Recently, I tweeted the following:

“Competing on price alone is a race to the bottom,
and it’s a race nobody wins.”

Why do I say nobody wins? First, please allow a slight correction: there are huge super-store type places whose entire Value Proposition is indeed that they have the lowest prices. They do very well. And, their customers get what they want, as well.

I’m talking about you, me, and the vast majority of businesses in our mainly free-enterprise based economy. By and large, focusing your presentation on having the lowest price is hugely counterproductive. And, truly, no one wins; the one who loses the sale loses. The company and salesperson obtaining the sale loses. And, yes, even the customer loses.

The first one above is obvious.

But, why does the winner actually lose?

1. Live/Die by the Sword: Win the sale based on lowest price and you will most likely lose your customer the moment someone new comes along with an even lower price. If they buy from you on price, they’ll also leave you based on price.
2. Lack of Profit: Or, as Chubby Checker famously asked, “How low can you go?” If you go low enough, you won’t have enough profit to keep your business sustainable. Plus, you’ll be investing time, energy and service into an account that doesn’t pay for itself, keeping you from landing other, more profitable accounts. Or, you might need to provide less service for accepting the low price, which will harm your customer, and cost you in effectiveness and reputation…and ultimately, new business.

Reminds me of the person who says, “Well, sure, we lose money on every sale…but we make it up in volume.”

Okay, so what about the customer? He or she loses, too? How can that be? Yes, counter-intuitive. So, consider:

1. At best, lack of service: If there is little or no profit, the vendor is not able to provide the very best care and service. I don’t mean they don’t want to, but they probably are not able to! (See point #2 above.)
2. At worst, out-of-biz vendor: Certainly if the seller won this buyer’s business based on low price, they are doing the same with others. They are not making a large enough profit and that spells disaster. Disaster for them. Inconvenience for the buyer.

Two quick points to end this post:

1. As the salesperson/company: it’s fine to have the lowest price, but don’t sell on that being their reason to buy. Sell on value.
   

   Key: When you sell on price, you are a commodity. When you sell on value, you are a resource.

2. As the customer: it’s fine to try and obtain the lowest price possible, when all else is equal (or close enough to equal). But, remember the famous words of John Ruskin when it comes to buying on low price alone.

Let’s continue with with this topic in our next post.

In one of his recent posts, leadership authority, Dan Rockwell wrote:

“If you know more than everyone on your team, you have a weak team.”

True leaders not only accept smarter/more knowledgeable people on their team, they seek them out. They purposely surround themselves with people who are either overall more capable or are at least so in specific areas.

Positional leaders (those simply in a position of authority), on the other hand, tend to be very dependent upon their position and authority for their self-esteem. As a result, any perceived threat to such will be defended against — either consciously or unconsciously — and sabotaged either by overt or covert means.

True leaders liberally credit these talented team members for all the value they provide to the organization, as well as to the leader himself/herself. They also actively look for ways to allow these people to lead and to shine.

While leaders (“with or without titles” – as my friends Mark Sanborn and Robin Sharma would say) can come from anywhere within an organization, I’ve always found the culture of an organization to begin at the top and trickle down. When leadership at the top is guarded and defensive, that’s typically what will be found throughout. The opposite is also true.

Only a leader with character, competence and confidence desires to be surrounded by those he or she deems to be in some way(s) their superior. And they tend to have very strong teams as a result.

What do you think? Any examples come to mind?

As the light turned green, a car heading in my direction caused me to wait before making my left turn. Suddenly, before he reached me, he turned left and was on his way. Never signaled. Had he done so, as would have been appropriate, I could have taken my left a bit quicker.

No big deal. So, why do I bring this up?

Because, I caught myself thinking the worst of him. “Why didn’t he signal!?” “What an inconsiderate jerk!?” “Rude!” “Did he do that just to tick me off or was he just so wrapped up in himself that he didn’t care to signal!?”

Then, I caught myself. I realized I was assuming the worst without knowing anything for sure.

How could I possibly know that his non-signal had anything whatsoever to do with any mal-intent? And, who does it serve to assume it did? Certainly, not I. As for him, if it was, he didn’t care. And, if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t know it bothered me anyway.

