Customer Value Creation

Loyalty is failing. Gen Z & long-term commitment. 22% of Gen Z consumers consider themselves loyal to one brand is a clear warning for legacy loyalty strategies. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z doesn’t see brand loyalty as a long-term commitment, they’re loyal to moments, not just names. +43% increase in engagement and sales conversions among Gen Z Beauty brands offering "limited-edition drops" and collaborative experiences. +71% Gen Z say they would rather spend money on an experience than a product. >>Loyalty is FAILING, but why<< +Transactional systems feel outdated: Point-based rewards for repeat purchases don’t excite this audience. They expect more than discounts or free samples. +They’re brand-agnostic but experience-driven: Gen Z freely switches between brands if the experience, aesthetic, or values feel fresher or more aligned with their identity. +They buy into stories, not just products: They want to align with brands that represent something, social causes, cultural movements, or communities they relate to. >>DYNAMIC LOYALTY<< What’s this? as it name indicates its a system that rewards interaction, aligns with their values, and constantly evolves. And that is what your brand needs. → Create experience-driven loyalty programs: Offer early access to limited drops, invite-only events, or backstage content. Think like a fan club, not a punch card. +Example: A loyalty tier that unlocks tickets to a pop-up experience or an exclusive AR filter. →Let them co-create: Invite Gen Z customers to co-develop product ideas, designs, or campaign themes. Give them ownership in your brand’s creative journey. +Example: Voting on packaging designs or joining beta tester groups. →Align with their values: Sustainability, inclusivity, and social good aren’t nice-to-haves. they’re expectations. Use loyalty programs to reward actions too, like recycling, sharing causes, or supporting small creators. +Example: “Earn loyalty points by returning empties or attending a sustainability workshop.” →Deliver constant novelty: Rotate limited editions regularly. Use scarcity and surprise to create FOMO and buzz. +Gen Z doesn’t commit to a single brand, but they’ll keep returning if each visit feels fresh and share-worthy. →Go omnichannel but social-first. Should live across TikTok, Instagram, pop-ups, and web. Let them earn or unlock rewards through social engagement, not just purchases. +Example: A user gets exclusive content or perks for creating UGC with your brand. Bottom Line. Loyalty must be earned over and over through experience, relevance, and emotional connection. Think dynamic loyalty: a system that rewards interaction and go for it. Find my curated search of examples and get ready for your next HIT. Featured Brands: Balmain Benefit Chanel Charlotte tilbury Cerave Fennty L’Oreal OGX YSL #beautypackaging #beautybusiness #beautyprofessionals #experienceretail #luxuryexperiences #genz

How to sell (without feeling salesy): First, understand the Ethical Wealth Formula: (Value First × Trust Building) × Authentic Positioning  ———————————————————  Frequency of Asks × Pressure Tactics This isn't abstract theory. It's practical math: • Increase the numerator: deliver more value, build more trust, position more authentically • Decrease the denominator: reduce frequency of asks, eliminate pressure tactics • Watch revenue soar while your integrity remains intact Ethical doesn't mean unprofitable. It means sustainable. Principle 1: Value-First Monetization The approach that generates $864,000 monthly without a single "hard sell": • Deliver so much value upfront that buying feels like the obvious next step • Create free content so good people say "If this is free, imagine what's paid" • Solve small problems for free, big transformational problems for a fee Give until it feels slightly uncomfortable. Then give a little more. Principle 2: Trust Through Consistency I've never missed weekly content in 3 years, through vacations, illnesses, market crashes. The trust-building machine that works while you sleep: • Show up reliably when competitors disappear during tough times • Do what you promise, when you promise it • Maintain quality across every touchpoint One founder implemented this and saw conversions increase 74% in 30 days, without changing offer or price. Trust isn't built in grand gestures. It's built in boring consistency, most won't maintain. Principle 3: Authentic Positioning The approach that helped me raise prices 300% while increasing sales: • Own your expertise unapologetically, confidence is not arrogance • Speak to specific problems you solve, not vague benefits you provide • Tell detailed stories of transformation instead of listing features You don't need to be perfect to sell effectively. You need to be authentic about how you help. Principle 4: Invitation Vs. Manipulation The ethical alternative to high-pressure tactics: • Invite people when they're ready, don't push when you're ready • Create genuine scarcity (limited capacity) not fake urgency (countdown timers) • Respect "no" as "not now" rather than objection to overcome My most profitable sales sequence has zero countdown timers, zero artificial scarcity, zero pressure. Ethical selling feels like extending help, not hunting prey. — Enjoy this? ♻️ Repost it to your network and follow Matt Gray for more. Want to improve your sales strategy? Join our community of 172,000+ subscribers today: https://lnkd.in/eTp4jain

