Why Is This Any Different From What You Already Do?

Important ‚  

Many WLP professionals use something like a value theme every day. There are two ways that a financial value theme differs from how you are currently communicating your value. These critical differences ensure that you make the translation of your value into your audience ‚ s frame of reference.

The first difference between a financial value theme and how many WLP professionals communicate their value is that instead of connecting the intervention to a financial measure and a performance reason, the WLP professional simply describes value in terms of performance. This leaves your audience with the task of translating the performance measure into the financial measure that is most meaningful for them.

One of the basic rules in decoding the ROI codeword for your audience is that the translation of value is your job. If you leave the translation for your audience to do, they will either not do it or will translate your value into completely unintended meanings. The problem of unintended meanings can be exacerbated depending on whether your intervention is perceived with an unknown, conscious, or given set of expectations, as discussed in chapter 8.

At other times, WLP professionals translate their value directly into a financial measure but do not provide the performance reason. Unless the translation is extremely obvious (such as creating higher dollar sales for each sales representative and thereby bringing in more top-line revenue), your audience is left without an understanding of why you think your intervention changes a financial measure, and they ‚ ll have to draw their own conclusions. It is better to state your logic explicitly than assume that the audience will get it right on their own.