We Own A Million Dollar Home But You Aren’t The Cheapest
A classic line from folks who call us to ‘shop around’: “You’re a little pricey, I can get it cheaper from Company X.”
Our respectful response: “Then get it cheaper from Company X.”
In a competitive IT services market, racing to the bottom almost always leads to bad behavior — but smart customer know this. Think about it…the US Navy doesn’t award their next submarine construction contract to the lowest bidder. Every great and successful brand is known for something other than how cheap they are.
Henry Ford achieved success using mass production and interchangeable parts to build efficient manufacturing processes resulting in the lowest cost vehicles on the market. Very quickly, Ford and his team learned that people didn’t actually want the cheapest car. They wanted, and still want, a car to be proud of — a bit safer — and maybe a bit more stylish.
In other words, a quality product built by people who care. People who can earn a living wage but don’t live for the wage. A vocation that allows them to be productive company contributors..but also to productively contribute to their communities.
In the long run, ‘I can get it cheaper’ is a refuge for folks possessing short term thinking, don’t value quality, and in other than a commodity market, end up paying more to achieve successful outcomes.
This post is adapted from https://seths.blog/2014/05/the-tyranny-of-lowest-price/ and thank you Seth for the inspiration!