What is Value?

Lately I have been struggling with the word "value". We have been born in interesting times where everything changes. As soon as you buy the new "must have" it is instantly out of date. You drive a brand new car off the dealer's lot and its value has depreciated by thousands of dollars. If so much is changing so quickly, where do we find value in what we buy for either our businesses or ourselves? How do we know we are giving a solid value to our families with our services? What products or services can a service business comfortably purchase? Are we so used to helping others that we forget that there are services to help us?

This question of value caused me to search for the definition of value in the dictionary - on the Internet. I realized I did not own a hard copy dictionary anymore. Clearly, I do not see the value in keeping one on hand. I went to Dictionary.com and this is what it said:

An amount, as of goods, services, or money, considered to be a fair and suitable equivalent for something else; a fair price or return.
Monetary or material worth: the fluctuating value of gold and silver.
Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor; utility or merit: the value of an education.
A principle, standard, or quality considered worthwhile or desirable: "The speech was a summons back to the patrician values of restraint and responsibility" (Jonathan Alter).

With the definition of value in hand I have tried to apply this to the industry, especially when considering a relatively new product or service: use of the Internet and your own website. Starting at the top of the definition list let's work our way down.

Point one: On one hand I hear people whisper they afraid they will not receive a fair price in return if they "buy into or believe in" a certain value or business pitch. On the other hand, I see companies and people willing to help educate members of the funeral community in what fair value means. Why are the two points of view so disparate?

Point two: What is the material worth of a service, product or value? This is tricky. How does one measure value? Sometimes value is measured in terms of dollars and cents. At other times, repeat visitors to a business constitute a measure of value. A third measurement involves the bringing of new business through the door. Monetary, or material worth is a more easy value to prove. If the bottom line is increasing, then we think the value is there. Whatever it is, it must be working! New products and services that can "prove" value, however, cannot necessarily be tracked using previous or outmoded methods. To track the results of new methods, and to discover if something is adding value to a business, requires a new way of thinking. When does one take that leap of faith?

Point three: Translating services or products into a utility value can be difficult. Each person or business may have a different philosophy of value or find merit in ways uniquely personal. Therefore, it might be useful to look at the possibility of new products and services in terms of results. For example:

Increasing productivity without increasing staff can be one result that new services can bring to your business. Letting computers, the Internet and software programs do their work can help you track profit and loss. In addition, you might discover what services people are using the most in your type of business. Your personal website could provide you with information about the people that visit your website and thereby provide a constant marketing tool on the Internet.
When you use the Internet as a form of advertising and giving information, you can pick up new customers that would not know who you are from traditional methods. Some people are too far away to visit your facility. Computer savvy people go to the Internet before they look in an ordinary phone book for information. If they find someone else that is on the web, they will not even bother to look for you in the way you have always garnered customers in the past.
Computer access can help you track financial information about your clients. It can store important data for future use. It can help you determine demographics of clients. Most importantly. The computer and the Internet makes Your Business available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. (24/7)

Point four: This principle discusses a standard or quality considered worthwhile or desirable. This is a subjective opinion of the value of a product or a service. We can find this internally within ourselves. Often we judge a value by what the collective industry is saying. Interestingly enough, in psychology there is something called the group affect or "group think". Everyone else in the group thinks the other person is going to do something first. In reality, often nothing is accomplished at all. It is difficult to make internal decisions and be the one to set the standard. This takes a certain courage, and an ability to make decisions "outside the box".

The definition of value has raised more questions in my mind. It seems to me, that as members of an industry, we should be having an open dialogue with each other. These are exciting times. Through discourse, we can discover what causes our resistance to change and explore new methods of practicing our craft. Instead of whispering to each other, let us meet the challenge of new concepts and be on the cutting edge of our service industry.