How Much is that Doggie in the Window?

Have you ever considered what a person is worth, not in terms of them as a person walking on this earth, but what can that person do for you and your business?  I was reading a blog entry by Seth Godin today and it reminded me of one of the most interesting assets in business.  That asset is your personal power and what you bring to the table. 

Think of it this way.  If you were going to hire a band to come play at your new businesses launch party.  You could hire a local band who hits all of the big clubs and brings a pretty decent crowd and thus helps you get the eyes on the product or into your new store. 

How bout conversely to that.  You could hire one of the top bands of the day, for example, Stone Temple Pilots who just hit number 2 on the Billboard Top 200 chart the first week they released their new album. 

I think we have to agree that the local band put the time in to learn their craft just as the head liner did.  What makes the difference though in terms of their value?  The local band would certainly pull in all of the regular suspects that you would expect to come to your opening. 

The big time band would pull all of them, plus a wide variety of people that with out the pull would never have stepped foot into your new store, and that exposure opens a demographic a new customer base.

Both play for a couple of hours.  Probably pay the the local band a thousand maybe a few thousand dollars for the gig.....so why does the big timer get big money, perhaps on the scale of $100,000.00 for the appearance?

The bottom line is, its not the hours that are worked by the group, its the results that are produced.  If you open your store and in the first month you do 10 to 1 the production all of the same things being equal, the big timer has a perceived value of much greater than the local.

I remember listening on a success magazine disc one time a situation where there was a nuclear power plant that had shut down due to a mechanical deficiency.  The plant was losing millions of dollars a day each day it was not operational.  After a week or so of their best people trying to figure out the issue, they finally broke down and brought in one of the countries top consultants. 

The consultant arrived, and spent a full day looking at the controls, the dials, all of the instrumentation.  After assessing the situation, he walked in, got on a ladder, put a piece of masking tape on a dial marked with an X.  He told the plant managers to replace the dial and the issue would be resolved.

Sure enough, the dial was replaced and the plant immediately came back on line.  A short time later, the plant manager received a bill from the consultant for $75,000.00.  Of course, the plant manager practically fell over in his chair and sent a correspondence to the consultant inquiring as to the break down of the bill and why was it so excessive as after all, you simply placed an X on a dial and we actually fixed the dial and gauge.

After receiving the managers correspondence, the consultant politely sent back an itemized bill. 

$1.00 for placing X on malfunctioning Dial
$74,999.00 for having the knowledge of which dial to place it on.

So true, the company was losing a million dollars a day.  It is challenging to put a value on a "linchpin" job as Seth Godin calls it compared to a simple hourly recipe.

I believe if we took that same understanding and placed it on the strategic partnerships we have in business, everything would change.  I see it happen all of the time where we create massive value for the guidance of a top leader in our business, and the numbers that are produced are astounding.  The biggest difference is, we can promote effectively irregardless of who the person is.  It is not the same as dealing with a big public figure.  I can create within my integrity the value for whomever it is that we are working with and at the end of the day, sometimes it is easy to promote for the Stone Temple Pilots, but what if we were able to promote for the local band with the same intensity and excitement.  Sure, the name brings something.  But the name can be whatever it is we make of it.