The biggest threat to long-term growth isn't losing consumers. It's allowing your product roadmap to be entirely defined by the needs of your past growth cycle. The pattern with every growing business is clear: the companies that win don't just serve existing consumers better. They successfully identify and build for their future consumers at the same time. Why is this so hard? Because your current, high-value consumers are the loudest voices. They consistently ask for small, incremental improvements or more complex variations of what already works for them. But tomorrow's consumers? They want something fundamentally different—often, they just want simplicity and clarity. Crucially, they remain silent until they choose your competitor. I've watched many new brands fall into this D2C trap. They keep building more complex product offerings for existing users, while the next wave of consumers only wants simpler choices. This leads directly to losing new market share to companies offering cleaner experiences. While expanding your business, remember this: An intense focus on your current consumer can become a serious constraint if you fail to look ahead. Your current best consumers got you here. Your future consumers will fuel your next stage of growth. #StartupLessons #BuildingaBusiness #Entrepreneurship

Campus beat Nike and Adidas by selling 13 million shoes in India in 2021 by doing something global giants ignored. In 2005, Hari Krishan Agarwal launched Campus Activewear Ltd with a clear mission - make quality sports shoes accessible to every Indian. At that time, Nike and adidas dominated the global market, selling shoes for ₹3,000+. They had decades of brand legacy, massive marketing budgets, and celebrity endorsements. But Agarwal was determined. He saw millions of Indians who wanted good sports shoes but couldn't afford luxury pricing. By 2021, Campus sold 13 million pairs - more than Nike and Adidas combined in India. Here's how they pulled it off: 📍Campus priced shoes under ₹1,000 while global brands charged ₹3,500+. They captured the ₹800-₹3,200 gap that giants ignored, reaching 85% of India's addressable market. 📍They focused on smaller cities across northern and eastern India where brand consciousness was lower but demand was massive. Result: 25% market share by volume, 17% by value. 📍Campus introduced 300+ new designs annually, keeping up with global trends while maintaining affordability. Quality stayed consistent even at lower price points. Now, Campus is expanding into metros, adding casual footwear, and exploring premiumisation while staying true to their value proposition. So, if you're a founder remember this: Understanding your market beats having a century-old legacy. Sometimes the biggest opportunity isn't competing with giants but serving the customers they overlook. Have you bought Campus shoes, or do you still prefer international brands?

The smartest companies don’t just sell products. They engineer perceived value. Take Five Guys Enterprises. Their fries are legendary, not just because they’re good, but because of the experience built around them. You pick a size. They fill the cup. Then, they throw an extra scoop straight into your brown bag. That last scoop breaks every rule of finance and operational efficiency… but it makes the brand unforgettable. Because psychology > arithmetic. The human brain disproportionately values what it didn’t expect. That extra scoop signals generosity, abundance, and hospitality, attributes that trigger emotional loyalty far more effectively than a perfectly balanced cost sheet ever will. Put the decision in the hands of a “rational” operator, and they’d increase the cup size. Put it in the hands of a CFO, and they’d eliminate the freebies entirely. Both would destroy what Five Guys actually sells: the feeling of getting more than you paid for. And this isn’t new. When Jeff Bezos proposed free two-day shipping for Amazon Prime, finance called it a disaster. They projected a loss of $1.7B, and they were right. But what they didn’t calculate was perceived value. Prime generated $17B in the same year because customers changed their purchasing behavior. Convenience became a habit. Loyalty became a reflex. That’s the symbiotic power of branding, marketing, and sales: People don’t buy the product. They buy the feeling the product gives them. In leadership, the lesson is simple: • Don’t let spreadsheets suffocate imagination. • Don’t let “efficiency” erase emotional value. • Don’t forget that humans make decisions emotionally first, rationally second. The brands that win aren’t just operationally sound, they’re psychologically relevant. And the leaders who win aren’t just optimizing processes, they’re architecting experiences. Sometimes the greatest ROI comes from the simplest thing: One extra scoop of fries. #BrandStrategy #MarketingPsychology #Leadership #CustomerExperience #ValueCreation #BusinessStrategy #FiveGuys #PerceivedValue #CX #SalesAndMarketing #Innovation #GrowthMindset #LeadershipDevelopment

