Step 3 – VALUE

Welcome to the training on value. This is the introduction for module or step number 3: Establish Your Value. I'm quite excited about it, and I think you should be too. Most architects or designers never get to the point where they can communicate their value in any meaningful way. We're going to learn how to communicate your value here.

The Monkey's Fist, by the way, is lead generation in the thought leadership area. "Ask the Expert" is the first free meeting where you don't give away design advice, and the LCC (Limited Consulting Contract) is where you start charging for advice. To effectively sell those, we need to communicate their value clearly. These tools I'm going to give you now are all about how to communicate the value of something. This could apply to any of these areas or to your whole design business itself.

You can value something at the micro level or create value statements at the macro level. The more macro you go, the harder it becomes, but it's also useful in promotional areas where we're going to get your message out to the market. We'll need to load the value messages into these areas.

Let me give you the big picture. Obviously, you want a great life, right? We all do. One key thing to get a great life is to have a great business—one that pays you multiple times more than you're earning now, maybe working less, getting paid more, and loving the projects you do. How do we get that? We need great projects. How do we get great projects? By communicating superior value.

Clients don't necessarily hire based on actual value because they often don't have a method for determining it. They go on perceived value. Superior perceived value comes from superior communication. You need to be better at communicating your value than anyone else to win. How do we do that? We need some powerful tools, and that's what you're going to get in this step.

Let me give you a metaphor to explain value. Imagine the world champion digger, bristling with muscles and capable of digging faster than anyone else. Now, if you come along with a big digging machine, it doesn't matter how motivated he is—you will dig a great big hole, and he'll have no chance. You have a superior tool.

My objective for you in this training is to understand what value is. Most of us aren't good at communicating value because we don't actually understand it. Once you understand what value is, I'll give you structures and processes for creating value statements, which are very useful. Ultimately, I want you to position yourself as the number one option in your particular market by demonstrating superior value, or at least perceived superior value.

To be the number one option, you need to stand out and communicate clearly and compellingly. Very few architects or designers are good at this. Most put up the same portfolios and say the same things. For example, saying you've been in business for 25 years or offering end-to-end solutions isn't enough. As Coco Chanel said, "In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different." We need to differentiate you and make you stand out.

Before I leave you, I want to share some quotes to whet your appetite. Oscar Wilde said, "Some people know the price of everything and the value of nothing." Warren Buffett said, "Price is what you pay; value is what you get." Benjamin Franklin said, "The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten." Jim Rohn said, "It's not the hours you bring to the table, but the value you bring to those hours." If you charge by the hour, the better you get, the more you're ripping yourself off. You need to think about value-based pricing. Answering a question in five seconds doesn't mean it's worthless; it took you 25 years to answer it in five seconds.

Finally, "Price is only an issue when value is a mystery." We've got to demystify your value. We need to find it, communicate it effectively, and make it glaringly obvious that your value is far superior. You have two options when it comes to winning projects: be judged on price or on value. If value is a mystery, clients will choose based on price. But if we communicate value clearly, clients will choose based on value, even at a higher price.

We need value conversations, not price conversations. To flip the focus from price to value, we need to understand what value is and communicate it effectively to the client. That's what we're going to do in step number 3. Let's get into it.