A market-focused strategic/organizational paradigm – DPV proposes to reorient managers’ basic approaches to business strategy and organization design. DPV would focus businesses away from the conventional making-and-selling of products and services, and instead toward the discovery, and then disciplined, multi-functional delivery, of profitable, superior Value Propositions.
The profitable delivery of a real Value Proposition is dramatically different from the concept’s superficial, popular misapplications. Instead, it is about deeply understanding and then proactively improving or even transforming the relevant actual experiences of customers (businesses and consumers), in return for profit. A winning Value Proposition often includes carefully chosen tradeoffs that customers accept, but in net it must be superior. A business organization must simultaneously design or redesign, and rigorously align, all functions and resources so as to single-mindedly deliver that winning Value Proposition profitably.
This approach differs sharply from the widely accepted strategic paradigm of leveraging your organization’s current strengths and competencies, yet differs equally from the fervently-admired marketing practices of listening to your customers. These are the conventional mental boxes in which the Internally-Driven and Customer-Compelled business cultures dwell.
A BUSINESS GENERATES WEALTH ONLY BY PROFITABLY DELIVERING SOME SUPERIOR:
A business wins revenues by offering some proposition to customers: essentially, the Resulting Experiences those customers will derive if they do as we propose
Customers perceive relative value in any such proposition and thus, every business delivers some Value Proposition (VP)
If customers perceive a VP as superior, it generates revenue
A BUSINESS CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS A “VALUE DELIVERY SYSTEM”
If the total cost of providing and communicating a superior Value Proposition Is less than the revenues it produces, then the business generates wealth
So a business can be designed to deliver (i.e, Provide and Communicate) a specific Value Proposition (VP)
A business can deliberately search for possible VP’s which, if delivered well, could generate breakthrough profitable growth
We helped a large electronics manufacturer’s distribution arm greatly improve sales of a key high profit category by discovering that an order-management change strongly demanded by reseller-customers (and the Sales Force) was actually irrelevant to meeting the resellers’ actual, non-obvious order-management needs.
P. Kotler, Distinguished Marketing Professor, Northwestern: “Delivering Profitable Value defines the corporate mindset that will distinguish the new millennium’s winners from the losers. Michael Lanning’s book should be required reading….”
N. Rackham (leading expert on Sales Force effectiveness; speaker; author Spin Selling and other): “Lanning created arguably the most important concept in history of marketing – the value proposition – and takes his seminal ideas deeper and further…[He] could justly be called the father of value delivery…[his] work has had enormous influence – not least on [my work].”
B. Lich Senior Vice President, Eastman Chemical Company: “…hired DPVG…several projects…very impressed with methodology & people…most dedicated, driven consulting team we’ve worked with. …coupled with intellect & diverse experience was a true asset.…In one project, after Day in the Life interviews across the chain, completely revised our segmentation and focused on [a new] solution…repositioned our new product…developed quantified value propositions for each participant in chain…net result: $50M growth opportunity with early success at major multi-national customer.”
C. Darnell (Former Vice-Chairman Lighting Science Grp, and Vice-Chairman Lithonia Lighting): “Our experience with DPVG was super good…extremely successful leading us into right Value Delivery Systems…DPV itself is a WOW! Concept…Invariably, discovery takes place…far better than normal interviews, sales calls, or dealing with complaints”
F. Vleugels (Former CEO Unipetrol, Div Mgr, Eastman Chem): “…got more than hoped… ‘out-of-box’ thinking we always want but rarely get…Many talk ‘integrated strategies’ but this work produced one…finest strategy work I’ve seen in my career…”
F. Geyer (GraphLogic Advisor, former CEO V-Brick, EVP Anacomp, SVP Texas Instruments): ”…my career was profoundly affected by…the DPV concepts…My success in transforming businesses [importantly] based on the new mindset, insights, & tools I acquired.”
Dr. W. Fraser (Former Chairman, Managing Director, Kodak Australasia): “We used the DPV course and its powerful concepts, extensively…found it outstanding – one of the very best management courses I’ve ever encountered…”
