Host Alex Stacey welcomes you to this first episode of the Better Value, Better Business podcast. Alex graduated from the University of Buckingham’s Business School as a mature student where she wrote her dissertation on how value is experienced. This podcast explores value, it will cover how value is perceived, created, formed by who and how. So join Alex as she takes you on this journey of discovery and gives you the tools you need to better understand value.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Marketing and sales automation are powerful tools in today's world. But we must learn to use them correctly and avoid slipping into bad habits that could cost us in the log run.
• It is important to identify what your ‘value proposition’ is, this will help guide you through the process of automation. But, as your business and goals change so will your value proposition, therefore, it is important to reevaluate it at regular intervals.
• It is important to consider our behaviour. How do we make choices? How are we persuaded? How do we evaluate services? By doing this we can understand our stakeholders in a clear and concise way and not simply by economic models.
• Once you learn about value you can maximise the value in your organisation. This knowledge will give you the tools to strengthen your services, product design, process, brand and customer and staff loyalty.

BEST MOMENTS

“People want experience not products. They want the experience your product can give them”

“Once you understand value, you are in a position to reap the rewards in your business.”

“ You can learn to create value by researching your own stakeholders and applying that research practically.

EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex’s Website: www.as-insights.com

Alex’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexvci

Alex’s Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrastacey

Alex’s email: info@as-insights.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Alexandra Stacey is fascinated about value and our perceptions of value. She undertook an MSC in Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience Management with the University of Buckingham’s Business School and her dissertation included how value is experienced. Her own life experience includes being a parent, marketer, teacher, project and events manager and musician. She is the founder of AS Insights. This is a business that helps organisations improve through uncovering their stakeholder’s experiences interpreting them through behavioural theories.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

In today’s world businesses and organisations are able to deliver things much more quickly at the touch of a button than 15 years ago. And our competitors can too.

We are in danger of escalating journeys down the wrong track and be too far gone to retrieve them.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to do the right thing right first time instead of becoming very efficient at doing the wrong thing?

Well this is what this podcast is about. It is about optimising value in your customer or employee or stakeholder experience in different manifestations. You get to understand how we think and behave in different scenarios and can apply them to your own purchasing, sales, recruitment, team-building, customer retention and audience perception management.

This week Alex gets into the topic of cognition. She will look at how we can save energy and effort, the associative mind, priming, anchoring, classification and ego depletion. And how you can use these tools to add value to your business and life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• There are two types of value. Economic value, which is the value we place on an item that we have exchanged for cash, and, human value, i.e. what is valuable to us and our stakeholders in emotional terms.
• A priming effect is when our behaviour is motivated subconsciously. Alex discusses the example of a wine shop and how sales were influenced based on the music played to customers.
• Alex explains her reasons behind choosing the theme tune for the podcast and her hope that it would influence your expectations of the show.
• Alex discusses the difference between ‘System 1 Thinking’ and ‘ System 2 Thinking’ and how one mode of thinking is quick, easy and instinctual and the other requires effort on our part. And, how we often default to quick and easy thinking without exploring the other option.
• Alex talks about colour and design and how we associate different colours with different offers or perceptions of value and what can do to enhance the perceived value of your brand.

BEST MOMENTS

“The brain tries to save as much energy as possible, which causes us to make decisions with little effort.”

“Instead of using rational thinking to make decisions, we often use shortcuts instead.”

“As humans we jump to conclusions easily and avoid doing hard work to find the truth.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex’s Website: www.as-insights.com

Alex’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexvci

Alex’s Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrastacey

Alex’s email: info@as-insights.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Alexandra Stacey is fascinated about value and our perceptions of value. She undertook an MSC in Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience Management with the University of Buckingham’s Business School and her dissertation included how value is experienced. Her own life experience includes being a parent, marketer, teacher, project and events manager and musician. She is the founder of AS Insights. This is a business that helps organisations improve through uncovering their stakeholder’s experiences interpreting them through behavioural theories.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

In today’s world businesses and organisations are able to deliver things much more quickly at the touch of a button than 15 years ago. And our competitors can too.

