Lucy Kellaway from the Financial Times had a great post about sets of values. She contrasted the recently-released values from Goldman-Sachs with those of a retailer in Finland, Stockmann.
The Stockmann values are worth a read for anyone interested in business. The company is very clear that their #1 goal is making money – that’s why they are in business. For me, the second value is what makes the first possible:
CUSTOMER-ORIENTATION
We earn money only by offering benefits which the customer perceives as real and better than those of our competitors. The sum total of these benefits is high customer satisfaction and loyalty. Competitive pricing, reliable quality and good customer service are vital elements in achieving these goals.
This is a clear statement for me about selling and why selling HAS value. The customer “perceives” the benefits are better -this means that someone/something tried to convince the customer and that the customer agreed. This is what we need to do in sales….
Our job is interact with the customer, work with the customer, show how our benefits are better than others, and finally…..receive the consent of the customer. We are not trying to make the customer do something they do not want to do – the customer willingly, happily perceives we are better and chooses us.
I think Goldman, in their heart-of-hearts, would agree with a lot of what Stockmann says. Goldman furiously competes, and I bet their customers perceive that Goldman offers superior benefits. They do certainly make a ton of money. The question is: who are their customers really?
