Better, Faster, Cheaper

There is an old saying that as a customer you can choose no more than two of these: better, faster, cheaper.

You can deliver better and faster. But delivering better and faster comes with a higher price. It costs more to produce better. It takes a different level of capabilities to provide faster. If your dream client wants the best and also wants to skip to the front of the line, that outcome requires a greater investment. You create more value by delivering better and faster, and you are entitled to capture value for having done so.

You might be able to deliver faster and cheaper. It makes sense that you can deliver faster and cheaper together because the quality of the outcome is no longer important. There are many companies that deliver faster and cheaper. But none that deliver faster, cheaper and better. What makes your offering better for some is the fact that it is faster and cheaper.

Unicorns

But there is no better and cheaper. It doesn’t matter how long you are willing to wait, better comes at a higher price point. Better requires a higher level of quality. Better requires a greater degree of care. Better requires a superior attention to detail. Better produces a greater outcome.

There is no business model based on providing better at a lower price point. There just isn’t enough profit to deliver both better and cheaper. The reason we call inferior products cheap is because that’s what they are.

As a sales person or an entrepreneur you can promise better. You can promise faster. And you can promise cheaper. But you cannot promise all three together, and you cannot promise better and cheaper together. That is criminal negligence. And it is why so many of your prospective customers believe in fairytales. Being a consultative salesperson and trusted advisor means telling your client the truth about the necessary investment if they want better.