Results are a “big dang deal” – we all live and die by them. Oh how we love those golden eggs that start with R … ROI, ROE, ROR… add your metric here. But I’ve been wondering if we are making things too complicated. Are there easy ways to increase value in business? People are people, and they view things much simpler.

“Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.”

Galileo Galilei

As businesspeople, we like things to be measurable. We feel measurements prove us right. If it is tangible and we can break it down, put it on a spreadsheet and ultimately on PowerPoint – we love it. But when people get in the mix, they mess everything up. Human beings don’t play by the rules. They defy the requirements of any reliable measurements – they are neither consistent nor repeatable. So all our pretty numbers still come back to value.

People define your organization’s value. You don’t.

People want to know how your message, vision, content, product or service is going to add value to their lives, careers and businesses. But that’s not enough. They want to feel confident that you can and will deliver what you promise. So forget for a moment what you want to measure. Here is what most of your customers, consumers and all the people in the audience are really thinking.

 Personal Questions

•  Will it make me thinner?

•  Will it make me younger?

•  Will it make me richer?

•  Will it make me more secure?

Business Questions

•  Why should I believe you?

•  Why should I change?

•  Will it have actual benefits to my career?

•  Will it have actual benefits to my company?

•  Will it make me look good?

•  Will I receive more than I spend?

•  Will it be a better choice than other information, suppliers or products?

•  What happens if this is the wrong choice?

Those are value questions. How do you measure, evaluate, and understand the impact that value can have on people and organizations? This is where ROI doesn’t work well as a way to measure the effectiveness of communication, leadership and content. People respond to intangible things as strongly as they do to tangible things.

Give The Golden Goose The Day Off

I guess it all comes down to a little-used expression: “Return on Value.” Whereas ROI is all those concrete, money-in/money-out measurements, ROV is the total reward that people receive from whatever you are asking them to do. It’s the result of the experience you provide over time.

ROV isn’t obvious in clear and cold numbers, but it has a definite impact on the bottom line. Return on Value pays off in terms of greater ability to adopt changes, innovation, better decision-making, communication, morale, productivity, loyalty, increased sales, enhanced service, expanded market share, lower costs, improved profitability – hey, all those ROI factors! But ROV is a gradual, long-term process. You have to give people time to let it happen.

So you need both, but try to make them equal in importance. ROI pays off in money and revenue. ROV pays off in people, and the relationships and experiences that keep them coming back. Then everything’s golden!

If you want to know more about adding real value to your marketing, events and content just click on CONTACT US and get in touch.

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