One of the first things I learned at the beginning of my Sales and Customer Service career 17 years ago was the old saying; “Price, Quality or Service: Pick Two”. In other words, nobody can deliver the highest quality with the best service at the lowest price. If you want high quality and great service, you’re going to have to pay for it. If you want the lowest price, you will have to give up the quality or the service (sometimes both).
In my experience, that saying has proven to be quite accurate over the years; whether you’re in B2B sales, retail, hospitality, etc., there is just no way to deliver all three.
And so it goes that every company has to decide for themselves which of these attributes will define them. This is where I think a lot of businesses get it wrong. Conventional wisdom holds that if I want to sell more, I have to have the lowest price. But that wisdom does not always prove true. Sure, everybody likes to save money but at what cost?
Buying from the cheapest guy usually comes with some inherent problems such as:
- Out of stock/ long lead times - I can’t get what I need but if I could it would be really cheap)
- Poor quality - product does not perform as expected
- Poor Attitude - the worst of all
Over the past couple of years, I have become a huge fan of Zappos.com. I mostly still buy just shoes from them, but you can pretty much get anything you need there. Zappos is one of those companies that have chosen to be defined by service. A couple weeks ago, I had to return a pair of running shoes I bought for my son (they were too big). The return process was a breeze, but the problem came when I did not receive the email with my credit as expected. I picked up the phone and called their Customer Service Department. Talking to the Zappos Customer Service Agent truly brightened my day; she was wonderful! Within 30 seconds this woman got into my order, saw the return received and the fact that the credit was never emailed. With a smile in her voice, she emailed the credit to me while we were on the phone, apologized and said; “Mr. Murphy for your trouble I am making you a Zappos VIP; you will receive free next day shipping on everything you order – forever!"
I’m certain I can find shoes cheaper than at Zappos and save some money, but they would just be cheaper shoes. Doing business with Zappos actually adds quality to my life (now that's customer feedback)!
Over the years, Accuform Signs has received numerous awards (almost too many to count) from customers and distributor partners throughout the industry we serve. Not one of those awards was given for having the lowest price.
You have to have a fair price of course, and I believe quality is a given. But given the choice, Price, Quality or Service – Service will win every time.
So when it comes down to it, which two of the three will you pick? I'd love to read your comments below.