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Intangible value drivers (often considered “soft” value drivers like brand, quality, or reliability) are critical factors in the B2B product design, pricing, and sales process since these items are not easily replicated by new or low-cost competitors. Quantifying this value delivers a powerful message and helps differentiate products from their competitors. Common intangible value drivers that resonate with B2B purchasers usually center on items such as risk, revenue, convenience, and assets.
Risk Related Value Drivers
Risk related value drivers help B2B buyers understand how your offering can allow them to avoid costs that result from setbacks resulting from events such as: product malfunctions, compliance changes, or lack of productivity. Examples include:
- Reduce risk of damaged equipment because of roof leaks
- Reduce rent loss because of construction delays
- Reduce cost of fines or lawsuits as a result of health, safety, or environmental regulations
- Reduce days of non-productive time
- Reduce risk of catastrophic failure
- Reduce unscheduled maintenance costs
Revenue Related Value Drivers
Revenue related value drivers help B2B buyers understand how your offering benefits their top line revenue. Examples include:
- Increase sticker price of a vehicle because of less weight/more room
- Increase revenue by bringing a drug to market sooner
- Increase share of a buyer segment
Convenience Related Value Drivers
Convenience related value drivers help B2B buyers understand how your offering allows their business to run more efficiently. Examples include:
- Reduce storage and handling costs because of packaging
- Reduce waste management costs
- Reduce aftermarket maintenance / customer service costs
- Reduce administrative or supervision costs
- Reduce employee training/turnover costs
Asset Related Value Drivers
Asset related value drivers help B2B buyers understand how your offering enables them to save cash which can be used to improve other areas of their business. Examples include:
- Reduce amount of raw material inventory
- Reduce amount of finished goods inventory
- Reduce amount of capital expenditures
- Faster collection of accounts receivables
- Reduce number of SKUs in product line
Understanding, and quantifying, intangible value is a critically important strategic task for managers. Intangible value is usually a huge contributor to your offer’s overall value, especially for larger market-leading companies. A solid link that ties features and benefits to value drivers enables:
- B2B Product teams to design products that clearly benefit customers
- B2B Pricing teams to better price products based on the value they provide to the customer
- B2B Marketing teams to more effectively communicate the value that products provide to customers
- B2B Sales teams to give a clear picture to justify prices by demonstrating the economic impact of their products
