...does quality mean lowest price?

I wish to bring to the surface in this ongoing dilemma, the matter of the marketplace and price shopping.

Every day in every way, we are all exposed to and subjected to the idea that any business that can beat a competitor's price is where we should make our purchases.

It’s pervasive on TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, online, word-of-mouth, etc... So, our customer's always have this in the back of their minds. Somehow a discount should be offered, and we, as proprietors, should be so thankful to work for nothing, if it comes to that.

This is the machine we have to rage against, so to speak.

I definitely agree that having side-by-side comparisons in a portfolio is an excellent way to educate and appeal to the customer's true need for quality and perceived value, whether it is in tangible goods or in an online showcase. Seeing is believing. It is very true that some customers have no idea that something can be produced with much higher standards in quality and design. Part of the fun is coming up with sure fire ways to educate and convince them regarding true quality and durability.

I have customers who got burned from having work done too cheaply and they regret wasting the money. When they see the vast improvement in what is truly possible from a business that cares about quality and value, they feel a sense of relief and realize that their money was well-spent on having it redone. That makes an enjoyable transaction for both of us.

It is an ongoing battle. I love business and I love the challenge.

We also have the opposing forces of the "bean counters", which pressure companies to go cheap and quick. It's a shame to see an owner or employee thinking "only about the lowest price." If only all companies took the time to educate the customer...instead of 'take the order no matter what the profit'...things might be somewhat different.

People confuse price....with "quality." They assume that all products are the same quality.....so price becomes the only factor......how did we get here?

...what a great salesperson!

It seems like every commercial on TV is for a prescription drug. And yet consumers can't buy them without a doctor's approval. So why target consumers with these ads? Here's how the U.S. became one of the only countries in the world where pharmaceutical companies peddle drugs to ordinary people.

FDA loopholes...

The United States and New Zealand are the only countries in the world that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals. Most countries banned the practice in the 1940s. The direct-to-consumer market was pioneered not in a corporate boardroom, but by Joe Davis, a regular salesman who sold packaged goods.  At the time, pharmaceutical companies marketed only to physicians through print mailings, visits, and free samples, with the patient knowing little about the drugs they were taking. The physician told them what to take, and they followed directions.

Davis went to his friend, an executive at the medical advertising company Medicus in the mid-1980s. The advertising problem was that the FDA required any drug ad to include a full list of possible side-effects, which often took several pages of tiny print....hard to do that in a TV spot.

So the two devised a way to recommend drugs in ads that did not mention the name of the medication, but only the positive effects of a hypothetical drug with the exact attributes of a specific pharmaceutical. Commercials ended with instructions for the consumer to 'see their doctor' for more information. By omitting the name of the drug, the two were able to slide their ads through a loophole in FDA regulations.

The unnamed drug they marketed was Seldane, which they tagged as an "antihistamine that did not cause drowsiness." When patients asked doctors for this exact type of drug, they got Seldane. Over the next few years, Seldane went from sales of $34 million a year in 1985, to $800 million per year. (Seldane, interestingly, was removed from the U.S. market in 1997 after it was found that the drug could cause heart arrhythmias.)

Advertising to consumers puts physicians under a new kind of pressure. If they want to keep you as a patient, and if giving a prescription for a drug that you asked for keeps you happy, they might do it.

Pharmaceutical commercials often have a strangeness as well, dominated by cartoons, unusual scenes, 'blankets with eyes,' and just about anything that can be done to convey a general sense of wellness and direct you to your physician.

The Nielsen Company determined that there are, on average, 80 drug commercials every hour of every day on television. Say it ain't so Joe.....

...the "Green Thing"

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right about not having the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day. (p.s. it also didn't matter too much if your older sibling was the same sex or not...)

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right.

We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

Remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.

-Dr . Sherif K. Mazhar, Ph.D.

....a bad penny always turns up

BAD PENNY -- The phrase usually is heard in this country (U.S.) as 'A bad penny always turns up,' meaning that a no-good person can be counted upon to come back again and again. The expression was originally English and the unit of currency referred to was the shilling.

