ValueArc Expedition eBooks: Finding Your Peak Value

The 6 Challenging Questions for Discovering Your Company’s Greatest Brand Power and Market Value

G U I D I N G Y O U R VA L U E E X P E D I T I O N

©2015 VALUEARC, A DAYNERHALL COMPANY. All rights reserved worldwide.

ValueArc, the ValueArc Platform and the ValueArc logo are trademarks of DaynerHall. All other names, identities or logos are the property of their respective companies. All content within the ValueArc program and within this eBook is the intellectual property of DaynerHall, and cannot be sold, published or reproduced without express permission.

Finding Peak Value I A ValueArc Expedition eBook 1

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Growth. It’s up there. You just need to figure out how to reach it.

Perhaps you’ve tried to grow via brute force – by adding more sales people or distributors – only to learn that such an approach no longer scales. Or maybe you’ve considered new markets, but discovered cost of entry is too high.

Chances are, you’ve also looked outside your company for inspiration. If you’re like most business leaders, you’ve turned to familiar media venues such as Forbes, Bloomberg and The Harvard Business Review, or studied the insights of visionary business authors like Peter Drucker, Geoffrey Moore, Jim Collins and Malcolm Gladwell. And you’ve likely studied the success of such iconic, game-changing brands like Apple, Federal Express, TiVo, Starbucks, Cirque du Soleil and Yellow Tail Wine.

There’s no shortage of ideas and strategies for making your company more successful and disruptive. But often, they require significant changes to your organization or business model – changes that can be costly and time-consuming, even completely out of reach.

But what if you could equip yourself for the climb ahead with the resources that are already within your business? What if you could change everything... simply by finding your peak business value?

Finding Peak Value I A ValueArc Expedition eBook

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SEEING THESTORMTH

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When the snow gets heavy, it’s hard to see – even right in front of you. That can be dangerous when you’re trying to climb. The same is true when it comes to seeing your greatest business value. When faced with the ever-shifting winds of the market, it can be challenging to find clarity around your message and position. The truth is, you probably already have what you need to move your business to a position of maximized value... you might just be blinded by the storm around you.

Here are 6 questions for your business that can help you discover your greatest and often hidden value.


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WHY NOW?1

What factors are driving your need for maximum brand power and market value? For most companies, they usually involve critical business transition points:

• Entering a new market?• Changing distribution models?• Desire for an acquisition – or IPO?• Adapting to an evolving market?• Responding to new competitive threats?

Maybe you’re simply stuck on a plateau and you need to start growing again. Whatever your motivation, greater brand power can help you drive more sales, attract partners and employees, enable favorable equity financing and much more.

How you respond to today’s challenge can set the course for your long-term success.

QU

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2Q

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N TRAP PEDIN A TACTICAL CAVE?

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Is it getting harder to grow and maintain profit, even as you introduce new products or services? Many companies find initial success by coming up with a good idea, then focusing on improving it – only to hit an icy wall when they mature.

There’s a downside when companies operate exclusively on a product-centric business model: positioning and marketing become driven by product cycles. Eventually this tends to draw the competitive battle lines along product features and price. As a result, brand value becomes narrowly defined and growth and profitability stall.

What’s your value beyond your product?


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NDO YOU ACTUALLY kNOW HOW THE MARkET PERCEIVES YOU?You want the market to recognize your value, but what do they see? Do you know your company’s default position in the market? This is the consensus perception that is probably significantly different than the one you desire.

• What are the most damaging misconceptions about your company?

• When a potential customer looks at your company, with whom do they tend to compare you?

• Does the market perceive your value to be tactical or strategic?

• Are you being judged primarily on price?

These are just a few of the questions whose answers enable you to determine your perception gap (or Value Gap) in the market.


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NDO YOUR OWN PEOPLEHAVE OF YOUR COMPANY’S MARkET ROLE?

CONFLICTING

VIEWS

Your company’s perception gap may not be restricted to the outside world; it may exist inside the company, as well.

Do your employees, executive team and shareholders understand and agree on your place in the market – why you do what you do? If they don’t, how can they help project a forceful brand narrative outward – to your partners, customers, and the world at large?

This problem is more common than you think. Executives who are constantly focusing on execution and tactical issues rarely have time to build a consensus around a strategic narrative.

A simple exercise: ask each member of your executive team how they would describe to a neighbor what your company does and why it’s special – in 20 words or less.


