Comments on: cheapest or best

By: alexwalker.net

alexwalker.net — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 01:43:39 +0000

The Merlot Magician

Flicking through the Telegraph Magazine over breakfast on boxing day brought me face to face with a wonderful article entitled ‘The Merlot Magician’ by Richard Grant; an interview with a garagiste winemaker from Bolinas, California, called…

By: jgmitchell.com

jgmitchell.com — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 22:46:32 +0000

Life is funny that way sometimes

Lots of things going on lately. Some interesting, some not so interesting. Anyway, another sample of what I am reading right now: cheapest or best, The ever-worsening curse of the cog, Exploding Radio, Dealing with a legacy brain…, and the latest rou…

By: triticale

triticale — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 10:54:52 +0000

The thing about “good, fast, cheap” is that while a vendor should strive to deliver all three, as a customer one should know up front which one to forego.
The fourth parameter is “different”. If I were going to be a plumber I would specialize in either Victorian fixtures in an historic district or industrial process piping.

By: Sheila

Sheila — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 02:33:48 +0000

The kicker is this: It’s expensive to be either and brevity is key.

By: Tom Asacker

Tom Asacker — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 00:27:17 +0000

Well then Hugh, let’s simply agree to disagree. Stay passionate!

By: DaveShearon

DaveShearon — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 07:42:44 +0000

High-End Plumbers

Gaping Void quotes from his friend’s Cardboard Spaceship:If I was 20 years younger and going to college, would I, like our peers did back in the 1980s, be studying

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 06:38:29 +0000

Tom, again, I am disagreeing with you (but damn, you make it so easy).
I am not saying “The only way you can make money selling dental floss, is if your dental floss brand has all the power, resonance and sexiness of Apple or Victoria’s Secret.”
I am saying, good luck selling dental floss if you’re neither the cheapest, nor the best.
Because you are certainly going to need it. And in 2, 3, 5, 10 years time, you are goig to need it A LOT more.
If your big dental floss plan is “figuring out what customer expectation is, then delivering on it”, well sorry, I don’t envy you. Not that you can’t make a good, steady living from it… at least, until Wal-Mart decides it’s your turn in the barrel.

By: jdb

jdb — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 06:21:18 +0000

Hmm, about the plumber idea. Ever have your arms up to your elbows in shit? I think carpenter might be better.

By: john dodds

john dodds — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 03:36:38 +0000

You mean a Bog Blog?

By: Tom Asacker

Tom Asacker — Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:12:43 +0000

Hugh, Hugh, Hugh. Please make an inventory of all of the “brands” that you purchase: toothpaste, beer, pub frequented, hair gel, pen used to sketch awesome cartoons, TV shows, socks, watches, cereal, toilet paper, bank, insurance, auto, bicycle, underwear, floss, utensils, restaurants, picture frames, airlines, books, beverages, camera, stereo, computers, cell phone, etcetera! Now do an honest inventory of your decision-making. How many Brands were chosen because they were the absolute cheapest? How many were chosen because they were the f—ing bomb!? And how many were chosen because they met your expectations (at that time)?
It certainly is true that expectations are being raised by the introduction of new products and services. And that’s my point. Companies need to keep up with — and meet — those changing expectations or they’re toast! I prefer to look to customer value as a way of remaining competitive, and not to colorful farm animals. Who knows, perhaps we’re saying the same thing in different ways.
And Michael. Beware (be aware), the old paradigm of “you can’t be all three” is being blown to bits! Read the book: “Free, Perfect, and Now: Connecting to the Three Insatiable Customer Demands, A CEO’s True Story” by Robert Rodin.

By: Michael Ray

Michael Ray — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 20:43:09 +0000

I’ve heard:
1. best
2. cheapest
3. fastest
One’s service to customers/clients can provide two of the above qualities, but never all three.

By: Steve Griffiths

Steve Griffiths — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 18:27:25 +0000

brilliant stuff. One thing you haven't included in your equation, but something you've given due credit to before, is the passion and the joy of doing something well and sharing that with other people or errrmm clients. You can't buy it, you can't learn it. It's why your blog is so engaging to a molecular biologist, it's why Thomas is so ace at suiting technology. The blog then is a tool for dissemination of the passion and providing you with more opportunities to exercise your craft and bring benfit to many more people. There's still an imperative element of purity here in that passion and there will be peeps who get the blog thing, but do not have the drive to do the right thing because of greed and ego which (will become apparent soon enough and lead to inevitable failure). Am I there yet?

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 10:36:49 +0000

Hugh:
Read “Blue Ocean Strategy,” a newly published book that covers exactly what you’re talking about. The thrust of the idea is to create an entirely new market for a product or service where price isn’t the issue. It’s by creating a remarkable level of utility/value–so remarkable that the old competitors cannot compete. Check the reviews at Amazon for a synopsis.

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 05:37:24 +0000

Tom, I disagree
“If most businesses would simply understand people’s expectations and consistently deliver on those expectations.”
That’s the mission statement of a company JUST BEGGING to be murdered.

By: Tom Asacker

Tom Asacker — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 04:48:06 +0000

Best … remarkable … purple bullsh*t. Me thinks we all spend way too much time thinking and writing about this stuff and precious little time doing it.
If most businesses would simply understand people’s expectations and consistently deliver on those expectations, they’d have it made (in the shade and in the market).
But hey … I could be wrong.