Lockdown, chapter three: Understand your value

Almost every business owner I’ve ever worked with has a misplaced view of their own value, shockingly underrating their own worth. It’s such a shame – not only from a personal perspective, but from a business perspective too. If you don’t understand your value, you are almost certainly underselling, undercharging and under-earning. Is now the best time to jack your prices up? That’s a business decision for you, but what I urge you to do is assess the landscape of the marketplace within which you trade and identify what it is that you do which truly sets your business apart.

Understanding your value is directly linked to having clarity around what it is that you do differently; what it is that sets you apart and your unique magic. Because when you can see that, you can begin to understand what your business means to those who buy from you, and gives confidence in your pricing and message.

I’m not a big fan of obsessing over what the competition are up to as I think it’s generally demoralising and unhelpful, but getting a feel for what the marketplace is up to is good sense and ought to help you pinpoint your businesses’ point of difference. For example, as a family business we have a rather singular speciality in sensitively and diplomatically finding unity in our clients’ businesses, and our nurturing spirit helps the people we work with, and those who work with them, to see their business differently.

Action:

Consider what it is that your business is uniquely brilliant at; the thing you can bring most value to. Research the competition and gauge the message that others are sharing to help cement your view of your businesses’ value.