Throughout the Go Ahead. Dream Big. program, we repeatedly ask you to step outside of your brand, your business and even yourself and to place yourself in the mind of your clients and customers. It’s no secret that doing so can be difficult on multiple levels. First there is the practical difficulty of accurately assessing and recreating the perspective and mindset of your customers to the emotional difficulty of assessing your brand, your company and even yourself in a neutral and impassionate manner. It’s easy to understand why many entrepreneurs are hesitant to take this step – after all, part of being a successful entrepreneur is maintaining a certain level of confidence in yourself as a leader and when you are your own boss, there’s no one above you to provide any sort of affirmation or guidance.
Value Vs. True Value
At this point, it’s understandable if you’re a bit confused as to what we mean by “value.” As the owner and manager of your business, you’re already well aware of how much it costs to produce your product and service, and you’ve already set a retail price based on thorough analysis of the market. However, when it comes to crafting a brand that truly appeals to your ideal client and target market, the “true” value of your product or service has nothing to do with your production costs, and it has little to do with the price you’ve set of the product or service. It’s all about how your products and services, and by extension your brand, is perceived. In this session of GADB, you are tasked with determining the “true” value of your products and services.
Asking The Right Questions
If the “true” value of your products and services isn’t based on practical factors such as production costs and retail price, what does it represent? Instead of tangible factors such as those, the “true” value that your ideal clients and target market determine is often based on other factors that have nothing to do with you or your business. In fact, the success or failure of the brand you’re developing hinges primarily on how well you’re able to emotionally disassociate yourself from what you “think” your ideal client and target market wants and place yourself emotionally in their shoes, allowing you to view your brand from their unique perspective.
Unlock The “True” Value
In Go Ahead. Dream Big., the secret to unlocking the “true” value of your brand involves asking the right questions, not just about your products and services but also about your ideal client and target market. It’s easy to hear a business coach, a motivational speaker or even a blog author stress the importance of empathy, but without the structure and guidance of a formal program such as Go Ahead. Dream Big., it’s extremely difficult to move past the initial intent and desire to empathize with your ideal client and target market and take the first practical steps towards shaping your brand and your products and services in a way that utilizes that newfound empathy.