Seth Godin is a master of marketing. I love his optimistic and success focused classes and talks. I share his attitude about avoiding any downdrafts in life and business and looking to participate in the updrafts.
I just read a sweet little blog he wrote that makes clear something we all will recognize as true, focusing on creating more value for customers is a choice when faced with pressure to lower costs.
"During their first decade, the core group at Amazon regularly amazed customers by investing in work that created more value. When you do that, people talk, the word spreads, growth happens.
Inevitably, particularly for public companies, it becomes easier to focus on keeping what you've got going, but cheaper. You may have noticed, for example, that their once legendary customer service hardly seems the same, with 6 or 7 interactions required to get an accurate and useful response.
This happens to organizations regardless of size or stature. It's a form of entropy. Unless you're vigilant, the apparently easy path of cost reduction will distract you from the important work of value creation."
Are you doing business in such a way that you are creating more value or responding to price pressure in a race to the bottom? Let me in on a little secret - you, as a small business, will NEVER win a race to the bottom. As I say on the first page of this site - play a game you can WIN. The only game you can win is one of lifting value so much, the price is no longer an issue.
I suspect that when you read this you can hear your clients challenging your prices in your head. It's a very different approach to be value focused rather than price focused, but I guarantee you that once you shift your focus and narrative with your clients, not only will you be happier and more profitable, but your clients will also be happier, as they will have a greater perception of the value they are receiving, and that leads to happiness!