We are in danger of escalating journeys down the wrong track and be too far gone to retrieve them.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to do the right thing right first time instead of becoming very efficient at doing the wrong thing?

Well this is what this podcast is about. It is about optimising value in your customer or employee or stakeholder experience in different manifestations. You get to understand how we think and behave in different scenarios and can apply them to your own purchasing, sales, recruitment, team-building, customer retention and audience perception management.

This week Alex looks at affective emotional responses. Have you ever wondered why you react a certain way to certain stimuli and how this reaction is always instant and feels out of our control? Alex takes us behind the science of this thinking and how you can understand and utilise it to create more value.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Affective responses are when feelings are generated in us due to external stimuli. The smell of fresh coffee, where we shop, seeing a fast car. Alex explores why we do this and what effect it has on us.
• Alex demonstrates how a rhyme from Alice in Wonderland conjures up certain feelings, despite the fact that some of the words have no contextual meaning, but our brains react to the sound of them.
• An affective response can dictate our attitude. Did we form a positive response or a negative response to what we heard, saw, smelt and if so, why?
• Strong and valuable brands understand that it is important to create positive affective responses. Alex explains this theory and offers an insight into how you can adopt positive practices to add value.

BEST MOMENTS

“Our reactions are caused by affective responses, something we have little control over.”

“Our actions are triggered by our affective systems.”

“Your customers and staff are constantly influenced by their affective systems, understanding this allows you to create an environment for more positive responses.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex’s Website: www.as-insights.com

Alex’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexvci

Alex’s Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrastacey

Alex’s email: info@as-insights.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Alexandra Stacey is fascinated about value and our perceptions of value. She undertook an MSC in Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience Management with the University of Buckingham’s Business School and her dissertation included how value is experienced. Her own life experience includes being a parent, marketer, teacher, project and events manager and musician. She is the founder of AS Insights. This is a business that helps organisations improve through uncovering their stakeholder’s experiences interpreting them through behavioural theories.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

In today’s world businesses and organisations are able to deliver things much more quickly at the touch of a button than 15 years ago. And our competitors can too.

We are in danger of escalating journeys down the wrong track and be too far gone to retrieve them.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to do the right thing right first time instead of becoming very efficient at doing the wrong thing?

Well this is what this podcast is about. It is about optimising value in your customer or employee or stakeholder experience in different manifestations. You get to understand how we think and behave in different scenarios and can apply them to your own purchasing, sales, recruitment, team-building, customer retention and audience perception management.

This week Alex dives into the topic of branding. What is branding? How can you use it to add value to your organisation and the experience of your customers? What are some of the reasons behind creating a strong brand and why do we react to certain brands in certain ways? For all this and more, tune in and learn how you can add value through effective branding.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Alex discusses how branding was originally thought of as a statement of legal ownership but today it has developed into a system that consumers use to identify an organisation and its perceived value.
• What is your market? Alex discusses the meaning behind the term ‘market’ and explores ways you can define it and create an understanding around it in order to offer your customers the best value.
• Alex talks about companies that offer multiple products and services and how effective branding can help if these are similar products and services or how new and fresh branding can benefit when the products and services are not similar.
• Consumers' decisions are influenced by personal or cultural values and as brands can represent a value system, organisations must take this into account when building their brand and look at ways to use this to add value to their customers.

BEST MOMENTS

“If you only compete on price with your competitors then you will be reduced to a race to the bottom.”

“If you are the first thing customers think of to solve their problem, then you have a solid brand.”

“A good brand represents the ability of your business to match a high quality product or service to the needs of the market.”