“A bad penny always turns up” is a very old proverb that dates back to at least the mid-18th century and is probably much older. The general sense of the phrase is, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, “the predictable, and often unwanted, return of a disreputable or prodigal person after some absence, or (more generally) to the continual recurrence of someone or something.” A “bad penny” is a person whose presence is unwelcome on any occasion, but whom fate perversely employs to torment you by making said person appear (“turn up”) repeatedly, often at the worst possible times.

The nephew who appears only at family weddings, funerals and holiday dinners, never invited but always mysteriously materializing at your elbow and asking for a loan, is the classic “bad penny.” Former romantic flames can also be counted as “bad pennies” if fortune (or fanaticism) dictates too many accidental reunions (“Don’t stalk him! If you turn up like a bad penny every time he leaves the house, he’ll think you’re a bunny boiler,” Cosmo Girl, 2004). (“Bunny boiler,” of course, is a reference to the behavior of the character played by Glenn Close in the 1987 film “Fatal Attraction.”)

A “penny” to us here in the US is a coin worth one cent (from the Latin “centum,” one hundred), or 1/100th of a dollar. The origins of “penny” are uncertain, but it’s a very old word with relatives in many languages, and may have come from a root meaning “pledge.”

Pennies today are viewed as nearly worthless   by many people, but when the term “bad penny” first appeared in the 18th century, pennies were serious money. This made them ripe targets for counterfeiters, and to reach into your pocket or purse and discover that you had ended up with such a counterfeit coin, a “bad” penny, was a depressing and annoying experience.

The only recourse available if you were stuck with a “bad penny” was to try to spend it as quickly as possible and hope that an inattentive shopkeeper would take it. But because everyone was trying to unload their “bad pennies” this way, according to the common wisdom of the time, your odds of encountering one, or even the very same one you had gotten rid of a week earlier, were quite high. Thus “bad penny” became an idiom meaning “an unwanted thing that keeps showing up.”

Oh no, bad news for Pinocchio! I was 'yet again' awarded one of your precious client projects that I am sure you thought was 'yours to begin with.'

This time I took it away from the Barista Boy...guess you could call me your bad penny, eh? Thanks for the business. Your team's lack of closing skills has made this an excellent year for me...and for that I must take the time to say thank you.

....70 percent of employees are "disengaged"

The Gallup Organization, famous for its research, estimates that 70 percent of employees are "disengaged," meaning they’re no longer committed to the company. It's evident in positions from executive officers to front-line employees. This "I don't care" attitude is hurting businesses in a big way. What’s going on? Why all the apathy? It could be that the wrong employees are being rewarded.

Most organizations want to blame employee apathy on wages and benefits, but they actually do not play a big role in why people stop caring about their jobs. The overwhelming majority of employees stop caring because of the way they are treated every day. Surveys show that lack of appreciation, lack of teamwork and the perception that the company doesn't care about loyal employees are consistently the highest-ranked reasons for low job satisfaction.

Many managers are nice people who manage by negative reinforcement—demonstrated not by what they do but, rather, by what they don't do. Chances are, these same managers are focusing their energy and attention on those employees with behavioral problems. If loyal employees aren't recognized and appreciated for their contributions, they'll be far less motivated to care about the success of the company. Sometimes, even the best employees will go through rough spots but will bounce back with more energy and loyalty when the company stands behind them with clearly defined expectations, quality training and positive feedback.

Gallup estimates that actively disengaged workers in the United States miss 118.3 million more work days per year than their actively engaged counterparts. Harder to measure are their higher healthcare, workers’ compensation, and safety costs.

But disengaged employees who show up and simply go through the motions of work cause the biggest problem. It's reflected in everything they don't do and their constant complaints. It's the negative effect their attitudes have on their co-workers and customers. This problem has become so common as to create a new word, "presenteeism."

Gallup found that the cumulative effect of disengaged employees consistently reduces customer loyalty, sales and profit margins. An "I don’t care" attitude by employees translates to an "I don't care to do business with you" attitude by customer.

Sorry...but I care too much and have far too much pride in my work.....to simply go through the motions. That must be what sets me apart from the 70% that do.....

...America in the "black?"

Since world currency is essentially based on oil prices....good news for the home team!! America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.

