People are buying Ferraris and people are buying cereal. In times of plenty and in times of challenge, staples and luxuries keep on selling. Luxuries focus on a small market of very "status conscious" buyers who will move heaven and earth to get what they want -- including the label. Staples focus on staying in the mind's eye of the customer while maintaining the lowest possible price. For those of us selling products and services somewhere between luxuries and staples, price comparability often seems more important than product/service differentiation, or value, in establishing how much a sale is worth. We take (what we believe to be) the easy route by reading the customer's mind, anticipating perceptions and objections, looking at what "similar" providers are charging and setting prices not too far off what we perceive to be a common mark (or benchmark as we often call it).

Known as "proximate decision making" (aka, grenade thinking, in the ballpark thinking, etc), the decision isn't so much about value offered as it is about the fear of really getting into the discussion of the value of the work to the customer. This often results in the shortchanging of our customers and our bottom lines.

If what we sell has worth, it has value. Monies left on the bargaining table today are never recovered. Prices that do not reflect the full value of the product or service leave the customer in a bad place. S/he cannot be sure what the true price is, what the product/service will cost next time, how you calculated value or how to assess his/her true return on investment. It's like the low, low, prices we get at many of the "big box" stores. We get satisfactory goods from around the world - more cheaply than we can buy domestic goods. And we lose jobs in America - so the bargain isn't always easy to find. The right price is the one who keeps value paramount - for everyone. Are you charging your right price?