The Word to Learn is Value (part one)

I've been thinking about this for quite some time now. With the economy now in the dumps, this makes more sense than ever.

Think about the word VALUE.

Not values, or morals, but VALUE, as in getting your money's worth.

As a business person, or as a consumer, we all want VALUE for our money.

How we measure VALUE, is very subjective except when we don't get it, we know it.

The other day, I was shopping for soap and found 7 bars of Irish Spring for $3 at a dollar store.
To me, that was VALUE. If I bought it at a convenience store, it would have been $7.

I spent 5 bucks with tip for a white chocolate mocha last week from the FireFly Coffee House. I got what I wanted and it was GOOD. It also is a good VALUE, in my eyes.

I got a bill a couple of weeks ago from a plumber that I called 4 months ago to fix a backed up toilet. He spent 2 hours at my house and didn't fix the problem. So I had to call another guy who spent 1 hour and fixed it.

The bill for the plumber that fixed it, $160. The bill from the plumber that didn't fix it, $130.

I'm fighting the $130 bill because there was no value. The other guy, I recommend to others.

So here's my question and challenge to you:

What are you doing to provide VALUE? Are you sure? Would your customers agree?