Success in business is attributed to a host of different things: the quality of your product or service, the percentage of the market share you control, how stream-lined your operation is, location and so on. But in a broader sense success can be almost wholly attributed to a simple, well-known but not well-used, principle: provide more value than you take.

In the exchange of value system someone pays a certain amount to receive a certain amount; when the exchange of value is equal, both parties feel content. Neither feels cheated or that they’ve gained. It’s all even-Stephen — and this is good, but it’s not great.

We live in a free-score culture. We want to get things for free, and feel that it is our right to do so. Everything is geared towards this attitude. When we shop, there are signs everywhere reading “Buy one, get one free”, “Save R20” or “Sale! Everything must go — 50% off”; we buy lottery tickets in the hope of getting rich for nothing and, more recently, we snap up “Groupon” specials for their great value. When we find R20 on the ground we grab it and yell, “Score!”

But whereas individuals with this attitude are dubbed “bargain-hunters” (if they’re lucky), businesses suffering from this attitude will fail in the long run. A business with a free-score culture puts the least amount in and tries to get the most out, which leads to dissatisfied customers.

The flip-side of a free-score culture is one obsessed with being cheated. If the value exchange is not even customers and clients get angry — and they take that anger to threads and boards online. Some, chagrined enough, start their own blogs about how much they hate a particular product, brand or company — and usually (barring the nut-jobs) their anger stems from an uneven exchange of value. They had certain expectations for a product or service —usually generated by the company supplying it—which were not met.

But the reason to provide more value than you take is not simply to mitigate any bad press that might come your way. Rather it makes good business sense: happy clients mean more sales.

Two things need to happen when attempting to give more than you take in the value exchange. First, an obviously, you need to “go the extra mile” — make sure that what you’re providing is excellent beyond the expectations of the client. And secondly, you must communicate the value you’ve added.

Now, if you manufacture cereal and there’s an extra toy in the box, the extra value is obvious. But when you are in digital marketing, that value can be lost on the client. Generate reports and send emails notifying a client of something extra you’ve done.

Contrary to the prevailing attitude, you don’t lose when you put in more effort than you are being paid to put in. Rather, you gain the loyalty of the client and maintain credibility for your brand in the market place. This attitude pushes an ethic of responsible business that is geared towards the client.

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