"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."

This continues on with marketing priciple number 2 - Give your customers their 5 basic wants.

Customer Want No. 2. Give Your Customers A Quality Product.

Quality is giving your customers a product that won't fall apart after 5 minutes, or providing a service that's top-notch.

Your customers expect high quality. After all, they are paying you good money for something so you shouldn't take them for a ride.

If you can't get good quality products, have a chat with your supplier to organise better quality. If that doesn't work go to a different supplier. Because if people stay away from you because of your poor quality products, you will go out of business, not your supplier.

Your supplier won't go out of business because there will always be new entrepreneurs coming along that the supplier can sell their crappy products to.

And if you're in a service business make sure your work is top-notch. After all, your business is your livelihood. You do it all the time so you should be good at it. So go on, give your customers a real good job that shows you are a professional.

And avoid thinking like some of the BIG multinational companies. Surely they must think their customers are dumb. Because to spew out a whole bunch of second rate products to make people buy again is not good business sense.

I bet if you buy a product and it falls apart after a little while, you don't buy the exact same product from the same manufacturer again do you?

No. You buy a different one.

So why do manufacturers seem to deliberately provide faulty products?

I don't know. I don't know how to think like a stuffy corporation with no human side.

WhatI do know is . . .

Let me ask you, would your rather pay $25 many times or $100 once? I'd rather pay once, and I think you would too. Because there is nothing quite as annoying as a product that falls apart and is of low quality.

Look at all the 'multi-tools' that are on the market now. These 'multi-tools' are just modified updated versions of the good old Swiss Army Knife. They have so many functions it makes your head spin. But you know what the really interesting thing is? It's their price.

These 'multi-tools' sell anywhere from $80 up - depending on which brand you get. And all they are is a pair of pliers, a bottle opener, a can opener, wire stripper, philips head screwdriver, flat head screwdriver, saw, knife, and other features I can't remember. These things do it all. Amd most come with a lifetime guarantee. And the ones that don't have a lifetime guarantee have a 25 year guarantee.

The point is they are a quality product and . . .

Another example is the Zippo lighter. Sure you can get imitations for $5 or $10, but they don't last. Instead, people pay $25 to $90 (or more) for a lighter that won't blow out in the breeze, lights first time everytime, and comes with a lifetime warranty. Again, when people are given a choice they buy quality.

But not only do these two examples show that people prefer quality, they also show that people are willing to pay for quality. They could easily buy the cheap version many times over, but they would rather pay the higher price once and avoid all the headaches, hassles and inconvenience of faulty products.

What this means to you is that if you provide a good quality product you can charge more for it.

Try this, it works!

May the success you achieve be a direct result of the effort you put in!!

Michael Ross
Miros Designs Marketing.
 
 

About this author

Michael Ross is an australian based author, product developer, direct marketer and consultant.

Michael Ross is known for his detailed and helpful advice on how to succeed in marketing.

Note:
Michael Ross' original web site is closed. I don't know if it's permanently or temporily. Michael Ross recently told me that he has more or less retired from the Internet. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause you.

You can, however, still buy a copy of Micael's book, "The Art of Leverage" by going to this web site: http://artofleverage.cjb.net/