The Tyranny of Low Price

The Tyranny of Low Price

It is not typical for me to ‘resend’ a blog but this particular topic has been one that’s reared its head many, many times over the past few months. It seems that the bestselling tactic these days for some manufacturers and vendors is to go ‘low’. It’s been a very frustrating turn of events within the technology world but let’s be realistic, it’s not a new phenomenon. It’s just the lazy way of doing business in my opinion. The fact that clients are back to ‘shopping’ for the best price and neglecting to seek value from their strategic partners is new to me. I realize that inside any organization there are a multitude of decisions and considerations prior to making the choice of the right vendor or partner. However I didn’t realize the consensus was the cheapest is the best. Here is just a nugget of sensibility that I found from one of my favorite bloggers Seth Godin.

The Tyranny of Low Price

If you build your business around being the lowest-cost provider, that’s all you’ve got. Everything you do has to be a race in that direction, because if you veer toward anything else (service, workforce, impact, design, etc.) then a competitor with a more single-minded focus will sell your commodity cheaper than you. Cheapest price is the refuge for the marketer with no ideas left or no guts to implement the ideas she has. Everyone needs to sell at a fair price. But unless you’ve found a commodity that must remain a commodity, a fair price is not always the lowest price. Not when you understand that price is just one of the many tools available. A short version of this riff: The low-price leader really doesn’t need someone with your skills.

Jennifer Smith, PEI