by John Carroll

            I've recently come across the term consent communication, one that I find similar to permission marketing. From my perspective, this is all about relationships, and relationships are built on a base of trust and liking. If I don't trust you, I’m unlikely to open up sufficiently with my needs and desires. Without that opening, no relationship can take shape. Similarly, if I don't like you, I'll resist your attempts to have me respond to your communications. If you continue in your attempts to communicate, I may respond bluntly by asking you to remove me from your contact list.
            Once the basis of trust and liking is assured, relationships must also hold some present or future value to those in the relationship. For example, the value to someone in my providing an article as content for a business publication or web site is that the recipient gets valuable information from a credible source. Because that publication or web site wants to attract and keep readers or visitors, my deliverable equates to value. In this example, the value to me is that this publication or web site and the company behind it have established a brand or an online presence and, presumably, will get the word out. Readers of the publication or visitors drawn to the web site see my name and can visit my web site or contact me directly. This expands my territory, a key objective in my ongoing marketing process.
            Long-term relationships hinge on lasting value. If you want long-term relationships, how do you propose to offer and deliver lasting value? Let’s assume that I am your client or customer. I’ve decided to take some time to speak with you and provide you with valuable insights about me and what I value.

Whether I’m considering starting a new relationship or deciding if I’ll stick with an existing one, the answer comes from the value equation:

                              Value – Price = Net Value

            In this equation, Value is my perceived value of our relationship to me. Price is what I’ll pay to get or keep that value. Net Value is the difference between the two. There are three possible answers to this value equation: a positive difference, no difference and a negative difference.
            A positive difference is when Net Value is above zero.  In this case, chances are good that I’ll choose to enter into or continue the relationship. I sense that I continue to get more out of the relationship than I must invest in it.
            For example, as a professional speaker, I value my membership in the National Speakers Association. The Value I find in networking, relevant and timely information and credibility as a member of this organization exceeds the Price, which is the annual membership fee.
            The value equation yields no difference when Net Value is zero. Here I can go either way. I may decide that I’ll take my resources (time, money, effort and energy) elsewhere, looking for a better return on the price I pay. I may also decide that as long as I’m getting at least as much value as the price I’m investing in the relationship, I’ll stick with it.
            Note that it’s always easier for me to stay right where I am without going through the pain of creating new relationships. New relationships usually require energy, effort, thought, time and money. Familiarity may, at times, breed contempt. It also provides a source of comfort in times characterized by rapid change. I will tend to stay where I am and may require good reasons for vacating my current position.
            An example of zero Net Value is the craftsperson who sees higher pay for the same skilled position at a competitor and considers the possibility of changing employers. By thinking through the opportunity, he or she realizes that a 50-cent per hour increase in a work year yields a before-tax raise of $1,040, based on working 52 40-hour weeks. By moving, however, this craftsperson would forfeit seniority with the current employer and lose a full week of vacation for the first two years of employment. Based on a $15 hourly wage, the week of vacation pays a gross of $600. Taking two years of both the pay increase and the lost vacation week, the equation looks like this:

            With working conditions and all other things perceived as being equal between the two employers, this craftsperson chooses to remain in the current situation. While the relationship with the current employer is such that the craftsperson is open to considering new opportunities, the Net Value of the current situation in comparison to the job offer is too close to zero to justify making the change.
            A negative difference in the value equation results when the perception of Value is lower than the Price to be paid. This explains why it costs more and takes more time to establish new relationships. Without a track record to go on, I‘m likely to consider the Value and Price of new relationships and decide that I’m better off with the status quo. In selling to me, your challenge is to build the perception of Value far beyond the Price required. When Price gets lost in the long shadow of perceived Value, it will take some other circumstance to prevent the sale from taking place and the new relationship from forming.
            For example, one of our clients is a high-profile firm that specializes in placing junior military officers with private sector employers. When the founder/CEO considers  sales training opportunities for his team, he regularly calculates fees based on their equivalent in placements at an average dollar per placement figure. The question he then asks himself is simply, “Would this investment generate the number of incremental placements to more than pay for itself in new revenues and resulting net profit to the firm?”
            For the purpose of an example, let’s say that this client’s average revenue per placement is $10,000. He’ll make a $25,000 investment if and only if he can comfortably predict that the return on that investment will be at least five placements he wouldn’t have completed otherwise. If he’s uncertain that he’ll get even three placements, his perceived Net Value is a negative difference, costing him more than he’ll receive as a return and he’ll pass on the investment.
            In an existing relationship, a negative difference happens when, over time, I’m no longer happy with my perceived ongoing Value of continuing in the relationship. I sense that I’m paying too high a Price for the Value received and I’ll choose to go through the pain of discontinuing the relationship. I may seek a replacement relationship or just leave you and not pursue it any further.
            Value is the key here. If you can provide me with Value over the long haul, and the Price I pay for that Value is, in my eyes, less than the Value received, I’ll continue in the relationship. If, on the other hand, the Price appears larger than Value received, I may not act immediately, but over time I’ll begin to cool on the relationship. This is why, when you make some offer that requires a commitment on my part and the value equation has been a negative number for a sufficient period of time, you may be surprised when I decline the offer without having given you any clear signals that I’ve become less than enamored with the relationship.

            So what exactly builds Value in my eyes? Ideally, our relationship should be strong enough for you to ask me. Or you should be close enough to me in our relationship that you can easily tell what represents Value for me.
            Value also comes in various sizes. For example, you could take the lazy way out when you generalize and hope that the coffee mug imprinted with your logo represents Value to me. In this case, you run the risk of my getting so many such gifts through the years that I automatically give them away or send them straight to the corner with items for the next garage sale. That may defeat your purpose of having a reminder of your business in my plain sight day after day.
            Conversely, you could also dig deeper and learn that I appreciate and value a handwritten thank you note after I buy something from you. In this case, I value the time you’ve taken to write the note and feel that you consider our relationship important.
            Whether the Value added is large or small, it’s critical that you locate and uncover what Value means to me and find ways to deliver that Value over the long haul. That will register to me as a relationship worth keeping, one which can withstand a few mistakes along the way without my immediate departure. Have enough deposits in that account, as in Stephen Covey’s emotional bank account, and you can make a few withdrawals without risking an overdraft situation.

            The opportunity or challenge you face, then, in establishing or maintaining a long-term relationship with me, your customer, is to uncover what represents Value to me and find ways to deliver that Value repeatedly. Be ready for what I perceive as Value to change periodically, because conditions and situations change. If I feel I have plenty of what you’re continuing to deliver to me, the perception of Value is diminished, as is my sense of your knowing what I value here and now.
            Ask me on a regular basis and in various ways what I value and why. Read up on what others in my industry value and why and compare those findings to your conversations with me. Anticipate changes in what I value and confirm them with relevant questions. Help me understand what I should value, based on all you’ve learned, and I can then value you as a trusted advisor to my personal and professional advancement.