Price, Price, Price (oh, and value)...
This is so true..! The lure and promise of a cheap price still seems to sway quite a few clients (initially), but the thing I’ve learned from seeing this across my career, is that they don’t stay away for long…
When an ‘event’ is the shop window for your (or your client’s) product, brand, or service, it’s vitally important that goes well and that every eventuality is considered and more importantly, planned for. Its also hugely important that the price quoted for the event is actually the price you pay at the end of the delivery - I've heard many clients say they've been stung with an unexpected extras bill at the end of the show..!
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression” is a phrase that I both love and live by – it’s so true, especially in the live events industry where a re-set and a second take isn’t an option. And yet, price over value does seem to feature highly on a purchaser’s agenda.
The amount of times I hear this answer to the question, “so, last year’s event, how did it go..?”, followed by the client saying “I wish we’d spent just a little bit more on the quality aspect...”.
The clue is in the language; it shouldn't be looked at as ‘spending’, it should be looked at as ‘investing’.
3 quotes I’d like to offer on this point would be:
* ‘skilled labour isn’t cheap, and cheap labour isn’t skilled’
* ‘we offer 3 kinds of service, GOOD, CHEAP and FAST, but you can only pick 2… GOOD & CHEAP won’t be FAST… FAST & GOOD won’t be CHEAP… and CHEAP & FAST won’t be GOOD..!’
* ‘The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten’ – Benjamin Franklin
As with anything in today’s world, in 'most' cases you get what you pay for, so please choose wisely people. : )
Building Forward thinking technology teams for fast growing Missions
8 年Really interesting read, Alan. Thanks for this!
Production Director - AlterAgent
8 年Sadly true... and yet, price, remains the main concern for both parties... sometime is the vendor that uses that lever to win against competitors. And they don't realise that doing so will cause a bigger damage than the immediate gain... in the long run we mis-educate the client to the importance of a quality service.