We were 25 minutes into the call when they asked: Prospect: “So… can we get some ballpark pricing?” Me: “Happy to share. Just curious - are we currently the vendor of choice? Or are we still in the mix with others?” Prospect: “We’re still evaluating about five different vendors.” Me: “Got it. And what are you evaluating us all on?” Prospect: “Mostly features and pricing.” Me: “Appreciate the transparency. Mind if I be blunt for a second?” Prospect: “Go for it.” Me: “We don’t like to win on price. We don’t like to lose on price. We like to win on product.” Me: “If you’re telling me we’re the best solution for your team, then we can figure out how to make the pricing work. But if you’re not there yet, I’d rather not pretend price is the blocker.” Prospect: “Fair. We’re still figuring out what we really need.” Me: “That’s what I figured. And that’s why I hesitate to get deep into pricing. If you’re still defining the problem, every number’s going to feel too high.” It shifted the energy. Too many teams ask for pricing before they even know what they’re buying. They want quotes before clarity. Discounts before direction. Numbers before need. But pricing only makes sense once the value is clear. So here’s what I’ve learned: Make sure you’re the vendor of choice first. Make sure they know what they’re solving and how you solve it. Then have those money conversations. That’s how you avoid racing to the bottom. And win on the thing that matters most... The product.

One of these ads grew sales by 21.1%. Can you guess which? In 2020, Harvard researchers¹ tested the effects of showing a product's costs. Rather than just listing the price, they showed ingredient cost (and profit margin). For the test, this ad was shown in the Harvard canteen. Real-world sales were measured directly after the student saw the ad. Turns out, students were 21% more likely to buy the soup 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐧. Showcasing your costs boosts trust and makes customers more likely to buy. Source: ¹Mohan, B., Buell, R. W., & John, L. K. (2020). Lifting the veil: The benefits of cost transparency. Marketing Science, 39(6), 1105–1121.

Forget the $32B exit, Wiz’s meteoric rise to $500M+ ARR is a masterclass in enterprise GTM blitzscaling👇 Wiz entered a very crowded Cloud Security market in 2020 after a pivot. Then they flipped conventional wisdom, rewrote the playbook, and built a juggernaut in record time 📈 I dug into the Go-To-Market engine behind Wiz’s rise—here’s what stood out: 👉 Product-market fit is obvious when it hits. In the early days, Wiz spoke to 10-15 customers daily. They heard polite feedback at first, but the game changed when prospects asked for pricing and sent POs. Founders and early leaders closed millions in ARR themselves—leaning on their industry credibility. 👉 Top-down sales, done right, can scale fast. No freemium. No self-serve. Wiz sold directly to CISOs—high stakes, high-touch, and high ACVs. The kind of enterprise motion everyone assumes takes years. Wiz broke that rule. 👉 They avoided the mid-market-first trap. Straight to the Fortune 100—who bought, fast. That’s remarkable in cybersec, known for 12-18 month sales cycles and endless POCs. Their ACVs? Into the seven figures. When the pain is urgent and the product hits right, big fish don’t nibble. They bite. 👉 Time-to-value became their superpower. Agentless. Minutes-to-deploy. Immediate visibility across risks. A rare enterprise product that promised to deliver impact from Day 1. That’s not luck—it’s intentional design. Founders - find a critical, underserved pain point, and deliver value lightning-quick 👉 They blitzscaled—with precision. Once solid PMF was clear, Wiz didn’t tiptoe. They hired CXOs, numerous sellers, sales ops fast—before the revenue caught up. Many GTM hires came from outside the usual playbook—creativity and fresh thinking followed. 👉 They went where the customers buy. Wiz went to cloud marketplaces and resellers and made them allies. 99% of Wiz sellers closed at least one deal through AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplaces. That’s not just channel strategy—it’s budget strategy. By aligning with cloud hyperscalers, they unlocked enterprise dollars already earmarked for cloud. 👉 Great enterprise marketing can manufacture momentum. Wiz proved that in enterprise tech, savvy marketing and PR can create an outsized lead. They masterfully created an aura through ARR announcements, weekly threat research publications, and even quirky CISO meditation apps. Marketing was a strategic weapon that generated FOMO among buyers and competitors alike. 💡 Timing, of course, was perfect. Cloud security turned into a boardroom priority post-2020. Wiz showed up with the right product, right GTM, and right team—at exactly the right moment. $32B is a wild number. But what’s rarer is how they got there: speed, scale, and ruthless focus. Hats off to the Wiz team! For enterprise founders, the message is clear: when a large market’s ready, the only ceiling is how hard you’re willing to lean on the GTM throttle.

