Baselining Shows Customers How Good You Are
Without reference to a baseline, improvements can sometimes feel smaller than they actually are.
Customers typically seek outside help when they face a problem they don't know how to solve or don't have the time to deal with.
For example, a couple might ask a contractor to build an extension to their house to accommodate their growing family. A restaurant owner might retain an interior designer to modernize the space to attract more patrons. A company might turn to a lawyer to solve a complex legal dispute. Or a retail store owner might hire a web designer to build an online store to sell to customers outside their local area.
Clients are usually willing to pay for external help when they feel that an expert with the right tools and sufficient practice can address a particular issue cheaper or faster than they can. For business owners, transforming an unpleasant situation (problem) into a pleasant one (solution) creates the value for which customers compensate them.
However, what a customer considers a pleasing result can take many different forms: a family spending a lot of time in the newly built house extension, a restaurant earning more money after the renovation, a company focusing again on creating great products after solving the dispute, or a retail store shipping across the U.S. after launching an e-commerce site.
Although these are tangible results, the effort to achieve them is sometimes not noticed enough, diminishing the value of your contributions.
How Do You Make Your Value Visible?
The answer is surprisingly simple.
You make your value as a business visible to a customer by comparing the finished product with where you started.
Baselining is like taking a before picture. A tight living space, an unsightly interior in a restaurant, wasted hours on a legal dispute, or a cluttered website describe situations before a project begins. However, a baseline can also be a financial metric, such as a specific level of revenue, profitability, or inventory turns.
Try to capture this before picture. It usually fades away quickly once the first improvements become visible, slowly reducing the value of your work.
In my experience, it is important to occasionally remind your clients of how things were before you arrived. Because without reference to a baseline, improvements can sometimes feel smaller than they actually are.
Additionally, these before-and-after comparisons make great stories on your website, showcasing your value in achieving transformational results for your customers.
