The Value Of Value

The Value Of Value

6/5/2007
Andy Stetzinger

A couple weeks ago, Scott and I took a quick trip up to Baltimore, MD - those of you who subscribe to our free newsletter know about some of the fun we had while we were up there. When we arrived at the airport, we walked out and picked up our rental car. A 2007 Charcoal Grey Mustang. I mean to tell you, this car was nice. It looked and sounded aggressive. Of course, Scott got to drive first (he is the older of the two of us). We weren't even 20 yards from the parking lot before I was saying, "let's see what this baby's got in her... floor it!"

It had "umph". It had that throaty muffler sound. It was a true Mustang. I couldn't wait to drive her myself.

As we were headed down the Interstate, I got relegated to phone duty - calling the hotel, the people we were meeting in Baltimore, my wife, business contacts... everyone knew what kind of car Scott and I got to drive.

We stopped for a bite to eat, and again admired the lines of the Mustang. I was sure Scott was going to let me drive the next little leg of our trip, a mere 5 mile or so to the office in Baltimore. I was wrong - guess Scott wanted to be the one they saw drive up in the shiney hotness of the vehicle. No matter, my time would come. I was sure.

After our visit to the office, we were off to Camden Yard to catch a baseball game.

Scott drove.

"It's ok", I thought to myself, "your time will come, and it will be that much sweeter when it does."

After the game, Scott drove to the hotel.

I was left to dream about driving the Mustang. All that horsepower under my control. I was ready for it.

The next morning, Scott drove to the day-long meeting we had.

The anticipation was killing me. I wanted to drive that Mustang so bad. I was READY for it.

The meeting went superbly. As we were wrapping up, I looked right into Scott's eyes. "It's time" I said, "for me to drive the Mustang."

He agreed, and tossed me the keys.

"YES!" I thought to myself. I could not wait to gun the engine. To push the vehicle to within accepted limits of the law (of course!). To grip the steering wheel and show the world I could drive that Mustang. My time was now.

As we walked out of the building and headed for a quick dinner, we noticed a Porsche Boxter sitting in the parking lot.

Turns out, it belonged to one of the guys in our meeting.

I looked at him, and confirmed it was his. "Yeah, it's mine. Wanna drive it?"

I tossed Scott the keys to the Mustang. He looked at me with a puzzled look on his face.

"Scott", I quirped, "why would I want to drive a Mustang, when I can drive a Porsche?"



The moral of this true story is simple : Value is perception, and the perception of value is invalueable. What value do your customers perceive you are delivering to them? Are you exceeding their expectations? Are you "under-promising and over-delivering"?

The only people who know that are your customers. If you really want to know how you're doing in business, talk to your customers. Ask them. They'll surely let you know.

For what it's worth, I did get to finally drive the Mustang from dinner to the aiport. On the Interstate. In rush hour.

~Andy Stetzinger
KeyThing Marketing Technologies