Note: See my last post if you need an explanation of the terms used below.
The next time you purchase a computer or a major appliance, pay attention to the how the store tries to add more value to the transaction by offering you insurance ("extended warranties") on the product you just purchased.
I never buy product insurance, but many do because they value the "peace of mind" it offers. It's win-win. The customer gets more value; the store gets more sales.
How can your offer more value to your customers?
Consider Costco. They make very little money selling products, but lots of money selling membership. They also provide value through audience aggregation, allowing other businesses to advertise in their members magazines, and agency agreements, selling a myriad of services to their members on behalf of other companys.
I don't shop at Costco, but I can learn from them -- we all can.
Every business should find new ways to add value. Offering a different value proposition gives you the opportunity to connect with a different set of customers and grow your sales.
For example, a speciality store can consider adding membership (eg. Chapters.ca), subscription (eg. manpacks.com), or agency (eg. offering 3rd party instructional classes, or product insurance).
The same can also be applied to a service-based business. For example, a computer service business can  consider membership (eg. priority response time), subscription (eg. regular cleaning and scanning), agency (eg. computer instruction taught by others), and even insurance (eg. for computer virus removal).
We try to apply this in our web design business. In addition to our web deign service, we also offer subscription (eg. web hosting), and audience aggregation (eg. business advertising products on Alberni.ca). We are now exploring agency with those who wish to leverage the Alberni.ca platform to jumpstart their own online business.
How about you? Have you considered new ways to provide value to your customers?
I look forward to your comments. You can email me or post your comments directly below.