Strategy

People are naturally anti-cheap, despite what everyone claims

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I remember when I last went shopping for some new climbing shoes.

As most people do when buying something, especially when it’s your first time and you have no idea what to look for, I did some research on the different types of climbing shoes, what makes each shoe different, what a good shoe should have (and what it shouldn’t), and some other tips and tricks to know whether a shoe fits me and my climbing style.

So, armed with my newfound knowledge, I went to my local sports equipment store to find myself a new pair of shoes.

There were so, so many different shoes, but eventually I narrowed it down to three pairs of shoes that had all the qualities I was looking for (and which I found visually appealing, an importance that can’t be understated, of course)

Out of those three, one had a price way above what I was willing to spend at that time.

So only two remained…

As far as I could tell, the features were the same. They both looked equally nice. They both fit my feet (and my climbing style) equally well. And they were almost identical when it came to the specific attributes that mattered.

The only difference was the price…

One of them was about $50 and the other was $80. (this happened quite a while ago, so the real figures could differ, but the relative difference was more or less the same)

Now, seeing as both shoes were more or less the same, you would think I, or any other rational, thinking human being, would have chosen the $50 pair of shoes and continued with their day, right? Right??

Well, that’s not what happened.

Instead my mind, even though I wasn’t aware of it at the time, went “Huh, why is this one almost half the price of the other one? There must be something wrong with it.”Of course, I had no idea what that something was. And I’m not even sure if there actually was something wrong with it in the first place. But this, seemingly odd, behavior isn’t all that weird when you look at how people make buying decisions.

In fact, that’s how most, if not all, people think—or at least in circumstances where money isn’t a major issue and people actually have a choice to make instead of being forced into one.

This is why merely “competing on price” isn’t a viable strategy.

There are, of course, many reasons for that. One of them is that, as Dan Kennedy said, “There’s no strategic advantage to being the second cheapest…”, and I can guarantee you there are always dozens of others who will compete with you to be the cheapest of all, resulting in an arms race to going out out business.

Another, which neatly ties up my shopping adventure, is that, to the consumer, price is an indicator of quality and people simply won’t trust something that’s cheap… unless there’s a narrative around it as to where the cost savings are made.

That’s why Ikea can afford to be “cheap”, you have to build the damn thing yourself, after all.

Funnily enough, that’s why Ryanair not only has to be cheap, it has to look and sound cheap as well. If they acted like any other normal airline, people wouldn’t trust their prices and decide not to fly with them. Instead, Ryanair does everything it can to uphold its reputation of “cheapness” so there’s a surrounding narrative as to why tickets are so cheap compared to other airlines.

Moral of the story: if you want to compete on price, you better create a narrative as to why that’s the case. Otherwise, just increase your prices, increase the perceived quality, and call it a day.

Speaking of quality.

It might not be cheap, but one of my best-selling courses, Product Creation Made Easy will teach you how to easily ideate, create, and launch profitable digital products in 21 days or less.

There’s even an entire module on pricing strategies!

Seriously, check it out here: https://alexvandromme.com/pcme/


Boil’em, mash’em, stick’em in a stew

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I enjoy eating potatoes (also known as taters or, more cultured, Po-Tay-Toes).

But I can’t remember the last time I ever ate a lone potato, without anything else—I won’t eat a lone one anytime soon either.

That’s the thing with preparing a good meal.

Sure, part of it is about your selection of ingredients and how you decide to prepare them. But more important is how you choose to combine those ingredients.

I’d eat fries with some salad and a steak all day, any day. But you’ll have to drug me before you ever get me to eat fries stuffed in a lemon & chocolate cake decorated with hot sauce.

See, I’m not one to make generalizations, however, I do believe I’m quite safe saying the above statement holds true for most people (don’t bother replying to this email about how you’re different because you’re vegan or whatever—I do not care and you’re smart enough to understand the point I’m making).

Chances are, I’ve told you nothing you didn’t already know.

So why, whenever I look around at the market, do I see tons of people valuing individual, mostly hot, exotic, and trending ingredients over the big-picture meal they’re preparing? It’s all “Try out this new guarantee to skyrocket your sales” or “Check out this new subject line hack to double, triple, or even quadruple your open rate!!” Yet when you ask these people about their big-picture business plan, they’ll tell you a story with more holes than a fishing net.

The sad part?

Such a business plan doesn’t have to be more than 4 simple questions:

  1. Who are you helping?

  2. How are you reaching them?

  3. What are you selling them first?

  4. What are you selling them next?

Answer those four questions for yourself and you’ll already have yourself a better-functioning and more effective business than 90% of posers and wannabes you’ll see crying about on social media.

Anyway.

If you don’t want to be stuck eating lone potatoes all your life, I’d highly suggest you check out Email Valhalla which will not only show you how to write emails that get you paid while keeping your readers reading day after day, but it’ll also show you how to build yourself an actual (extremely simple, yet outrageously effective) business without so much as a single hole in sight.

Check out the following link to learn more: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla