I believe what it implies is that a
cheap product or service is not a good value. When I think of
Value, I think in terms of how long is this going to last for my money
what kind of guarantees do I get, that kind of thing. I wanna know
that if I spend a little more on the things I buy I'm going to get a
whole lot more bang for my buck.
This
funny bit kinda explains what I mean, I'm chatting
with new client about give always for her upcoming
convention and as we're going through the book, we
hit upon the topic of custom printed key chains and
I chuckle. So she asks me if I think it's a
bad idea. I tell her I think they are a great
idea, but it depends how much value she wants.
To which she replied "What do you mean?" Now
mind you, I have this conversation over and over
again with clients and I knew what was coming, it
seems I have a "speech" and I'm told it's well
rehearsed. I think they are crazy, I'm just
passionate in my beliefs and I believe when you
speak in fact the logic is pretty hard to deny.
Anyway, when I'm discussing customized key chains
with a client, I often use a simple teaching aide to
illustrate my point. Then the client can make
an educated decision and choose how much value they
want.
Moving on. I
asked her to look at the selection of printable key
chains and choose the one she liked. After a moment
of looking she chose the cheapest key chain
available, a printed rubberish thing that if used in
a real life capacity wouldn't last 6 months. I
grab a keychain from my desk and hand it to her and
told her they cost $0.75 each with custom printing.
This is a nice but cheap rubber key chain like the
one she chose. I ask her if it were given to
her at a trade show what would she ultimately end up
doing with it? I was floored when she admitted
she would most likely throw it away and began to
laugh.
I
then grab another keychain from my desk, a simple
but nice cast pewter keychain, one that looked cool
and could actually survive everyday use and abuse
for decades. As I hand it to her I tell here I
can do something similar for her but they would cost
approximately $3.50 each and I ask her again what
she would do with a keychain like this. She
conceded it was very nice but had a hard time
justifying the expense. She figured that she
would be able to get more of the cheaper key chains
for her money, be able to them out to more people
and that would be better. If they lasted a two
- three weeks that would be fine. We make her
key chains and deliver them in time for her
convention. That's the last we saw Janet for
nearly a year.
Then, guess who pops in
out of the blue to order those pewter keychains?
Yep... Janet's assistant. ( ha ha I bet you
thought it was Janet.) She tells me that
Janet had an epiphany on the plane back from a trade
show they had just attended. She tells me that
their company sent them as visitors to find new
vendors and while there they collected lots of
samples and promotional items. She tells me
that when they were going through the literature and
items they received Janet threw away several key
chains similar to the ones she previously ordered
without even thinking about it. Apparently on
the plane Janet realized that the money those
vendors spent on those key chains was a waste, which
most likely meant that the money she spent on her
key chains was wasted as well and she wasn't going
to make that mistake again. She wanted more
bang for her buck.
The new agenda was "to
create a cool custom keychain that to none would
want to throw away." Which is exactly what we
do.
The long story, short.
Janet came in to pick up order instead of her
assistant. She said she understood what I was trying
to tell her at our first meeting and then proceeded
to hand me one of the keychains she got at her
convention that she didn't throw away.
Guess what kind of key
chain it was....
The Moral of this
Story - Cost is just a number, it what you have
to pay. Value is what its about what it's
worth.
***
as soon as I can I'll put some photos up here for
illustration.
Published on Dec 28th 2010 -
Steve Farrow is the President and CEO of Crazy Native
Graphic Arts, Inc. - Douglasville, Georgia. A Full Service
Graphics Company Specializing in Custom Printed T-Shirts,
Signs,
Logos and Graphic
Design.
For More
Information about Signs, Please Visit Us Online at
www.CrazyNativeSigns.com |