“Brands are representations of a unique cluster of values.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex’s Website: www.as-insights.com

Alex’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexvci

Alex’s Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrastacey

Alex’s email: info@as-insights.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Alexandra Stacey is fascinated about value and our perceptions of value. She undertook an MSC in Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience Management with the University of Buckingham’s Business School and her dissertation included how value is experienced. Her own life experience includes being a parent, marketer, teacher, project and events manager and musician. She is the founder of AS Insights. This is a business that helps organisations improve through uncovering their stakeholder’s experiences interpreting them through behavioural theories.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

In today’s world businesses and organisations are able to deliver things much more quickly at the touch of a button than 15 years ago. And our competitors can too.

We are in danger of escalating journeys down the wrong track and be too far gone to retrieve them.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to do the right thing right first time instead of becoming very efficient at doing the wrong thing?

Well this is what this podcast is about. It is about optimising value in your customer or employee or stakeholder experience in different manifestations. You get to understand how we think and behave in different scenarios and can apply them to your own purchasing, sales, recruitment, team-building, customer retention and audience perception management.

This week Alex talks about the customer journey and the problem of choice. How many touch points do you think your customers go through when they engage with your product or service? What emotions do they feel throughout this journey? What influences their decision making process? Can too many choices be a negative thing? For answers to all these questions and more, tune in and let Alex guide you as she breaks it all down and allows you to understand your customers journey in a way that will add value to your business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• There are many factors that influence our attitudes, including the influence of significant people in our lives. It is important to understand our attitude and how we are influenced, especially when running a business as it will affect the choices of our staff and customers.
• Our attitude is also influenced by our behavioural beliefs. These are beliefs we carry that may not be true, such as “I can’t do X because of Y”. These beliefs can be limiting to our growth and it is important to challenge them.
• Alex breaks down the customer journey into 4 simple steps. She explains them and helps you to understand how each step is processed in the mind of the customer, giving you the tools to add value to your business.
• Do people find it harder to make a choice when more options are available? Alex gets into this and talks about ‘preference uncertainty’ and helps you understand how you can give your customers better choices.

BEST MOMENTS

“People don’t take notice of things they aren’t looking for.”

“We presume higher price items are better quality.”

“We believe that products with good reviews are better quality, but what we’re really thinking is that we will enjoy that product to the same level as someone else.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex’s Website: www.as-insights.com

Alex’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexvci

Alex’s Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrastacey

Alex’s email: info@as-insights.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Alexandra Stacey is fascinated about value and our perceptions of value. She undertook an MSC in Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience Management with the University of Buckingham’s Business School and her dissertation included how value is experienced. Her own life experience includes being a parent, marketer, teacher, project and events manager and musician. She is the founder of AS Insights. This is a business that helps organisations improve through uncovering their stakeholder’s experiences interpreting them through behavioural theories.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

In today’s world businesses and organisations are able to deliver things much more quickly at the touch of a button than 15 years ago. And our competitors can too.

We are in danger of escalating journeys down the wrong track and be too far gone to retrieve them.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to do the right thing right first time instead of becoming very efficient at doing the wrong thing?

Well this is what this podcast is about. It is about optimising value in your customer or employee or stakeholder experience in different manifestations. You get to understand how we think and behave in different scenarios and can apply them to your own purchasing, sales, recruitment, team-building, customer retention and audience perception management.

Your customers are bombarded with choice, not just by the number of products they are exposed to, but within your individual product. How do you help them make positive choices? How can you remove any negative perceptions they have about your product? And why do they make the decisions they do? Alex is here again to walk you through the process of consumer choice and give you the tools to make your customers' lives easier.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Did you know that we don’t have most of the information we need to make effective decisions? For example, people dream of winning the lottery, but only because they are exposed to news of the winners. If they were exposed to news of all the people that played and lost, would they be as confident of winning?
• What is a value conflict? Alex explains that consumers perceive that products have both strengths and weaknesses. Companies need to be aware of this and enact practices in their marketing to overcome the negative. Alex takes you inside the mind of the consumer so you can have the tools to better serve them.
• Alex walks through the various models of consumer decision making and how each one influences the consumers choice and gives you the information you need to win over your customers regardless of which model applies.
• How do we simplify the decision making process for the consumer? Did you know there are strategies to help you do this? Luckily, Alex does, and she will share them with you so you can help your consumers make easier choices.

