Economic Setbacks Encourage Smarter Spending
For years I've been preaching to marketing and sales organizations the lesson of selling on your unique value and not on price. And for years they've responded, "We can't do that! All customers want is the lowest price!"
It's an interesting problem. Business should promote and sell the "value" their products bring to the customer to get the best selling price and profit margin, but most customers don't seem to care. Well, hang on, because as the song says, "the times they are a'changin," folks.
When my my oldest son was a teenager I said he was the kind that needed to be whacked on the noggin with a two-by-four to get his attention. All the talking and preaching in the world wasn't going to get through that head, and that's exactly how it's been in the world of business: companies wanting and trying to sell on value and customers who can't or won't listen. Enter a swinging two-by-four called "The Recession."
"Wait," you say, "the recession should make people more price sensitive, not less!" You would think so, wouldn't you? The trend, however, is that today's buyers are not so quick to grab the cheapest product and instead are actually looking for quality in their purchases.
The recession is teaching consumers that it makes economic sense sometimes to spend a little bit more for a quality product that will perform and last.
When the dust settles and this recession is a thing of the past, is it possible that we will see a new value-based marketplace? Will the lessons learned about quality and price stick or will things go back to business as usual? We'll have to wait and see, but I know which option would be better.
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