Value Drivers and POV

Buyers don't buy products. They buy what they believe they will be left with afterwards. That's human nature. 'What's in it for me' (WIIFM) is our primary driver. It stems from our most primitive instinct: to stay safe.  The DECIDE App is a tool that helps you understand that and account for it in your strategy.

Perceptions of Value (POV)

Our Perceptions of Value (POV) are what we see as the relative worth, usefulness or importance of something to us. It is a perception, like beauty, and it is in the eye of the beholder. In a sale, Buyers are the sole judges of it. Your job is not to tell them what is valuable. It is to explore what they believe it to be.

POV is strictly personal. A professional outcome, such as a better result, only registers in a Buyer's POV to the extent it delivers a personal payoff: less stress, recognition, security, a promotion. Ask yourself whether you could imagine a Buyer recommending something that cost them their job, security or income. They wouldn't, however compelling the business case.

Similarly, how likely is a Buyer to support you and your offering if it enhances their professional prospects, reputation, wellbeing, and so on? Exactly.

Value is received, not given

Value is an outcome, so it is received. It can't be given, provided or proposed, which is why a "value proposition" is a contradiction in terms. It follows that you can't add value either. However, you can help a Buyer see how they can gain the value they want, and empower them to get it, which is valuable in itself.

Value is what a Buyer gets. Cost or price are what they give. Cost is about Buyers and they understand that a reasonable cost is what they must pay to gain value. However, price is about Sellers i.e., you, and it is optional. Buyers do not have to pay a given price. And so in conversation with Buyers discuss value and cost. That is safe. Do not have conversations about price, as it then becomes about you and it is difficult to keep it comfortable.

Need is why a Buyer buys. Value is what they buy. So a conversation about value tells you more than a conversation about needs.

The ten Value Drivers

Value Drivers are the DECIDE Method's equivalent of 'What's in it for me's?' (WIIFMs), which are the things that Buyers value. In the DECIDE App, they are summarised into ten categories:

1. Simplicity and Low Effort
2. Risk Minimisation, Security and Conformity (for me)
3. Status, Reputation and Influence
4. Ambition and Career Advancement
5. Health and Wellbeing, Low Stress
6. Values, Purpose and Altruism
7. Financial Outcomes (for me)
8. Autonomy, Control and Ownership
9. Partnership, Relationships and Social Connection
10. Mastery, Expertise and Innovation

In the DECIDE App, you select and rate the Value Drivers you believe apply to each Buyer. Select at least three, applying a Rating score and a score for your Confidence in your rating.

Of course, you won't find Value Drivers listed in a bid specification or a request for tender, but can you imagine Buyers making decisions free of their influence?

Value Gaps

A Value Gap is the shortfall between where a Buyer is and where they want to be, which is how a professional need gets defined in concrete terms. It matters to the Buyer through the personal payoff that closing it delivers. See The Value Sheet for how to explore Value Gaps together.

Discovering what a Buyer values

Value is often intangible, and a desired future is hard to describe. Buyers may not have thought about it, and helping them do so is a way of being of value. Use conversation, not interrogation. Compare these two:

• Needs question: "Tell me what you're looking for in a new suit."
• Value question: "Tell me how you would like to look and feel in your new suit."

The second invites a picture of the outcome. A useful follow-up for almost any answer is "How will that make you feel?" That is how you reach the personal side. See SHAPE questions.

Safety matters

Buying involves change, and people are wired to be wary of change. Most Buyers will not support a decision that exposes them to personal risk or loss. Helping a Buyer feel safe, by being transparent and avoiding assumptions, is part of being of value.