Value Merchants: Demonstrating and Documenting Superior Value in Business Markets

FIVE

Tailor Market Offerings

Creating Naked Solutions with Options

MANY SUPPLIERS in business markets conclude that they’re in a commodity business. We contend that this conclusion is most often misleading because it is myopic and premature. These suppliers think too narrowly about the core product or service they provide to business customers. It is true that the steel plates, letters of credit, or chemicals that they provide may be nearly, or exactly, the same as other suppliers’. Yet the market offerings that customers purchase from these suppliers are typically much more than simply the core product or service. And these suppliers have not investigated in any methodical way, such as through the customer value research we advocate, how their ...