This month, we tap the expertise of Shep Hyken, who has been at the forefront of the customer service and experience revolution for decades. He’s helped major companies like Disney and FedEx improve already superior service while also working with smaller organizations to transform poor customer experiences. A trainer, speaker, and author, Hyken's “Amazing Business Radio” podcast and eight books are renowned in the customer service space. Titles include “The Convenience Revolution,” “Amaze Every Customer Every Time,” “I’ll Be Back,” and “The Cult of the Customer.”
 
Here, he shares insights into how and why it’s important to play down price and place value center stage.  

Want to knock price down or out of the purchasing equation in your optical? Provide more value with a better customer experience! Price is only relevant in the absence of value. The more value you create, the less price is a deciding factor. 

The title of this article may sound like a lesson in sales, but it’s much bigger than that. It’s actually about the entire customer experience. If a promise to provide value in the customer experience is built into your company’s mission statement and values, it can become part of the culture. 
 
Can price really play a lesser role in the minds of patients? To learn the answer, we asked 1,000 consumers in our customer service research if customer service is more important than price. More than half (58%) said yes.

Customer Experience

Imagine if your organization were bold enough to state that the value it delivers to customers makes price irrelevant or at least less relevant.

To accomplish that, you have to define the value that you provide in the customer experience. That sounds simple enough, but remember that your definition of this value is only good if it aligns with what your patients and customers want.

Creating Irrelevance

How can you actually make price irrelevant? My good friend and fellow customer experience expert, John DiJulius, has often said, “Make price irrelevant,” while I’ve said, “Make price less relevant. There’s no way you can make price completely irrelevant.” He and I jab at each other over these statements, but the point is that if you provide enough value with the experience, you can distance yourself from the competition, even while charging more than them.

The Employee Experience

This way of thinking crosses over to the employee experience as well. Can you create an employment opportunity so fulfilling that people would line up to apply for the job, even though they might make more money elsewhere?

Disney is one company that achieved this vision. Historically, the Disney culture was so powerful that people loved the company more than a higher paycheck from another employer.
 
Of course, every company must be somewhat competitive with compensation and benefits. But in the end, for many job seekers, happiness and fulfillment are more important than a few extra dollars in their paycheck. 

Three Ideas

To make value more important in your practice, consider these three ideas: 

• Alignment. Value in the customer experience and employee experience is nonnegotiable. You can’t have one without the other.
• Opportunity. Create experiences that are so enriching that neither customers nor employees can easily walk away, regardless of dollars. 
• Challenge. I challenge you to define your version of value and make it so compelling that you’re willing to include it in your mission and value statements. 

Look closely at your own practice in light of these ideas. Then address each of them to make price less relevant.

“If you provide enough value with the experience, you can distance yourself from the competition, even while charging more.” —Shep Hyken

 This article was originally published in a sponsored newsletter.