1. Why Should Anyone Buy From Us?
Dr Shaun Ridley FAIM
"Why should anyone buy from us?" is probably the most fundamental question in business. It cuts
through the fancy Mission Statement, bypasses the Key Performance Indicators and gets to the real
value proposition from the viewpoint of the customer.
Answering this question requires precision. It is easy to take the soft option of offering generalisations
such as "our products are better than anyone else's" or "our people provide better service". These
responses are vague, unverifiable and come from the organisation's perspective instead of the
customer's.
Examples of better responses would be precise measures of performance that matter to the
customer, such as
"we are 12% cheaper than the next closest provider of similar quality" or,
"our customer feedback results indicate 95% would do business with us again even if we
weren't the cheapest provider due to our superior service levels".
In a perfect world, the perfect people to have answer this question are your customers. If your
relationship is strong, their insights will be invaluable. You could even give them some information
about the inner workings of your business so they have a greater appreciation of your challenges as
well.
If your world is imperfect, then look for others to provide input such as employees, suppliers, Board
Members, even academics interested in the forces of competition.
As a simple exercise, write the question on a board or whiteboard in your office and ask everyone
who comes in over a one week period to write one answer. By week's end you'll have a rich list of
ideas to synthesize into a few short statements that capture your uniqueness in the market. The
responses will help decision making - what to start and stop doing, what unique competencies exist in
the business and where the major weaknesses lie.
“Why should anyone buy from us?” is such a simple question that it can connect with everyone in the
organisation. Sometimes the jargon of corporate strategy causes employees to disengage. This
question will be understood by everyone. Just brace yourself for the answers you receive. They may
not be pretty, but they will be valuable.
Dr Shaun Ridley FAIM is Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Learning and Development) at the Australian Institute
of Management in WA. His extensive experience in leadership, strategy and learning and development has been
gained through his work with hundreds of organisations, across all sectors both domestically and internationally.
