Live By Price, Die By Price

Photo by Neubie

I recently attended a networking event. I was looking at a display table where people had left business cards, and a gentleman walked up and placed some of his cards on the table, then thrust one into my face and said “Here, you should check out my website. I have [he told me his product selection] and everything is almost 50% off.”

I smiled and thanked him, but in my head, I was thinking “Why? Why should I check out your website?”

For the moment, let’s forget the incredible bad form he exhibited in regards to networking. He interrupted my browsing, gave me a card, gave his schpiel, and abandoned me. Nice.

But also, note that he lead with price. He offered me no other competitive benefit other than price. Which tells me that either:

• His products are inferior in quality to the ones I use currently, if they are half the price.

or

• His products are similar to what I use currently, and he simply doesn’t value them nearly as much.

Either way, it doesn’t really compel me to go look, especially if his customer service is on par with his networking skills. And as I have preached about here before, price is not a sustainable advantage. Ultimately, unless you have a huge economic advantage (i.e. Wal-Mart’s tremendous purchasing volume), selling for the lowest profit margin is going to drive you out of business.

More work for less money. Sounds like a great formula. For bankruptcy.

Brent Allan is the “Small Biz Marketing Wiz” who specializes in unconventional marketing methods for small businesses. He is the editor and head honcho for BizWarrior Online and a writer for Beneath the Brand blogs. When he isn’t making the world a better place through his knowledge of marketing and branding, he juggles, does magic, and eats fire. Pretty cool, eh?