There is one standard, however, that never changes: customer expectation of value. In fact, in a downturn, this expectation rises.
How well you respond determines how well you weather the storm.
But even in the toughest times, this creates opportunity for you because so many companies, including your competitors, lose sight of how to deliver superior value. In the downturn, they see only threats. So they miss the opportunities. Their value proposition loses strength because it loses relevance.
Don't let a crisis go to waste. Seize the opportunity to create more value for your customers by making your value proposition more powerful and more relevant. How? By applying the principles that never change (see above). It's crucial to identify ways to develop and sell products having more valuable benefits, lower adoption costs and the right price points: the same old things customers have always insisted upon. The things they expect. The things they value.
Our experience with successful organizations large and small has taught us that it’s not about the marketing you do. It’s about the value you create -- throughout your organization -- and then deliver to your customers.
Ask yourself: does your current value proposition generate the revenue and profits that it should, irrespective of the lousy environment? You need every dollar of revenue you can get and every dime of earnings your margins will allow. So you need to be dead sure of the value that different customers assign to the benefits they derive from your products.
Ability to quantify these benefits enables you gain new insights into profitability, margins, sales and marketing performance.
Customers respond best to the most relevant and powerful value proposition. They always have and always will. This makes it a competitive advantage no matter what the prevailing economic conditions happen to be. And the tougher the conditions, the greater the advantage.
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