In a somewhat affluent neighborhood, I came upon a roadside advertisement for a company that was named “Best Price Plumbing.”
Sadly, like a nearsighted individual, this owner named his company based on what he sees as important, but is that what a prospective customer sees?
If you needed a plumber, would price be your number one consideration? Due to the importance of properly-functioning plumbing, wouldn’t the plumber’s SKILL be top on your list?
Naming the company this means the owner is someone who himself puts a high priority on bargain-shopping. While it’s fine to be thrifty, as a customer we’d like to think the plumber we’d hire would be so skilled that he’d make a decent living.
Apparently price IS this fellow’s top concern, so our first thought is, does that mean he’s such an unskilled plumber that he’s also poor? We’re not sure we want him to work on our plumbing.
How much more trust he would inspire if he named the company “Prudent Plumbing”. Prudent means sensibly careful, yet also quietly implies that his prices are not exorbitant. That word actually has such a positive connotation that it makes us feel like we better hire his company if we think we’re prudent!
But all this potential was missed because he assumed all his customers saw things like he did!
Do you know what your customers’ number one concern is? Don’t assume that it’s necessarily the same as yours. Is it quality? Uniqueness? Functionality? Trust and respect for you? Interestingly, in study after study it has been found that TRUST is most frequently stated by customers as their number one concern.
So when setting prices, be balanced. Pricing wars where each one goes lower than their competitor means all the shops lose and ultimately, could go out of business. Slashing prices undermines people’s respect for you and your products. Instead, hold your head high and do all you can to inspire Trust. In a future post, I’ll discuss a variety of ways to inspire Trust.
Yes, avoid being nearsighted about your prices. Instead, broaden your view. Reassure customers you see things from their point of view. Inspire Trust!
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Filed under: Pricing Tagged: | balanced pricing information, customer concerns, customer trust, Etsy, number 1 customer concern, Pricing, pricing wars, selling success, small business advertising, trust and respect
I am with you here! I check Alchemy daily. I am frequently appalled at the grossly low insulting prices asked by so many people. But hey, you can always say no. So even worse, I see that sometimes dozens of people agree to this exchange of 4 quarters for a dollar! How come so many people are willing to work for $3.00 per hour? It is self deprecating!
Yes, it is sad when people want something for nothing, and even worse, when others agree to do the job almost for free! I agree with you that it can be very demeaning.
However, if in our reply to their request, we explain convincingly why we can offer a superior result, perhaps they’ll see the light. They do want to be able to trust us. For it to be a win-win for both with no resentment, both need to feel good about the compromise. And trust is a big part of that.
All the best to you and thanks for commenting!
Bonnie
Been looking for this type of information. Everything I’ve read anywhere else hasn’t covered it very well, but your post did. Thanks…
Thank you so much for your appreciative comment! I’m glad you found the post helpful. I’ll do my best to continue to provide useful info–running a business these days is not easy and it’s smart for all of us to get info everywhere we can. All the best to you!