The Best Price Myth

2009-12-24T05:06:00.000-08:00

It's a daily mission of almost everyone in business. "How do I find the best price for what I need to buy?" Of course we want the best price whether we are shopping for a new laptop computer, a new car, a new home or another building in which to expand our growing company. It just makes sense to not only want to hold on to as much capital as we can but it also feels good to know that we shopped around and found a price that was less then what we were originally quoted. But what is often not realized in this quest to get the numbers reduced is that when shopping for the bigger ticket items and I mean items that may in the future need maintenance, additional parts or require consultation, what we should be shopping for is not the lowest price, but rather the smartest company to buy from. What does the smartest company mean? It means we should buy from the company that passes our strictest "test", that answers our toughest questions and that is willing to be subjected to our shopping "test".

The mistake that we as shoppers so often make is that we dumb down our shopping criteria so quickly that we loose the ability to learn who we should be buying from.
By dumbbing down our shopping criteria, what I mean is that we go straight to the easy questions and ask "How much is the price?" or "How long does it take to get one?" The irony of shopping on line is that the buyer's ability to find the best product at the best price is even more greatly reduced because they are not taking the time to "test" their potential sellers with the questions that will quickly determine who is truly interested in getting their business and keeping it.

The simple truth is that most of us are not really looking for the lowest price. Sure that's a convenient short term goal. But what we really want or should want is to make a discovery. We want to discover a new supplier that solves on going issues we have to deal with in our business. We don't really want a cheap computer, we want a computer that works and is problem free and yes we wan that at an affordable price. We don't want a cheap car, we want a car that always starts, runs well, is comfortable and fits our budget.

I business or in our personally lives, the shopping mistake we make is that we fail to ask the seller the proper test questions to determine of they understand our needs, and goals as well as out budgets and time frame. The bottom line is shopping is not about the price, but rather about communication. Someone once said, "there are three reasons why business fail, communication, communication and communication."
My business career has taught me that this is the absolute truth. It's missing the details that take us down the wrong path.

Example: Your company needs a new trade show exhibit booth and the boss has delegated the task of shopping for one to you. Your boss needs to see some pictures and prices for the varieties that fit the need.

You go on line and begin to Google the words trade show booth, portable trade show exhibit and any other key words you may think of and up pop many, many sites to explore. Wow! there you are with all the photos and prices you need and so many of them look the same that you decide the sites without prices wont even be in the running. Big Mistake! Why? Because often the sites without the prices are the companies that know they have to speak with you in order to deliver the best product for your needs. But you don't want to spend that much time so you pick three with prices. But you see a 30% to 40% difference in price, so now you have choice. You can either print out these three options and drop them in front of your boss and avoid making the decision, or you can make a phone call and try to determine the real differences.

If you drop them on your bosses desk without a phone call, well excuse me for being frank but you should be fired immediately. Why? Because you are serving no purpose at work and you are not solving any problems for your boss. That's why you were hired, to solve problems.

If you do make the calls to the three companies, then the real test begins with the questions that you actually sped time thinking of and writing down, before you pick up the phone. The questions should be the ones you think would be the most difficult d=for the seller to answer.

Examples:
Why is your product "C" 40% more costly than product "B"?

How long have you been selling this specific brand?

Does your company do the repairs on this product if needed?

When was the last time you had a repair required on the same unit?

What does your company provide that is not provided by other companies I might do business with?

What you are doing in your test questions as like "speed dating". You are trying to assess your "dates" knowledge of the issues and also their comfort level with you.
And like speed dating the main judgments and decisions come mostly from your gut.
What will make you a valuable employee to your boss and to any boss in the future is your ability to accumulate business relationships that are successful and productive for you and your company and the best way to do that is to TALK TALK TALK with your potential vendors, buyers, etc.

You in the end it is not about price. It's not about the lowest price. It's about relationships with people you have come to know and trust and you can only get there y asking the questions most people avoid and listening to the answers you receive. If the answers aren't complete and knowledgeable, move on to a business relationship that works for you. Take the time to do it right.

Howard Mitchell
President of Edgeworks Inc.

Welcome!

2009-11-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

With over 30 years of exhibit design and production, Edgeworks Display has seen all of the changes in the exhibit industry and has been on the leading edge of the newest technology being used.

Along with our graphic design capabilities, we have a complete fabrication shop here in Vermont where custom work in many materials can be completed for your special needs.