VALUE: A term that expresses relative worth, merit or importance.

With the economic downturn over the past few years, providers of goods, services and products have seen the word “value” be transformed into the word “price.”  Value traditionally was defined as being able to deliver a quality product and results, all at a fair price.  This applies to virtually every business in the service category supplying goods or services to their clients and customers.  But lately, price seems to be the new definition of value.

 

You see it with retailers – people are accustomed to waiting for the final markdown because many consumers don’t want to pay full price.  Are the retailers marking down to their thinnest margin, or are the initial prices inflated to account for price-shoppers?  Consumers don’t always know that answer, but they have been trained to wait for the markdown.  Conversely, there are shoppers who consider their highest priority as quality.  They may even over pay for an item because they have been trained to believe that higher prices equate to better quality.  Neither scenario is completely right.  We need to go back to the basic definition of “value” – it’s a combination of quality and price – relative worth, merit or importance.

 

The same applies in the agency business.  If a client is focused on price, a freelancer will win the bid over a full-service agency.  And, if a client is focused on quality and results, they might not even include a qualified freelancer in the bidding process.  As with the retailers, neither scenario is completely right. 

 

It takes time and effort to define “value”, and it’s not always as simple as lowest price or highest quality.  We need to remember that relative worth is part of the definition too, and customers need to feel that they received a fair deal.  People want to deliver value – they want their customers to be satisfied and feel that they were treated fairly.  As consumers in our personal and professional lives, we need to remember that there is a person on the other end of all our transactions wanting to be treated fairly.  And, in return consumers should expect a quality, fairly priced product or service.