Whether your business is indispensable or instantly replaceable is the name of the game.

There are 5 levels of value in a business. Climbing up this value ladder can completely change your selling game. Most of the businesses start at level 1, some manage to reach level 2 or 3, very few make it to level 4 and probably a mere 2% make it to the level 5.

Let’s take a closer look at each level in this value ladder.

1. Instantly Replaceable: 

• Being in this stage means you are just meeting the basic expectation as laid out by the prospect.
• Prospect was looking for a feature X and by chance your product/service happens to provide that feature X. Prospect was looking for a toothpaste at the nearest shopping mart from his house and by chance that mart carried the toothpaste you sell and by chance prospect bought it.
• At this stage prospects don’t really care about your service or product because it’s instantly replaceable. Prospect could have picked any other toothpaste available in that mart.
• Being in this stage is something like holding a lottery ticket and expecting to win. As you have absolutely no control over the outcome.
• Any success you get at this stage is just dumb luck.
• To be honest, it’s not a good place to be.

2. Decent Enough:

• Everybody thinks that their product or service is really great. However, the harsh reality is most of the products/services in the market are JUST average.
• Most products in the market look like clones of each other. It’s difficult to differentiate and find the best amongst them.
• So, winning business at this level also accounts to sheer luck or low cost or adamant persuasion.
• Has it ever happened to you that your clients battle to get last minute discounts from you just before signing the contract? Being in this stage sucks. This happens when clients are not able to differentiate you from your competitor and trying their negotiation skills to save money.
• For example, if a company is looking for a freelance content writer. And there are tons of them available online with more or less same ratings or reviews and per article rate of ~$100. It’s again based on luck who gets chosen.

3. Differentiator:

• At this stage you have to differentiate yourself from your competitors not just with empty words but by providing real value.
• If your clients understand that you are providing personalized and valuable service to your clients which is difficult to get else where they would not even mind paying extra to you versus your competitors.
• In fact, at this stage you will be in a position to choose your clients. Whether you want to work with clients who appreciate the value you provide and ditch the ones who just want to get things done at a cheaper price.
• For example: There are tons of shops to buy clothes from. However, at your boutique if you provide custom-made beautifully designed apparels for your clients. And your clients feel great to wear those apparels and receive tons of compliments. With your clothes they looked absolutely gorgeous and completely different in a gathering. They no-doubt would mind paying a premium price to you in fact would come back to you again to get more clothes made from you.

4. Reliable:

• At this stage the success of your client’s business relies on the success of your business.
• You got to tie their wins with your wins.
• You got to provide valuable insights relevant to the industry to your client.
• It’s vital that you help your client solve their business issues.
• For example: You provide a service like HubSpot. You help your clients manage their business intelligence data about your clients’ email exchanges, proposals, projects, pricing, timing etc. Valuable insights from this data further helps your client to improve their business. Your client relies on you in a way for their business. You client won’t leave you until they get frustrated with your service or it fails for some other reason because there is a lot of data that you carry about them which is really difficult to transfer to any other such software. You better keep your clients happy :).

5. Indispensable:

• At this stage you client do not want to leave you because their success is built on top of your success.
• At this stage your clients want you to be their legitimate partners for a very long time.
• This is the stage where you help your client’s business to have a consistent revenue growth by helping them in multiple aspects of their business. For example: Either by fixing their broken sales process or by coaching their sales team to perform better or by helping them improve the efficiency of their logistics or helping them with the right strategy to market. Essentially you work hand in hand to grow your client’s business and make it reach just another level.

This value ladder holds true not just for a product, a service, a company but an individual too. So, as an individual if you possess common skills, you are easily replaceable. However, if you possess a very rare skill or talent, you would always be in demand. The company you are working with would consider you as an asset. Other companies would have an eye on an opportunity to poach you. Thus, always look for ways to climb up the value ladder. 

#FoodForThought: At which level does your business stand now? Are you instantly replaceable or indispensable? 

If you are not sure at which level does your business belong, we will be happy to help.

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

You might also like to read “How you can focus on buyer to improve your sales”.

If you wish to keep receiving great business insights, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!

We visit your inbox just once in two weeks!

Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!