We lost a customer recently. Not something we ever want to do, particularly in this economy. We simply did. Like every company, we provide a product or service at a price that we feel is fair and the market will support.
The customer mentioned wanted to order a particular item. When quoted, he stated he could get the “same” item from XYZ Company for significantly less. Knowing the quality of our products, we were surprised that the customer could get the “same” item at the price point mentioned. He asked us to match the price and we declined. We lost the order and the customer…temporarily.
We received an order from the same customer for the quoted item within days of losing the original. Without prompting he admitted that the item specifications were the “same” but the material and quality were night and day.
The market is such that we are all trying to reduce costs and save money, but sometimes it makes sense to pay a little more for quality.
A friend provided me with the quote below. I’m not sure of the original author but it sums things up fairly well.
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot — it can’t be done. If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better”
