The Cost/Value Conundrum: Some Things Cost More Because They're Worth It

Nothing ruins a good price, it's long been said, like poor service. Yet great service at a great price is often considered nothing more than good luck -- you must have stumbled upon the rare employee who didn't get the memo about ensuring mediocrity. Pity.

There's something baked into great companies that identifies their day-to-day behavior with their long term reputation. It's a central component of their brand...and what that brand represents to customers and, just as importantly, employees, investors, and partners. Good tends to breed better, and better is always more desirable, whether experiencing it as a customer or delivering it as an employee.

Yet employees who perform really well, whether in providing great service or designing the ways to provide that service, deserve to be rewarded. Add the cost of the systems and the premium paid to the staff, and both tend to be reflected in the price. "Better" costs more, and no one seems to disagree with that concept.

Sometimes, however, optimized internal performance can actually lead to lower costs. So it's possible to provide a better product backed up by exemplary service and do it at a lower price... in some utopian world. In this world, however, the perception of better allows for higher prices and, if the company can lower its costs in the process, that's great for its profitability.

The irony is that customers who are presumably cost-conscious will make a choice based on price instead of value, choosing a lower-cost provider because their primary focus is on short-term expenditures—not long-term ROI. They may save money today, but they'll pay for fixes tomorrow and, in the end, wind up paying more.

READ MORE