Value Merchants: Demonstrating and Documenting Superior Value in Business Markets (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author), James A. Narus (Author)
Key Phrases: tailor market offerings, reliability systems, value documenters, Value Merchants, Insee Tong, Pharma Labs (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a set of business techniques to estimate the value of your market offerings and create propositions that resonate with customers. --CRM.com, November 1, 2007<br /><br />"…a must-read for those toiling in the business-to-buiness realm." --CorporateReport Wisconsin, December 1, 2007

...offers a great value to its readers...illustrates how to formulate value propositions that resonate with customers. --Modern Casting, May 1, 2008

Product Description

Do your salespeople feel under extreme pressure to retain accounts or gain new business at any cost? If so, you may be leaving big money on the table. Consider the integrated-circuit supplier representative who lost $500,000 of potential profit on a single transaction, just to win a deal that he would have closed anyway at the higher price.

Do not make price concessions. Become a value merchant instead. In this authoritative book, James Anderson, Nirmalya Kumar, and James Narus explain how companies in business markets can use customer value management techniques to estimate the value of your market offerings, create value propositions that resonate with your customers, and maximize the return you will get on the superior value that you deliver.

Drawing on extensive research and detailed case studies of companies like Sonoco, Tata Steel, and Quaker Chemical, Value Merchants will change the mindset and behavior of your executives, sales management, representatives, and marketers as well as your customers.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; 1 edition (November 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1422103358
• ISBN-13: 978-1422103357
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #129,947 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The future of all business, December 21, 2007

By	Todd Snelgrove "Customer Value" (Global Sales and Marketing) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Congratulations to the team of writers for the book "Value Merchants". As someone whose whole job responsibility is to implement a value sales strategy and culture at a global industrial company, I was amazed at the clear and concise roadmap the book laid out. Not only is it filled with theoretical ideas of why it is important to create and document value for customers, but it gives a practical roadmap of how to transform a company into a value "merchant."

As most people in the world of sales know; today you either have to be the cheapest by line item, or if you're the best - you need to find a way to `explain this" so the purchasing, finance, production people can clearly see they are getting the best value for their organization. Without the ability to document the value that can be created and has been, you're left with little more than wishes and hopes, and finance people won't pay you for those.

Whether you are in the business of dealing with distributors, final end users, Original Equipment Manufacturers, or the general public, a clear concise value proposition that can be understood in financial terms and has the "proof points" to sustain it will be the only way to move forward and not be caught in the commodity trap of "lowest unit price".

Finally, for any procurement or finance people, what a great read. Learn how to partner with your suppliers to reduce true real costs, and really drive bottom line earnings per share. A Total Cost of Operation relationship with a supplier that can prove their value differentiators will make you more profitable today and in the future.

Todd Snelgrove, Global Manager; Customer Value
SKF

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to establish and then sustain effective customer value management, November 6, 2007

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

No one will disagree with James Anderson, Nirmalya Kumar, and James Narus that it is important for businesses to deliver "superior value targeted to market segments and customer firms" while getting "an equitable return on the value delivered." Hence the importance of effective customer value management (CVM) that relies on customers' perceptions of value to gain an understanding of what customers' requirements and preferences are. Only then is it possible to determine in economic terms what that means. In this context, I am reminded of Warren Buffett's observation that "price is what you charge and value is what others think it's worth."

The co-authors explain how to:

1. assess customers' perceptions of value
2. conceptualize value
3. formulate an appropriate value proposition
4. substantiate value
5. create "naked solutions" with options
6. sell on value, not price
7. earn an equitable return
8. become a value merchant
9. leverage information from various sources
10. continue to be a value merchant

The CVM program the authors recommend in this volume is comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective. It will probably be of greatest value to C-level executives who are convinced that their companies are delivering superior value to their customers but have not convinced them of that. At this point, I presume to share two thoughts of my own, all of which are consistent with what the authors of this book assert. First, whatever an organization's size or nature, its executives must nail the economic essentials by knowing (a) exactly what the organization's operating costs are and (b) what the margin is on each product or service offered. I agree with Jason Jennings: "If it's DOA, bury it." Whoever and whatever that does not add value (directly or at least indirectly) to the organization should be eliminated. Second, the same strict standard should be applied to the given offering as well as to those who sell or service it: Whoever and whatever that does not add value (directly or at least indirectly) to the customer -- and at a profitable margin -- should be eliminated.

This is not an "easy read" but for those who absorb and digest the wealth of information and wisdom the authors provide, then apply whatever is relevant as their own organization' pursuit of its own objectives, this book can be of incalculable value. One final point: Merchants should be driven to provide superior value to two categories of customers: directly to their own, of course, but also indirectly to their customers' customers. I cannot think of a better way to lock in a valued customer than to do whatever is possible and (yes) prudent to help that customer to strengthen each of its own customer relationships. Think of that as Superior Value to the third or fourth power.

Should you read this book? That is a decision you must make but perhaps these questions will help: Does your organization now have a CVM program? Is it effective? If not, do you know why? Do your customers frequently thank you for helping them create value for their own customers? If your answer to any of these basic questions is "you," you need to read this book immediately.

Those who share my high regard for it are urged to check out Lawrence L. Steinmetz and William T. Brooks's How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors: Winning Every Sale at Full Price, Rate, or Fee, Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad's Competing for the Future, Jason Jennings' Think Big, Act Small: How America's Best Performing Companies Keep the Start-up Spirit Alive, Anderson's The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, and The Dollarization Discipline: How Smart Companies Create Customer Value...and Profit from It by Jeffrey J. Fox with Richard C. Gregory.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction, but far from compleat or useful, September 25, 2008

By	ServantofGod - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Unless you have little idea of marketing, customer relationship management, customer value management and know not the basics like defining your customers needs and setting your marketing goals, this book is not for you. I do appreciate its emphasis on the importance of creating unique, well documented, quantitative success/value stories for its salesmen to communicate with their clients. However, the only applicable case is found in the four page Appendix B of a 210 page book. For those charmed by the excellent book title who want to learn how to put customer value management into practice, please give this a pass.