The point: Why not judge favorably? Most people, at least most of the time, are pretty decent and don’t mean any harm. Not to mention it’s healthier for us to think the best of others.

It’s also more practical!

I mean, think about it. The other driver could have been thoughtless or inconsiderate.

Or…

He could have been in deep thought about a family challenge.

He could have been on the way to the hospital (which is around the corner) and thinking about the sick relative he was on the way to visit.

He’s about to be foreclosed upon and was in deep thought about his options.

He was on the phone and couldn’t reach his turn signal.

Or a huge variety of additional reasons.

Most of these possible reasons are in no way justifiable excuses for not signaling. However, any of them would certainly depersonalize what he did as well as show that it was due to human error rather than any type of negative intent.

Have you ever misjudged someone’s intent and later found out you were wrong? Has someone ever done that to you?

And, even if we really never do find out what the person’s intent truly was, why not just judge favorably? It hurts no one, helps everyone, and simply makes a lot more sense.

If you subscribe to the Prosperity Blog published by my friend, Randy Gage, you are familiar with his story. He went from a drug-abusing, high school dropout who would serve time in prison for breaking and entering, to a business failure foreclosed upon by the IRS and about as financially down-and-out as a person could be…to a hugely successful entrepreneur who now teaches others how to tap into their abundance.

Randy is part of my MasterMind group and I can tell you he is “the real deal.” He has written that the first thing he did on his journey to success was to make the decision to change. Next was to study abundance. The third was to act on this new information. Obviously, he did it. The results speak for themselves.

So, in the Comments section of one of his recent posts he was asked a question. A simple question. A good question. It was:

“Randy, on your journey from dishwasher to multimillionaire were there ever times when you thought you’d never make it, that you were just fooling yourself? Where your riches and all the good stuff just seemed too far away?”

He replied:

“There were many times I was frustrated and wondering if things would ever work.  But I stayed with it and finally broke through.”

A very simple answer. And, in my opinion, a profound one. So many people who read a book, take a course, or watch a video about becoming abundant and financially successful (or reaching any particular goal they choose to pursue) believe that this climb to success happens quickly and with no doubts. And that if they doubt, that means they are not really believing.

Not true. We are human. We have doubts. And, when things don’t go exactly as we’d like them to, or as fast as we’d like (and do they ever?) we question our decisions.

This is natural. So, how can we overcome it?

I believe the key is to understand in advance that you will have doubts. So, allow yourself to have them. And, do the thing anyway. Rather than letting the doubts stop you, decide to work through them… and do so.

What do you think? Have you found this to be true? And, how do you handle your doubts?

Recently, I saw a “tweet” suggesting that one should __________ rather than ___________. (So as not to identify the author, blanks have been used in place of the actual words.)

When presented with these two choices, most people would instinctively think just the opposite, as did I.

At first, anyway. But, then I thought perhaps the tweeter was correct after all. Or, was he? I kept going back and forth. And, then I realized where I was off the mark.

As usual, the “False Dilemma” (the unnecessary use of the word, “or”) was in play. It wasn’t an “either/or” but rather an “and.” Both were important and both were possible.

What I did was allow myself to be drawn into the frame that is so easy to be drawn into: when given a choice between two correct responses…believing those choices are the only two choices and that they are exclusive.

Suggestion: Regardless of whether the context is a philosophical tweet or a present conversation or situation in which you’d rather not have to make a choice, ask yourself:

“Are these actually the only two choices I have? Really? Could there be another one that the person does not want me to know? Or, perhaps one that simply doesn’t readily present itself?

Whatever the case…to the degree you can think — not outside the box but — “outside the False Dilemma” that you’ve intentionally or unintentionally been given, you can accomplish much greater results.

Question: what are some False Dilemmas you see being promoted either intentionally or unintentionally, and/or what false dilemmas have you overcome? This could prove to be insightful and save us all a lot of time in the future.

—–

Have you checked out our brand new program, “A Year of Success“? 52 weeks where you’ll receive a hard-hitting 3-minute teaching video from Larry Winget, Mark Sanborn, Sally Hogshead and me, along with a downloadable action idea for you to apply for the week. It’s powerful, it’s effective, it’s affordable, and I believe it can make a huge difference in both your personal and professional effectiveness. Check it out.