The Campbell Academy Blog | Colin Campbell (61)

A proposition for value

Value and cost are entirely different.

The cost and the value are unrelated.

This is a misconception many people have where they drill their prices downwards to sell more, even though, in the longer term, people understand that they do not pay for something unless it is of value.

My hair clippers broke this week; they are Wahl hair clippers that we bought from Argos probably two or 2.5 years ago, seven years after we purchased the first pair.

It's been well over ten years now, probably 15, since I ever went to get my haircut by anyone else, apart from my wife and the value to me in having my hair cut at home is that it's quicker and if I buy a set of clippers they're almost paid for after 2 to 3 trips to the barbers.

The problem is that the clippers break much more quickly than before because the same models have been made cheaper and quicker and are now effectively disposable.

That's of no value to me.

I don't want to keep throwing away pieces of electrical equipment the manufacturer intends to break after two years, so I buy another one.

I'd rather pay more to go to the barber.

It's more valuable for me to go to the barber.

We'll try again with a more expensive set of clippers from Argos, but if it doesn't go well, I won't buy any more and take the pain of something more valuable.

We can all learn a lesson from this; it's about providing value, not about cutting costs.

Be more valuable to your family, give them more than they feel they are 'paying for', be more valuable to your partner, be more valuable to your friends, be more valuable to the people you seek to serve in your business and people will return and tell other people to return and say how valuable you are.

The mistake is that people think value for money is to reduce cost, but reducing cost rarely provides people with what they want and the quality and experience they actually seek.