The Customer is the Product: Re-framing How Customers See Their Own Value Wins Hearts, Minds, and Decades of Retention

A walk through of how to help businesses recognize their own value in a new light to foster deeper connections and long-term loyalty.

In this issue, I’m going to dive into a concept that developed over the last two weeks, inspired by a mix of insightful reading and thought-provoking community discussions.

Originally, my idea for this follow up issue was to outline a mathematical means to prove the efficiency of the 4D model compared to the traditional funnel framework.

However, the ideas and insights that emerged from reading Elizabeth MacAulay Italiano , Alex Boyd , Emma Lampert , and Brooks Van Norman and conversations over the past two weeks shaped the direction of this article , which almost wrote itself.

The recurring theme that stood out in the reading is the proven effectiveness of broaching insightful conversations with Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs) at any stage of the relationship journey, when actioned through the lens of a customer-as-the-product mindset.

This approach aligns seamlessly with the 4D model —Education, Action, Anticipation, and TLC—where both the buyer and the seller are connected in these quadrants simultaneously. Their relationship is fluid, driven by emotional state and timing, rather than a rigid, step-by-step process.

Stepping into the mindset of The Customer Is The Product is way to mentally digest the 4D model as a dynamic, reciprocal relationship, where value is constantly being created and buyers and sellers share the same pulse.

An outstanding and serendipitous literal example of The Customer Is The Product was provided by Brooks Van Norman at Pipeline Formula in a cold outreach campaign they ran their client Kevin Anderson & Associates , a company that helps C-level executives transform their career insights into personal books. Pipeline Formula 's campaign demonstrated a perfect example of how the customer-as-the-product mindset works, especially when re-framing a customer’s understanding of their own value.

Pipeline Formula: The CEO is the Product

In the campaign that Pipeline Formula designed, they targeted C-level executives with over 10 years of experience—executives with deep industry knowledge and personal stories that could become the foundation for a book. They understood that these individuals likely didn’t see their personal career achievements as a potential product. The challenge was to re-frame and evangelize their view of themselves and help the CEO'S recognize the untapped value in their career stories.

The process that generated over $1M in pipeline in 30 days was as follows:

1. C-level Targeting: The first step was to focus on C-level executives who had the career experience to benefit from authorship. They built their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) by looking at executives who had over a decade of experience in high-level positions.

2. Layered ICP Precision: Pipeline Formula then layered firmographic data, such as company revenue and headcount, to ensure they targeted executives at companies with the resources and strategic need for a personal book.

3. Automated Data Enrichment: Using a tool like Rapid, they scraped LinkedIn profiles into a Clay table, enriching the data with specifics about each executive’s career. This allowed them to personalize their outreach with context about each executive’s unique achievements and professional background.

4. AI-Powered Personalization: One of the most innovative parts of the process was using GPT-4 to craft personalized book titles for each executive. These titles reflected their career journey, achievements, and the knowledge they had accumulated over the years. By doing this, they gave each executive a tangible vision of what their career could look like in book form—an "aha moment" that reframed the customer’s value.

5. Tailored Outreach: Each executive received a personalized email that summarized their career and explained the benefits of becoming an author. The message emphasized how their insights could shape their industry, with a specific focus on the authority and credibility that a book could bring to their career.

6. Refining the Value Proposition: Pipeline Formula tested several value propositions to determine what resonated most with their ICPs. Ultimately, the idea of "becoming an authority" was the most compelling, positioning the book as not just a career capstone but as a way to shape the future of their industry.

7. Scalable Automation: To ensure this approach was scalable, Pipeline Formula set up tools like Instantly.ai to automate email outreach and follow-ups, managing the entire engagement process at scale while maintaining personalization.

The strategy allowed Pipeline Formula to reframe the customer’s value in a way that the executives themselves hadn’t considered. The CEO’s knowledge and career became the product, and the executives now saw their own expertise in a new light.

Applying the "Customer-as-the-Product" Mindset to a Business

The customer-as-the-product mindset can be extended beyond the literal example of a CEO writing a book. In fact, this principle can be applied to any business looking to create deeper, more valuable relationships with their customers.

This mindset requires sellers to go beyond simply pushing a product or service. Instead, it’s about helping the target ICP to realize their own value in ways they hadn’t before, similar to how Pipeline Formula reframed the CEO’s career as a product.

April Dunford ’s Re-Framing and Stage-Setting Advice

April Dunford’s approach to stage-setting ties directly into this value re-framing process. Dunford suggests that when engaging with a potential customer, the goal should be to bring an insight that helps the customer see themselves in a more competitive light. This can be as simply as showing them how their current assets, capabilities, or knowledge can be realigned for greater competitive advantage.

In GhostWrite’s case, the insight came through the personalized book titles, showing CEOs how their past experiences could be shaped into a product. But this process doesn’t need to be limited to personal branding. For any business, the insight could involve showing a customer how their existing resources can be used in new ways, or how their current strategies could be optimized for greater impact.

This requires thought, reflection, and testing to perfect and scale. You'll do it like Pipeline Formula did for Ghostwriter. They intuited the right prompts to produce tie the right book title to the CEO's ego and a new vision of themselves that they created. They truly loaded the deck and tipped the playing field.

A Non-Linear, Relationship-Based Journey

Unlike a traditional sales funnel, the customer-as-the-product approach is non-linear. The relationship between the customer and the seller isn’t a one-way street. It’s a dynamic, two-way relationship where both sides are connected, and conversations evolve over time.

In the GhostWrite example, I the process couldn't be a simple, linear progression from awareness to purchase. It involved finding the right emotional touch points, iterative value propositions, and ongoing conversations that are a shared pulse to bind priorities as they work together to slip the CEOs into a second version of their value. This is the leverage and essence of the 4D model: Education, Action, TLC, and Anticipation occurring fluidly, based on where the customer is emotionally and strategically.

Bridging to Competitive Advantage

The ultimate goal of the customer-as-the-product mindset is to help the customer reframe their own value in a way that leads to competitive advantage. In the GhostWrite example, the CEO was able to use their personal book to become an industry authority, thus gaining influence and driving new opportunities.

For sellers, this might mean showing a customer how their existing strengths—whether it’s data, intellectual property, or operational efficiency—can be harnessed and packaged in a way that creates new opportunities for growth.

Key Takeaways:

1. Reframe Customer Value: Help customers see their current assets or achievements as something more valuable than they realize.

2. Use Insights to Create "Aha" Moments: Bring new insights that change the customer’s perspective, similar to how personalized book titles changed the CEO’s view of their career.

3. Non-Linear Conversations Build Deeper Relationships: Engage in multiple, insightful conversations that allow the relationship to evolve over time, as opposed to following a linear sales funnel.

4. Focus on Long-Term Value: Position your solution as something that helps the customer create lasting value—whether that’s personal brand, operational efficiency, or competitive advantage.

Conclusion: The Customer is the Ultimate Product

The customer-as-the-product mindset flips the script on traditional sales processes. Rather than focusing on what you can sell to the customer, the goal is to help them understand how they themselves can become the product, leveraging their own value to create something meaningful.

By reframing customer value through insightful conversations and focusing on non-linear relationship-building, businesses can foster deeper, more valuable relationships that lead to long-term success and competitive advantage.