Your Clients Don’t Care About Your Values

But someone does...

I have a lot of opinions about company values.

They should be actionable. You should actually see how they show up in the day-to-day.

They shouldn’t include something where the opposite would be ridiculous.

For example, some agencies put “Integrity” as a value. What’s the opposite? To be out of integrity? No business would claim that, so of course integrity is a value.

What calling out a value like integrity does is say, “this is more important to our business than other values.”

Sure, that can be useful, but it's a missed opportunity to do something unique.

But regardless what you have for values in your agency, do you know who doesn't care?

The client.

Values in B2C vs B2B

Quick disclaimer in this article.

If you buy a jacket or toilet paper, company values matter more.

Patagonia tries to work only with B Corps. And some people buy from them purely because of that.

The difference is that you're often making a purchase for yourself, and whether you like it or not, you’re buying to increase your status.

In B2B, it's different.

Bill has many people counting on him when he hires your agency. He's not going to buy because you donate money to saving the whales.

He's going to buy because you can deliver business results.

If Bill can’t earn the result his company is counting on him for, his job is on the line. He knows he’ll look like an idiot if he says, “I know they couldn’t achieve our goals, but they do charity work.”

I strongly recommend having good values outlined for your agency, but it's not for your clients. Even if someone says they chose based on that, there are 99 other criteria they looked at first.

There is one group that chooses you for your values…

Values for Team Building

Your team will unify under strong values. If done right, these are a way to say, “No matter what background you have, we both hold these values.”

It makes it much easier for a team to come together and make simple assumptions about others they work with. “If you work here, then you value this.”

We’re not trying to increase groupthink, but rather trying to give people a safe space with others who want to drive towards a common goal.

Values will also appeal to job candidates. People don’t want to work with a company they're not aligned with, so being specific with your values can be an easy qualifier.

Creating Strong Values

Again, I strongly recommend every business have a unifying set of values. It’ll work wonders.

But don’t create values thinking they’ll be what differentiates you if you’re in B2B. At least right now, very few companies care.

They care about what you’re able to do for them. And while after vetting out multiple agencies, your values may come up, you could have already won the vetting process by being hyper-clear over the problem you solve and business value you deliver.

Create the values, but focus on business outcomes.

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