Worth points, or how we add value to our clients
November 23, 2009
Many years ago General Electric acquired the small firm that I worked for, and my job changed from being a a senior figure in this firm to a mid-level manager within one of GE’s companies. This was not my dream job, and when GE had a “reduction in force” I was delighted to be able to leave it with a very desirable packet of benefits. The one I thought I didn’t need was the job counseling — but it turned out to be one of the most valuable benefits I received.
“Don’t just write a resume of positions you’ve held”, the counselor told us. “Think of all the times you’ve added value to your company, or to a client, and write each of these up as a ‘worth point”. Your resume should be a set of these worth points, and you can save others for use in particular job interviews.” The format of a “worth point” was very specific:
- In my job, I noticed a need / opportunity.
- Responding to that, I took initiative — with very specific action
- My company / organization experience some direct benefit from my effort.
For example:
- We wrote custom specifications for each of our clients. I noticed that many elements of each spec were common.
- So, I designed a generic specification form, that would make it much easier to re-use specifications pages from one document in another (that was for a different client).
- As a result, the time to prepare each spec was reduced by xx%, typically a saving of $yyy.
I ended up working for myself as a consultant, and never again seeking a full time job, but this advice in building my resume was still very helpful. I learned to think of what I was doing as adding value, rather than just performing tasks. And when telling prospects about how I can help them, my story is not about thingss I can do, but about how my work will add value.
Indeed, clients hire me to add value to their organization, and not just to provide a product, perform a service, train somebody in a skill.
When asked to help clients in marketing strategy, this idea informs the question that I always ask them: How will you add value to your clients?