We sabotaged Customer Success by treating it like a support hotline—then acted surprised when ARR bled dry (2022-2024). The truth? CS is a revenue engine, just like sales. It deserves better. Fortunately, leaders like Harriet Shakked🎗 get it. Here are 7 ways she’s building Aligned’s CS like a top-class sales org: 1. Training Is About Value Extraction, NOT How To’s Similar to a great sales demo, you MUST focus on value, not features. You can’t expect people to care about How X works, before getting Why use X. We’ve just wrapped up a big update to our Aligned Onboarding Room and training. Instead of “click here”, it’s “Here’s how you access more stakeholders and save deals”. 2. GAP Selling Discovery (Yes, in CS) We’re training CSMs on GAP Selling. Harriet’s team runs discovery calls for every new customer. They question our sales team’s assumptions, confirm the ‘why’ behind the purchase, and go deeper so they can craft success plans that align with the business priorities and be true partners. 3. Keep a Real Forecast Pipeline Never assume a renewal. Harriet’s team tracks renewals and expansions like a sales pipeline. They use actual data (usage, milestones, multithreading levels, ROI) to forecast outcomes. No guesswork. No ‘set and forget’. They have a timeline, clear gates, and next moves—just like top AEs. 4. “Health” = Trackable Outcomes, Not Product Usage Your buyer's CFO doesn't care how many times someone logged in; they care about results. Harriet killed the weighted product ‘health score’ that nobody trusted. Her team measures actual business outcomes: deals accelerated, time saved. Show the CFO that metric. The renewal practically closes itself. 5. Commercial Skills > 'Happiness Management' Renewals are commercial events, not a ‘likability contest’. Harriet invests in sales training so her CSMs can handle pricing objections, negotiate renewals, and recognize red flags early. If you’re just making customers ‘happy’, you’re ignoring the real question: “Did we help them grow revenue?”. 6. Access to Power, Multithreading, and Exec Sponsorship One champion isn’t enough. The CFO or CEO can veto your renewal in a heartbeat. Harriet’s team builds multi-level relationships to ensure there’s exec buy-in. They target operational authorities, economic buyers, and build end-user champions. Value must be visible across the ENTIRE org. 7. Project-Manage Onboarding Like an Enterprise Deal Why would you wing onboarding if you’d never wing a 6-fig POC? Harriet’s team runs onboarding inside Aligned's Client Portal—1 shared URL with all resources, files, success plans, and more. Both sides track value, and no one's left out of the loop. The outcome? Less churn and expansions feel like a natural next step. —— If you want to stop the ARR bleed in 2025: Stop treating CS like a support hotline. Train them like a top-tier sales team. Watch churn turn into expansions. P.S. Aligned's Client Portal is free: https://lnkd.in/dwX_Zizk

🧃 THE “ORANGE JUICE TEST PRINCIPLE” How a Small Hotel Discovered a Multi-Million Dollar Customer Insight by Watching Guests Pour Breakfast Juice A boutique hotel in California once ran into a strange problem. They upgraded the rooms. They upgraded the lobby. They upgraded the staff training. They upgraded everything. But guest satisfaction scores barely moved. The general manager was frustrated. He felt like nothing worked. So he did something odd: He spent an entire week standing in the breakfast area just watching people pour orange juice. And he noticed something bizarre. Every single morning the same micro-frustration happened: People grabbed the heavy glass pitcher tilted it and the juice came out too fast. It splashed. It spilled on hands. It dripped on the counter. It made a mess. Guests didn’t complain. They didn’t tell anyone. They didn’t leave reviews about it. But their faces showed a tiny moment of annoyance every single time they poured a glass. That tiny annoyance was affecting how they felt about the entire hotel. The manager replaced the pitchers with smaller, lighter, slow-pour containers. The next month, guest satisfaction shot up. Not because the rooms changed. Not because the amenities changed. Not because the service changed. Because guests’ day started with a smooth moment instead of a frustrating one. The hotel realized something huge: Customers judge your entire business based on the first tiny moment they experience. And if that moment feels frustrating everything afterward feels less valuable. 💡 THE MARKETING LESSON Your business has “orange juice moments” everywhere: • the first 3 seconds of your website • your checkout process • your DM reply time • your onboarding friction • the tone of your confirmation email • your follow-up pace • how easy it is to get help • the first 10 seconds of your video Small annoyances create big emotional withdrawals. Small delights create big emotional deposits. Fix the tiny frustrations and customers will feel like your entire brand improved. 🧠 THE NERDY TAKEAWAY The “Orange Juice Test Principle” teaches this: People do not remember experiences accurately. They remember how you made them feel in the tiny moments. You can fix your entire business by improving the first ten seconds of the customer experience. Because emotions created in small moments shape decisions about big purchases. Paul Getter on FB