How Do You Create Value for Your Company, Your Customers and Your Collaborators?
Things to Consider When developing a Plan for Creating Value
I have long talked about the need to create value for a company, its customers and collaborators and I have given supporting theories. but are there ways to turn those recommendations and theories into actions that can be taken.
I think we can start with looking at how one of the great thinkers of our age, Abraham Maslow, thought about society. He created a pyramid of needs that individuals have that must be met. The lower level of needs need to be met at some level before the next level on the pyramid can be reached. Those levels are:
Physiological Needs – basic survival (food, shelter, etc.)
Safety Needs – security, health, stability
Belongingness and Love – relationships, group identity
Esteem Needs – status, recognition, achievement
Self-Actualization – personal growth, creativity, fulfillment
Understanding these levels of Maslow's hierarchy can get us started toward how we can create value for company, its customers and collaborators. If you could determine which level your customers are on you can create a strategy to reach and serve those customers.
I have used a process I developed that was based on research done by Gerald Zaltman and Nan Lin. While these individuals didn't work together, they studied the decisions individuals made and how society and emotions impacted their decisions. Using their work I created the Consumer Adoption Drivers, Those Drivers are:
1. Group Influence Intensity – Peer pressure exerted on customers
Supported by: Nan Lin
Work: Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action
Justification: Lin’s theory explains how social networks and the resources embedded within them (e.g., influence, norms) affect behavior. Group influence fits directly into this social capital model, particularly through mechanisms of social reinforcement and conformity.
2. Perishability – How long the product is deemed useful
Supported indirectly by: Gerald Zaltman
Work: How Customers Think
Justification: Zaltman’s work explores how consumers unconsciously evaluate value, utility, and relevance over time. The concept of perishability ties into how consumers perceive product lifespan and relevance, often influenced by metaphor and emotion.
3. Psychological Appeal – Status associated with the product
Supported by: Gerald Zaltman
Work: How Customers Think
Justification: Zaltman argues that unconscious emotions and metaphors shape product appeal. Psychological drivers like status are core to his model of how meaning is constructed and how symbolic value leads to adoption.
4. Price Sensitivity – Budgeting considerations
Supported indirectly by: Gerald Zaltman
Work: How Customers Think
Justification: While not focused directly on price sensitivity, Zaltman’s insights into subconscious priorities and mental trade-offs help explain how consumers value cost relative to emotional and functional needs.
5. Relative Price Influence – Availability of substitutes
Supported by: Gerald Zaltman
Work: How Customers Think
Justification: Zaltman’s frameworks help marketers understand how consumers compare products emotionally and cognitively, including how alternatives are evaluated based on symbolic meaning—not just functional substitution.
6. Frequency of Purchase – How often a product is bought
Supported indirectly by: Nan Lin
Work: Social Capital
Justification: Frequent purchases can reflect habitual behavior influenced by social routines and peer norms—core concepts in Lin’s theory of social action within networks.
7. Search Time Intensity – Time spent looking for the product
Supported by: Gerald Zaltman
Work: How Customers Think
Justification: Zaltman emphasizes that consumers’ decision-making often occurs below awareness. The intensity of search may reflect subconscious need complexity or identity alignment, both of which Zaltman explores.
8. Tangible Differentiability – Physical product differences
Supported by: Gerald Zaltman
Work: How Customers Think
Justification: Consumers don’t always respond to objective physical differences. Zaltman’s research shows how perceived differences are influenced by metaphor and internal narratives, which affect adoption.
9. Intangible Differentiability – Non-physical product differences
Supported by: Gerald Zaltman
Work: How Customers Think
Justification: This is Zaltman’s core strength. His metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET) focuses on the meaning customers assign to brands, relationships, and guarantees—making intangible factors central to choice.
10. Technical Complexity – Need for training to use the product
Supported indirectly by: Nan Lin
Work: Social Capital
Justification: Accessing help and training is often mediated by social ties. Lin’s theory explains how people leverage their networks to acquire new knowledge or support, influencing their ability and willingness to adopt complex products.
If you combine the Consumer Adoption Drivers with Maslow's Hierarchy you can derive some considerations that can be used to create customer value.
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