Price, Quality and Service

Artie Goldstein

In the early 80’s my company was acquired by Scott Laboratories. Scott Laboratories manufactured and distributed biological supplies to hospitals and clinical laboratories. I traveled to West Warwick, Rhode Island to meet my sales manager, Artie Goldstein. Artie was a tough guy with a sense of humor. He was from New York, The Bronx. He reminded me of Don Rickles, but was much younger and well built. My initial impression was that before he fired anyone he beat them up.

A Wise Man

Artie reminded me of something I already knew, that selling on low price is a loser. Artie did a great job of framing his message…the best ever. Artie told me that Scott Laboratories offered customers three things: price, quality and service. Not bad, I thought, until he said that customers could pick any two of the three, but not all three. In the real world, our world, nothing could be truer. If you low ball price it is very hard to maintain quality products and services.

Educate Your Buyers

The answer to price competition is to educate buyers. If you have a good relationship with your customer, ask them what they drive or where they live. Not surprisingly, you’ll probably learn that they drive a nice car and live in a nice neighborhood. They don’t drive a Yugo or live in a Motel. If they did they would certainly be paying less, but they choose not to. Rice and two day old bread is a really cheap meal, but who is on that diet? Get the point? So, why do you have to be the lowest priced vendor to earn business? The answer is that you don’t! Talk to your customers about value. Transactions based on the lowest price are rarely in the best interest of buyers or sellers. Real value is a nice mix of price, quality and service.

Thanks Artie…Wherever You Are