Full Price – Isn’t Your Product Worth It?

What a time to be alive! We have just entered the Twenty First Century, Undoubtedly the era in which we will discover the greatest technological advances the human race has ever known. Animal cloning has already been successfully accomplished, scientists are on the brink of finding the cure for several diseases, and we are bound to see space travel become within reach of all of us. The economy is burgeoning as the global demand for American knowledge and expertise increases every day. As I said in the preface to my newest book, Full Price, the Twenty First Century will certainly be “The American Century”.

Then, given the flush economy, the positive attitude of consumers and the rise in per capita income, why is it that so many people are still dissatisfied with their jobs? Why is it that companies continue to increase sales yet profits remain the same? Why is it that we aren’t getting what we’re really worth? To find the answer we must take a closer look at the way the majority of American companies do business. A “cookie-cutter” formula has relegated businesses to fighting the price war battle, rather than maximizing their resources to achieve full price for their products or services. Waging war on with a “price-buster” strategy will reap only minimal results and companies will continue to realize a mediocre level of success. Lowering price is an acceptable way of doing business, if that’s what you’re in the business to do. Duplicating the same strategies of the guy down the street or the “big-box discounter” is fine if you want to live out your days doing just what everybody else is doing. Just like reaching for the elusive brass ring, you’ll never get what you’re really worth. In my many years of consulting with and advising some of the top companies in America, I found out long ago that finding a niche and then servicing it with outstanding products and services, defining value rather than defending price and creating a brand for your products and services is the difference between survival and success.

Value. That’s it. Plain and simple. For twenty -three years I have partnered with some of the greatest business people and entrepreneurs in America and I have always challenged them to achieve market dominance by creating value. Creating value doesn’t mean merely stating what’s great about your product or service and then hoping people will buy it. There are two elements that make up value – differentiation and uniqueness. The market leaders of today build their value by differentiation. They offer their customers something of value that sets their product or service apart from the competition. If you look, duplicate and act like your competitors long enough, soon you will become just like them. You won’t even be competition to them, you’ll just be another spoke in the wheel. Being above the crowd creates a value that makes it possible to get what you’re really worth.

So just how does a business charge full price for its products or services and get it? How does a career seeker set a salary and get it, with full benefits? We’ve been trained as a society to think asking for full price is not quite right? We’ve been fed a diet of price discounting for so long we feel almost embarrassed to want and get what we’re worth. I have good news, my friend. It’s not as arrogant or assuming as we might think. It’s really nothing more than creating what I call in my book, Maximum Value Perception. Just as in sports, the MVP is regarded as the one who give the highest overall value to the team so it is with business. Our customers see our Maximum Value Perception when we “seek and fulfill the highest need of our premium customer”. Within that definition there arise some important questions we must first answer for ourselves.

• Who is my premium customer?
• What is my premium customer’s highest need?
• How do I determine my Maximum Value Perception?
• How do I achieve Maximum Value Perception and receive full price?

I have found so many businesses hope to outsell their competition, yet haven’t spent hardly any time at all defining what makes up their best customer. A premium customer is the one who has the highest level of need for your product or service. What you can do or provide for them is essential to either their professional or personal life. Second, they have a unique value need for your product. They agree with the value of the service you provide or the product your offer or they can be easily educated about it. Third, the premium customer has a frequency of need for your product. They are not a “one-time” sale. An upscale salon owner might view her premium customer as that client who purchases comes in not only for a regular cut and style but also for manicure, pedicure and facial appointments and purchases a wide array of beauty products as well. Fourth, a premium customer influences others. They have a positive impact on others with regards to your company. In short, the premium customer is the best customer for your product.