The Value of Your Service

What if customers paid exactly what they thought the value was? Would your business prosper?

Have you ever given a tip to a street performer? Also known as buskers, street performers rely 100% on value to value transactions. They have barely two minutes to make an impression, and only get paid what people think they are worth. Sometimes that's a dollar, sometimes that's a dime, and usually "customers" keep on walking without paying anything at all.

Could your business survive using that model?

I've considered it as a model for my leadership training practice. Come to a workshop, or get some coaching and consulting and then pay me exactly what you think it was worth. What stops me? Not sure. Is it fear of the unknown monetary value? Is it fear that human nature might be to grab for the bargain (free!) and move on?

If a business demonstrates value that the customer is seeking and delivers on that promise, shouldn't people pay what is fair (or even more)?

What do you think?

Imagine a doctor who only got paid if the patient was happy with the service and treatment.

Imagine a restaurant where you not only tipped what the server was worth but also paid the restaurant what the service/decor/food/atmospher was worth.

Do we trust people enough to trust their judgment on what to pay?

In this bargain grabbing low economy world will people always underpay?

What do you think?

Are you willing to rely on the busker payment method for at least one of your goods or services? Why or why not?

-- Douglas Brent Smith

http://frontrangeleadership.com

P.S. update: I keep thinking about this from time to time. What surfaces often is the inequity of how we as a society pay people. Many professionals prosper, but my friends in retail, food service, and early childhood education struggle with below-median wages and ever shrinking benefits. If we made that voluntary, would it decline even further?

Are people valuing the right things? Is the work provided by that cashier really less valuable to you than you already pay?

I still don't know the definitive answer, so I welcome your opinion. How do we value your service?

(22 September 2012)

Comments

Get Going!

What goal are you working on? Maybe you don't spend every minute of every day working on your goals. I certainly don't. But when I do work on my goals they propel me forward. They get me going. Find your favorite goal. Work on it. Even if you start with the smallest task. Put one task after the other like little steps leading to a lofty elevation. Goals get us going. Because standing still goes nowhere. -- Doug Smith

Start With Decisions

Do you share leadership? The most powerful teams share leadership responsibilities AND attitude. When you develop a team where people feel empowered to take charge, take responsibility, and take ownership you then no longer need to do all the difficult work. Delegation becomes easier. Collaboration feels more natural. Start with decisions. It's fast and easy as a leader to make all of the big decisions, but when you include your team in the conversations it takes to gain mutually shared understandings and collaborative decisions, you no longer have to "sell" your decisions --- people simply know what you as a team have decided and act accordingly. No passive aggressive resistance, no passengers on your team "bus" -- just fully engaged team members. Start with collaborative decisions. The rest will be much easier. -- Doug Smith

Focused Truth

Focused leaders have zero time for inauthentic messages. They tell the truth unconditionally and insist on the truth consistently. Be a leader who can handle the truth. Be a leader who tells the truth. -- doug smith

Personally

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High performance leaders expand capacity by constantly developing their people. How does your team grow? How can you get more done with less? There are many answers to the question of increasing capacity and responsible leaders explore them all, including improving processes and design. It's also important to constantly develop your people People who feel valued and who are constantly growing develop new ideas. They fix problems. They engage in processes and structures and find better ways to get things done. People who are developing stop tolerating defects and instead work toward optimizing their environment. They raise their capacity and increase the value of the team. What are you doing to develop your people? How much more capacity could your team have with people who were fully engaged, truly energized, and growing? -- Douglas Brent Smith Learn more in the workshop: Building Your Team

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Which learning curve are you climbing? The lessons keep coming. When we keep growing, our energy sparks with new creativity, new courage, new compassion, and new clarity. When we keep growing, life's adventure brings more smiles than troubles. High performance leaders make it a point to keep learning. That means taking on the tough assignments. That means listening to the needs of your team and building on their ideas. That means constantly debriefing, decoding, and deciding. There's a lesson in all of this somewhere. Centered leaders find the lesson and grow. Life never stops teaching. What have you learned today? -- Doug Smith

Dessert of Darkness

Lead long enough, and some type of crisis will develop. Stay the course and eventually you will find obstacles to overcome. Resistance is a natural part of progress. Difficulty is bound to follow innovation. How do you handle it? Does every leader eventually travel thru a dessert of darkness when you're not sure of the answer and not even sure of the direction? What will pull YOU thru? Having an answer before you get to that dessert is critical to success. -- Douglas Brent Smith http://frontrangeleadership.com

Promise and then Deliver

Be careful what you promise to gain a new customer. They are only new for a day. After that, expectations continue even if you forget your promise. Be careful what you promise. Do you have what you need to give your customers what they want? Because probably, what they want, is what you've promised. -- doug smith

More Than Convenience

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It might seem obvious, but it's worth remembering: strong goals provide you with strength. They provide you with strength of purpose, strength of direction, and strength of endurance. A goal that you truly care about, that's written with clarity provides help when others try to hinder. Lots will try to get in the way. The best goals resist this resistance and persist to achievement. A solid, clear goal can withstand any judging. -- doug smith Leadership Call to Action Check in on your top three goals today. Are they providing you with strength of direction? How could you make them even stronger? What will you do today toward achieving them?

High Performance Leadership

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