Low Price, Difficult Execution. Higher Price, Easier Execution.

Many of your prospects believe you are supposed to be transactional. Especially when it comes to your price.

Globalization has made the entire world our competitors, including places with lower labor costs and every bit as much intellectual power. The Internet has disintermediated anything and anyone that can’t differentiate their offering with real value. The recessions that bookended the last decade coupled with the rise of purchasing and supply chain management have tried to commoditize everything—even companies who haven’t made the choice to compete on price.

We’re supposed to be Wal-Mart and Apple at the same time. We’re supposed to deliver the best results, at the fastest speed, and at the lowest price. And therein is the problem.

If you have the lowest price, execution is difficult. It’s impossibly difficult for you to deliver the best results. It’s also difficult for you to deliver results fast. You don’t have the money to invest in those outcomes. Wal-Mart doesn’t invest in nice stores. They don’t provide a great shopping experience. It’s a warehouse. Your business isn’t a warehouse.

If you have higher prices, you can more easily deliver the outcomes your clients really need. You can deliver better results. You can also deliver them faster. You have the money to invest in those outcomes. You can invest time in your clients. With profit, you can be relational instead of transactional.

You’re not supposed to be transactional. It isn’t your business model. Because this is true, you can’t compete on price. Instead, you have to find prospective clients—dream clients—that value better results more than they value the lowest price. It isn’t easy, but it’s the only way to deliver the real value that you create.

Questions

Which of your prospective clients want you to price like you are transactional?

Is that really the value that you create? Is it your business model?

Can you think of something you buy that is the lowest price in its category and still delivers the best experience?