Why you don’t necessarily get what you pay for, and how to turn this to your benefit

Lots of you have posted to this blog saying things like, “You get what you pay for.” These posts are in response to my sharing with you the trials and tribulations of finding reliable web design/development services at low prices.

This entry explains why you don’t necessarily get what you pay for, and how you can turn it to your advantage as a web professional.

Imagine a graph with QUALITY running across the X axis and PRICE running across the Y axis. Let QUALITY mean whatever it means to your clients: results, speed, creativity, more business, better image….

Now imagine that you populate this graph with price/quality data points for every web design/development professional out there.

If you get what you pay for in this business, then the line formed should be narrow.

But I know from experience that it is not. The “line” is a very wide scatter plot. Some people charge way too much relative to their quality (and get their price). Some people charge in proportion to their quality. And some people charge way below.

My goal when I buy web design and/or development services is to find the professional who does not charge in proportion to their quality.

There are lots of you who have placed yourself in that category. I call you the “low pricing self-esteem crowd.” I love it when I find these people, because I get great service and professionalism at a very low price.

How does this apply to you? Well, if you are in the “low pricing self-esteem crowd” you need to get better at pricing your services, communicating your value, and persuading your prospects that they’d be crazy to pay less to somebody else.

Yes, in general, there is a relationship between pricing and quality. But it is not a perfect relationship.

You are selling the invisible, not a car with a set package of features. Wouldn’t you rather be on or above the price/quality line?