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And by “stars,” we mean thought-leading authors of books like “Blue Ocean Strategy,” “Crossing the Chasm,” “Start With Why” and “The E-Myth Enterprise.” Nothing wrong with this line-up of business insights and inspiration. Many smart company leaders have these and other ground-breaking books on their nightstands for a reason.

But even the smartest business formulations aren’t always enough, or they require you make dramatic changes to your business.

Perhaps you don’t need to dramatically change your business to boost your brand power and your company value. Maybe the secret to pushing your business to the peak of its potential is something far simpler and more immediately actionable than the methods some of these authors prescribe.


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6Q

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NCOULD THE kEY TOYOUR BRAND POWER AND MAxIMUM MARkET VALUE BE

Have you ever looked deep into your organization and taken aninventory of the many assets, processes and resources your

company possesses that are unique in the market,and that bring value to your customers?

Are your customers – or your own employees, for that matter – even aware of these unique

aspects of your company? If not, how can you achieve your maximum value?

IN PLA N SIGHT?HIDD

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VALUEARC WILL HELP YOU ANSWER THESE TOUGH QUESTIONS – AND REVEAL YOUR MOST STRATEGIC VALUE TO THE MARkET.ValueArc is a proven, structured approach to assessing your current market position and uncovering the hidden gems within your organization that make your company truly special.

It’s a process that works for companies of any size and in any market. And it provides a blueprint for leveraging your new and improved position for revenue growth and broader brand recognition.


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VALUEARC PROVIDES A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE ON YOUR COMPANY THAT ENSURES THAT YOUR MARkETING AND COMMUNICATIONS ARE TIED TO YOUR GOALSThe ValueArc Process includes a Value Pillar™ exercise with your senior managers. It becomes a catalyst for introspection, deliberation and consensus that reveals and organizes the most potent aspects of your business – and enables you to relate them to the most important concerns of your market.

This positioning architecture will provide the framework for a new strategic narrative that will make you more attractive and valuable to your market.

UNIQUE MARKET CLAIM

PRIMARY BENEFITS

VALUE PILLARS

A simple, one-sentence expression of your unique value to your customers and your markets

The five or six ways your unique combination of strategic assets — as detailed in your Value Pillars — empower you to help meet your customers’ most critical challenges, and support your unique market claim

1 2

How the market in general

perceives you now – your

generic position

DEFAULT POSITION

Your unique or patented

technologies, processes,

services and expertise

PROPRIETARY ASSETS

3

Your unique practices and

processes for serving customers

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

METHOD

The specific customer types/

market segments that you serve

CUSTOMERS/ MARKET FOCUS

4 5

The partnerships, alliances and

other key relationships

that add value or credibility to

your brand

STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS

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How you intend to shape and improve the market in the

next 3 to 5 years

CORPORATE VISION

MAXIMIZED / STRATEGIC VALUE

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ET R

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VALUEARC ELEVATES

• A leading IT company separated itself from competitors by creating a customer assurance

program that virtually eliminated the risk of IT outsourcing for mid-size companies.

• A major storage management company elevated the value of its technology by repositioning

data storage – from a tactical function, to strategic “data availability

” that drives business.

• An innovative security technology company became a mainstream enterprise player

when it repositioned its technology as “preemptive security.”

• A healthcare information management company elevated its target buyer from an

operations title to C-level titl

e by creating a performance index that tied its services

to financial outcomes and other strategic metrics.

12Finding Peak Value I A ValueArc Expedition eBook

“I have used the ValueArc process at three different ventures, and the result is always the same: better marketing, more sales and greater value – even an acqusition. I call that reliable.”

TOM TURNERCEO OF CABO VIDA GROUP (FORMER PRESIDENT OF DATAMAX, FORMER CEO OF ITRONIX)

“Internet security is a highly competitive market. ValueArc helped us identify our intangible assets and harness their power to reposition our value. The result: an acquisition by IBM for five times our annual revenue.”

C. DAVID SUTTONFORMER DIRECTOR OF MARkETING – INTERNET SECURITY SYSTEMS (ISS)

WANT TO LEARN MORE?Email [email protected] or call (407) 428-5750, x222

to discuss a full ValueArc engagement for your company.

Or purchase the ValueArc Self-Directed package, which includes a workbook that details the ValueArc™ process.

Learn more at www.ValueArc.com

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ValueArc Expedition eBooks: Finding Your Peak Value