Kelford Labs Daily: Value Creating Combinations

Over the past few days, we’ve talked about the compliments or testimonials you get that you either dismiss or ignore, or that you love and crave.

To give you an example, when someone tells me they’re amazed at how quickly I can write, I don’t immediately blush with appreciation. No, I think, “Huh. I wonder if they think my fast writing is any good, though?”

Meanwhile, if someone tells me they were able to do or say or understand something they’d never been able to before, as a result of my work, I’m over the moon with gratitude.

What about you? I’m sure you’ve got your compliments you can categorize this way, too.

Here’s what we’re going to do with those compliments:

First, we’re going to acknowledge that the compliments we dismiss are still compliments. More than that, they speak to our value, even if it’s not the value we want to speak about most.

But, whether we like it or not, this is how the customer is perceiving our value.

The compliments we want but get less often represent what enables us to create the value that the customer perceives.

Put another way, the first set of compliments are our perceived value. And the second set of compliments are our preferred valueS.

One feeds into the other, but that connection is not clear to our customers.

What we need to do is combine these sets into one statement that speaks to the value our customers most easily perceive, while shifting their focus to the magical combination of value that only we can provide.

So, for me, my clients might say something like, “Wow, you write so fast!” But I want them to say, “Wow, you write so clearly and convincingly!”

The formula to combine these is simple. We’ll craft a sentence with this structure:

“If you need (perceived value), you want (preferred values). It’ll do more than (result of perceived value), it will (result of preferred values). So you can (result of combination)”

Let’s fill it in with my example:

“If you want fast writing, what you need is clear thinking. It’ll do more than give you the right words to sell your services, it’ll give you the confidence and direction to sell your expertise. So you can demonstrate your unique value quickly, to the customers who value it most.”

Now, when someone asks me if I do copywriting alongside my strategy work, I can acknowledge and even promote the fact that I write quickly. But I won’t leave it there.

If you ask me to write your copy or content, I’ll say, “Absolutely, I’ll get you the words you need now, but I’ll also give you the direction you’ll need for the future. With me, you don’t just get fast copywriting, you get long-term marketing momentum.”

Now, why would I say that instead of just, “Sure, I can do that writing for you”?

Because now the client is not just willing to pay for great, fast writing. They’re happy to pay for long-term strategic momentum.

That’s how you combine the compliments you get with the compliments you crave, and turn it into real value for your business.

By demonstrating your value and your values—and the unique magic they create together—more effectively to your ideal customers.