The one piece of advice that has served every business that ever chose to implement it is the “10x’s Value Rule”.  To attract and retain clients or customers give them value that is ten times the cost of the service or product you are offering.   It’s simple, effective, and just good business practice.

The state of our economy has made the consumers more conscious than ever about what they spend money on and they are far pickier about who they do business with.  As a result businesses have needed to find ways to give more value or otherwise watch their business disintegrate.   Even though we never like to see businesses fail—especially small businesses—this situation has helped eradicate a lot of bad and “middle-of-the-road” businesses from the marketplace, leaving only those that bring real value to people’s lives.

However, if you haven’t been paying close attention lately you may have missed the paradigm shift.  Now that (mostly) everyone has become value driven, ten times value is what’s “expected” by the consumer.  Suddenly value has lost some of its WOW factor.  Which means something else has to take its place in order to draw the awareness of consumers and create a gap between the good and the great.  That something else is Purpose.

I’m not talking about a mission statement on the third page of the company’s operations manual or what they mention to a new employee upon hiring them.  I’m talking about something that’s bigger than the company or any one person in it.  A cause that employees, team members, clients, and customers alike can rally around.  Something that makes your team feel good about where they work and the work they do.  It makes the customer feel as though their money is not just supporting a business and its owner, but its supporting a culture and concept that lifts people up and makes a difference.  This is the new way to wealth creation.