# A value map: benefit against price > Score what buyers value, place every alternative by benefit and price, and see who is over- and under-priced for what they give. - Course: [Pricing: Set, Package and Raise Your Prices](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing.md) - Module: What do buyers compare us with? - Lesson 6/32, ~25 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/a-value-map ## Six offers, one picture **Alex Tutor:** Still on Klasna's growth team. Last time you listed the alternatives; today you put them on one picture, so price and benefit can be compared at a glance. **Leo:** Programming for teens is where I want growth. Parents say we're expensive: 720 a lesson in the 16-pack. Are we? **Nazar:** Our scan found five other offers: free videos, an online group course, an offline coding club, a private tutor and a premium one-to-one school. **Alex Tutor:** "Expensive" only means something next to benefit. A **value map** puts benefit on one axis and price on the other. First we need a benefit score that reflects what parents value, not what we like about ourselves. **Nazar:** From twenty parent interviews: visible progress matters most, then one-to-one attention, then real projects, then a flexible schedule. > **Benefit scores for teen programming (0–10 per attribute)** > > | Offer | Progress (×0.4) | Attention (×0.3) | Projects (×0.2) | Schedule (×0.1) | Price per lesson, UAH | > |---|---|---|---|---|---| > | Free video course | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 0 | > | Online group course | 5 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 320 | > | Offline coding club | 6 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 450 | > | Private tutor | 7 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 700 | > | Klasna, 16-pack | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 720 | > | Premium one-to-one school | 8 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 950 | > > Weights from 20 parent interviews; scores are the team's judgement, checked with parents. Both are assumptions. $$ B = \sum_i w_i \times s_i $$ *B: benefit score; w: weight of an attribute (weights add up to 1); s: the offer's score on that attribute.* > **Exercise:** What is Klasna's benefit score? Weights: progress 0.4, attention 0.3, projects 0.2, schedule 0.1. Klasna's scores: 8, 9, 7, 8. To one decimal. ## Reading the map **Alex Tutor:** Now plot each offer: benefit across, price up. Then draw a **market line**, the price the market typically asks for each level of benefit. Here, roughly 100 UAH per benefit point. **Teen programming: benefit against price** | Benefit score | Offers | Market line | | --- | --- | --- | | 2.7 | 0 | 270 | | 4.7 | 320 | 470 | | 5.5 | 450 | 550 | | 7.1 | 700 | 710 | | 8 | 950 | 800 | | 8.1 | 720 | 810 | *Offers (left to right): free videos, group course, coding club, private tutor, premium school (8.0, 950), Klasna (8.1, 720). Line: 100 UAH per benefit point.* **Sofia:** Above the line means you pay more than the benefit warrants. Below means you get more benefit per hryvnia. **Alex Tutor:** Right. Above the line an offer is over-priced for what it gives and must win on something the map leaves out, or lose buyers. Below it, an offer is a good deal, by choice or by accident. > **Exercise:** On a value map (benefit across, price up, with a market line), what does it mean when an offer sits **above** the line? **Leo:** So where's the "expensive" Klasna? > **Exercise:** The market line on the map asks about 100 UAH per benefit point. Which offer on the map is **over-priced** for the benefit it gives? ## Under the line **Sofia:** So Klasna isn't expensive at all. At 8.1 the line says 810, and we charge 720. **Alex Tutor:** Parents see a price higher than the tutor's 700 and call it expensive. They don't see the benefit gap. That's a communication problem first, not a price problem. **Alex Tutor:** So why do parents still say "expensive"? > **Exercise:** Klasna's programming 16-pack (benefit 8.1, 720 a lesson) sits below the market line, which asks 810 for that benefit; a private tutor gives 7.1 for 700. Yet parents call Klasna's 720 "expensive". What is the most likely reason? **Leo:** Then let's go to 810 tomorrow. **Alex Tutor:** Not tomorrow. The weights and scores are our assumptions, and the map is a hypothesis about room. Check willingness to pay first, then choose a stance on purpose. > **Exercise:** By how much is Klasna's programming price **below** the market line (100 UAH per benefit point, benefit 8.1, price 720)? In UAH. ## Dana tries her own map **Dana:** I drew one for my adult learners last night. Adults weigh evening slots and lessons on their own work topics far above anything else. **Alex Tutor:** So your weights differ from Klasna's parents, and that's fine: a different buyer, a different map. Where did you land? **Dana:** Well below the line. Evening group courses in the city charge less, but they score low on my learners' top two attributes. **Alex Tutor:** Then your 600 looks like a good deal for them. Hold that thought for next lesson, when you choose where to sit on purpose. > **Exercise:** On her own learners' map, Dana's 600 sits well **below** the market line, while the cheaper evening group courses score low on what her learners value most. What is the soundest reading? ## What the map can't see **Nazar:** Some parents would weigh the schedule much higher. Night-shift families, for example. **Alex Tutor:** Then for them the map looks different, and the free course climbs. One map per segment if weights differ a lot. And the scores are perceived benefit: if parents don't know about our projects, they don't count. **Sofia:** And the premium school might have something we didn't score, like a certificate parents value. **Alex Tutor:** Exactly. A map is only as good as its attributes. When an offer above the line keeps selling, look for the missing attribute before calling buyers irrational. > **Exercise:** Which are real **limits** of this value map? Choose all that apply. **Alex Tutor:** And when an offer above the line keeps selling? > **Exercise:** If the premium school keeps selling at 950, well above the market line, its buyers are simply being irrational. ## Your turn: answer Leo **Leo:** Give me the short version: are we expensive, and what do we do about it? **Alex Tutor:** Answer with the map: where Klasna sits, why parents still say "expensive", and what you would do before touching the price. **Sofia:** And say which numbers are assumptions. **Alex Tutor:** Yes. Leo likes bold moves; give him a bold next step that's also safe. > **Exercise:** Leo asks: "Are we expensive in teen programming, and what do we do about it?" Answer in 3–5 sentences using the value map. > **Key ideas** > > - A **value map** places every alternative by perceived benefit and price. Benefit = weighted sum of what buyers value, weights from interviews. > - The **market line** is the market's typical price per level of benefit. Above it: over-priced for what it gives; below it: a good deal. > - "Expensive" often means "the benefit gap isn't visible". Fix communication before cutting the price. > - Weights, scores and attributes are assumptions; draw separate maps for segments that weigh things differently, and test with real behaviour. **Alex Tutor:** Next: choosing where to sit on purpose. Premium, middle or economy, for Klasna and for Dana. - Previous lesson: [The real alternatives, including doing nothing](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/the-real-alternatives.md) - Next lesson: [Choosing a price stance](https://productovi.com/courses/pricing/choosing-a-stance.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.