An Hour of Play Launches Another Innovative Workplace Game
The Value Pyramid is a workplace game designed to help your team analyze buyers and determine what they most value.
Why a Pyramid?
No matter how much fairness or objectivity are imposed on a competition, the real drivers of purchase decisions are emotional.
This can be expressed in a pyramid.
At the base is the minimum required to qualify on any competitive bid. Without these, we cannot be considered for any project.
Too many consultants stop at this level, however, and miss opportunities to provide an improved customer experience up the pyramid, thereby distinguishing ourselves from competitors on more aspects of services that truly matter. As you move up, value becomes more subjective and unique to the individual client. It’s worthwhile to think about the subjective values of each evaluator before submitting a proposal.
The pyramid draws inspiration from Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs first made popular in the 1950s. Maslow’s theory was that all humans have layers of need - once a layer is met, we seek fulfillment of the ones in the higher layers. This begins at the base with food, safety, and shelter - the basic needs of survival. It culminates at the top in self-actualization - the need to belong, distinguish oneself, or feel a sense of purpose in the world.
The same is true of buyers of services. Once they have a layer of needs fulfilled, they start wishing for the layer above it. If we can deliver it better than a competitor, we have competitive advantage.
How to Play The Value Pyramid
In The Value Pyramid, through a competitive auctioning process, players purchase a set of items showing on the top four levels of the pyramid. They then use those items to prepare the outline of a value proposition. That value proposition will be judged by a team of banker/auctioneers based on its strength and potential to sway the client’s award decision. The winner of The Value Pyramid is the player with the highest value proposition points!
Each player has $5,000 to spend and at least three opponents they must dominate through clever thinking, strategy, and ingenuity. This game is exciting and energetic, and an excellent business tool. Here are some tips for using the game:
A Single Strategic Pursuit; this game is an excellent companion to your win strategy exercises in pursuing a big project. Play the game with your pursuit team in the early stages of your bid development process. Include all people who will contribute to writing the proposal. The exposure to all the points of value will help unify the writers towards a common vision.
A Series of Pursuits; with some clients we pursue multiple projects. In that case, The Value Pyramid is even more useful. The game can help you build a value profile for that client - one you can use again for every pursuit in the series. This makes the game into a powerful strategic and continuity tool.
Strategic Planning; use the game to build multiple client value profiles before your fiscal year begins. One round of the game can build one profile or multiple profiles, if you assign different clients to each team. The Banker/Auctioneer team can include several senior account managers capable of grading the cards at the end of game play.
A Training Exercise; to teach students and professionals about how different clients define value, The Value Pyramid has no equal. The exercise of bidding on the cards reinforces the relative value of a given characteristic of quality consulting services. Playing it as a game makes the learning easier to remember when later developing pursuit win strategies. Fictional clients have been provided for this option. A real client as an example provides the best learning experience, but if none are available, we have provided a package of 10 hypothetical clients.