide the expertise necessary to prevent you from harms way.

Hiring these professionals respectively helps keep you out of trouble with taxes, legal issues, and other various liabilities such as accidents or property damage.

A solid banking relationship provides access to cash when needed.

Partnering with a credible and trustworthy professional lends tremendous benefits to your business.

In other words, these professionals contribute to your profitability and success…….hopefully.

Think back to the factors that led you to selecting the professionals that each play a crucial role in your business.

At some point in the early stages, each professional delivered value to you consummating that relationship.

Manufacturers Providing Value First

As a manufacturer, new customers reach out to you for our experience and expertise.

A potential customer approaches a new vendor with a level of expectations.

Expectations that the tasks will be performed with the highest quality.

In addition, offering the most competitive prices possible.

Delivering on time serves as another critical factor as well.

However, all manufacturers like to claim high quality, competitive prices, and on-time delivery.

Otherwise, we would all go be out of business. Right?

A customer approaches a custom manufacturer to tackle tasks that the company is unable to perform.

So how do we separate ourselves from the rest of the pack?

Supply Chain Defined

What is your primary concern? Typically it is your customer.

What is your customer’s primary concern? Typically it is THEIR customer.

I recently heard a great analogy on how the supply chain works.

At a workshop, the speaker asked everyone to turn to their right. Then asked, “what do you see?”

The answer?

The back of the head of the person to the right.

The speaker noted that is exactly how a supply chain works.

Everyone is looking down stream towards THEIR customer.

Companies are so busy taking care of their customers that they don’t want to have to look backward and worry about you as the vendor.

It’s all about the WIIFM = “What is in it for me”.

As manufacturers, how can we strive to improve our competitive edge?

How can we go above and beyond quality, price and on-time delivery?

How can we dedicate ourselves to “Give Value First”?

For example, exceeding customer expectations allows the opportunity to establish loyal customer relationships.

How can we exceed expectations?

Aggressively solve their problems.

Help them exploit opportunities.

Make your customer a hero with THEIR customer and THEIR boss.

This link includes an excellent article from Forbes on this very topic: “Value-First Advertising: How To Give To Consumers While Selling”.

Inc.com offers this fantastic piece on “Give Value First”: “How Can I Help? Why ‘Adding Value First’ Is the Winning Formula for Growth”.

12 Helpful Steps to “Give Value First”

What steps can you take in order to “Give Value First”?

Below includes a list of 12 suggestions to help:

Blog on insightful topics about your business and industry
Provide technical advice on your website about your products or services
Attack your keywords on Google so customers can easily find your website
Shorten the RFQ process to reduce wait times with quick turnaround times on quotes
Educate: offer product white papers or tips on best practices
Post helpful videos on how to’s
Offer free online tools that help customers make buying decisions
Help your customers make connections with other non-competitive vendors or suppliers
Answer questions = offer a thorough FAQ section on your website
Provide helpful book suggestions relevant to your business or industry
Offer resource guides
Be a guest on podcasts OR even start your own