BEST MOMENTS

“Our brains are not wired to calculate risk.”

“Because we view life as continuing constantly, we only notice the changes to that continuing journey. Therefore we see value as comparative rather than absolute.”

“Organisations need to provide the mood or information the consumer needs to make decisions.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex’s Website: www.as-insights.com

Alex’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexvci

Alex’s Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrastacey

Alex’s email: info@as-insights.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Alexandra Stacey is fascinated about value and our perceptions of value. She undertook an MSC in Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience Management with the University of Buckingham’s Business School and her dissertation included how value is experienced. Her own life experience includes being a parent, marketer, teacher, project and events manager and musician. She is the founder of AS Insights. This is a business that helps organisations improve through uncovering their stakeholder’s experiences interpreting them through behavioural theories.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

In today’s world businesses and organisations are able to deliver things much more quickly at the touch of a button than 15 years ago. And our competitors can too.

We are in danger of escalating journeys down the wrong track and be too far gone to retrieve them.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to do the right thing right first time instead of becoming very efficient at doing the wrong thing?

Well this is what this podcast is about. It is about optimising value in your customer or employee or stakeholder experience in different manifestations. You get to understand how we think and behave in different scenarios and can apply them to your own purchasing, sales, recruitment, team-building, customer retention and audience perception management.

This week Alex looks at the customer experience and how you, as an organisation, can manage it. What makes customers experience services the way they do? What factors influence their evaluation of a service? And, what tools and skills can you employ to manage their experience and make sure your customers are getting the most from your service.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We evaluate services through our own individual experience of them, not from what the service provider believes they are providing. To improve the experience of your customers you must look at closing the gap between what they experience and what you provide.
• One great way an organisation can assess their services is by asking customers to complete a questionnaire where scores are graded numerically. This provides the organisation with a clear indication of where they are performing well and where they are performing badly.
• Customers often judge their experience based on responsiveness from the service provider. Therefore, it is advantageous to act fast on any customer feedback.
• Perception can also heavily influence the customer experience and, in turn, their feedback. If somebody is expecting a meal at a restaurant to be perfect, but it isn’t, this could influence their feedback to be lower than it would be if their expectations were not as high.

BEST MOMENTS

“If you disappoint customers by not meeting their expectations you can recover. But, if you disappoint them by not meeting their basic needs, you will lose them.”

“On average, happy customers will tell 6 people about their experience, but unhappy ones will tell 15 or more.”

“97% of potential customers are influenced by reviews.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Alex’s Website: www.as-insights.com

Alex’s Instagram: www.instagram.com/alexvci

Alex’s Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/alexandrastacey

Alex’s email: info@as-insights.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Alexandra Stacey is fascinated about value and our perceptions of value. She undertook an MSC in Strategic Marketing and Customer Experience Management with the University of Buckingham’s Business School and her dissertation included how value is experienced. Her own life experience includes being a parent, marketer, teacher, project and events manager and musician. She is the founder of AS Insights. This is a business that helps organisations improve through uncovering their stakeholder’s experiences interpreting them through behavioural theories.

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

In today’s world businesses and organisations are able to deliver things much more quickly at the touch of a button than 15 years ago. And our competitors can too.

We are in danger of escalating journeys down the wrong track and be too far gone to retrieve them.

Wouldn’t it be so much better to do the right thing right first time instead of becoming very efficient at doing the wrong thing?

Well this is what this podcast is about. It is about optimising value in your customer or employee or stakeholder experience in different manifestations. You get to understand how we think and behave in different scenarios and can apply them to your own purchasing, sales, recruitment, team-building, customer retention and audience perception management.