Low cost or good service?
When it comes to business, it often seems like the choice is between low cost and good service. Successful businesses somehow seem to be able to deliver both, but doing so requires continuous innovation to avoid your profits being stolen by competitors who copy your business model.
What tends to be more important to you? Good customer service (or a very high quality product) or the lowest price? Does it vary by industry or product/service? Explain.
Great Customer Service gets you repeat customers, hopefully customers for life, and referrals to new customers!
Someone else will likely eventually undercut your low price anyway, you know?
And people will remember and tell their friends if your low price is due to a low quality product, which is then very hard to recover from, you know?
So again, IMHO, Great Customer Service is Much More Important than a low price!
I hope this all helps and Have a Great Day! :)
- Michael S. DeVries
Founder and Principal,
The Virtual Consulting Firm ™
“Real People Providing Real Solutions in a Virtual World™”
http://www.TheVCF.com
P.S. Please Follow TheVCF on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/TheVCF
On the internet I often choose free products just because there are free alternatives that are good. But if there is a much better product I am also willing to pay for.
"Real life"
I often choose to pay more for a good product or service then to save money now and being unhappy with it later...
but it very much depends on the product type. When it come to mobilephones I don't like to spend too much because I will buy a new one "soon".
Other with computers. I invest more and hope it will last longer.
But at the end I say quality is more important to me then the price.
A particular customer recently went shopping with their wife at a well-known department store that prides itself on customer service despite pricing higher than many other department stores. The customer here feels more like a well-respected client. This is a concept that is best watched in action: there are helpful sales people available, who are very interactive, helping you make decisions, checking their backroom stock, checking other stores' inventory, offering to ship the product, a purse, to his wife for free. His wife bought a purse, in his analysis because a salesperson was ready and without that enthusiasm and willingness the purchase would not have occurred. To further prove his point, this customer then shopped in the men's department for himself. He was surprised he received the same level of attention. The salesperson's actions catered to his needs and caused him to want to pay more than his usual price cap for his product, a shirt. The shirt was not in anyway better than any other department store shirt, so the customer waited to buy it. Yet, he would go back in a heartbeat, just because of the attentive salespeople, and their way of bonding him to the store and expectation level. This is an example of how you can improve your business.
I personally think that the most important aspect of any business that wants to be successful is good customer service. If you give exceptional customer service, your customers will shop with you repeatedly and refer you to their friends and family. If you build a strong repore with your customers, they will provide feedback on the products that they like/dislike. This way you will be able to provide a high quality product, but involving them in the process. If you provide a good service, customers will still come to you over the competitor regardless of price based on their experience.
I hope this helps!