In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve that was initially discovered in 1951. The USGS did an initial study back in 1999 that estimated 400 billion recoverable barrels were present but with prices bottoming out at $10 a barrel back then the report was dismissed because of the higher cost of horizontal drilling techniques that would be needed, estimated at $20-$40 a barrel.

It was not until 2007, when EOG Resources of Texas started a frenzy when they drilled a single well in Parshal N.D. that is expected to yield 700,000 barrels of oil that real excitement and money started to flow in North Dakota. Marathon Oil is investing $1.5 billion and drilling 300 new wells in what is expected to be one of the greatest booms in Oil discovery since Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938. The US imported about 14 million barrels of Oil per day in 2007, which means US consumers sent about $340 Billion Dollars over seas building palaces in Dubai and propping up unfriendly regimes around the World, if 200 billion barrels of oil at $90 a barrel are recovered in the high plains the added wealth to the US economy would be $18 Trillion Dollars which would go a long way in stabilizing the US trade deficit and could cut the cost of oil in half in the long run.

Let’s go America….do something for the “USA” this time instead of feeding other countries! Stop saying "no" all the time and finally say: "YES we can."
What about me and my needs? (Forget the battery cars)....

...CandleSUCK Park...

Football is just a game. Spectators are there to 'watch' the game...not to participate. San Francisco, with its troubled past in an attempt to get back to 'the good old days' showed a side that no one needed to see....no one.

Why? Two men are fighting for their lives after one was savagely beaten in a Candlestick Park bathroom during the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders exhibition game and another was shot several times after the game in a double shooting in the parking lot.  A 24-year-old man, who was wearing an "(Expletive) the Niners" T-shirt, was shot two to four times in the stomach before driving his truck to Gate A and stumbling to security. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital in critical condition.

Another man in his 20s was shot near Lot V about 20 minutes earlier and had superficial face injuries and was taken to the same hospital. The first shooting happened shortly after 8 p.m., about 15 minutes after the game ended.

Police pulled a man off a party bus before it left the parking lot and are calling him a suspect. He was wearing an Oakland Raiders jersey.  In the fourth quarter, around 7:15 p.m., a 26-year-old San Rafael man was assaulted and knocked unconscious in an upper level men's restroom. He was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, he said.

News on this crime? "The San Francisco Police Department is investigating a shooting incident following Saturday's NFL game between the San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders outside Candlestick Park. No other information regarding the incident is available from the 49ers at this time."

The 49ers beat the Raiders 17-3 Saturday night...but Niner fans....you suck!

....'bye-bye Chip'

One day after BYU was chastised by people across the country for living up to their honor code and suspending one of their best basketball players for the remainder of the year for having premarital sex with his girlfriend, Oregon football could be in some deep trouble for possible recruiting violations....or will they?

The sleeze-fest that is college football continues churning out gut-wrenching stories about the underbelly of society putting its greed and desire to win in front of morality.  It's Oregon popping its head up this time, reportedly in the midst of recruiting violations stemming from paying a man $25,000 to help steer star running back recruit Lache Seastrunk to the school a year ago.

Oregon has stated that it paid the man, Willie Lyles, for recruiting services. But the amount and Lyles contact with Seastrunk are what have caused the NCAA to investigate.

The Pac-12 has a recent history of violations and controversy. But has it been enough to make it the poster-child conference of non-poster-child behavior?

Oregon did make the NCAA aware that they were paying Lyles to help with recruiting, but the NCAA is examining if Lyles' recruiting was on the up-and-up. Right now, they are still investigating so there is no definitive answer to whether or not any rules were broken.

That said, things certainly don't look good for the Ducks right now, especially coming off the high of appearing in the first BCS National Championship Game. We have to wait and see where this whole thing goes.

One question I have is why Oregon would even bother putting the $25,000 payment on an expenditure report if the school was violating a rule? Is it a case of hiding something in plain sight or is Oregon clean?

If the Ducks are clean, then they should have evidence of what they purchased from Lyles. This doesn’t seem to be a hard concept to grasp: If they paid Lyles for videos, then those videos should be in the schools possession, right? The NCAA still could question Oregon for what it paid so much for Lyles’ services, but at that point all the school would have to say is, “Hey, we got ripped off.”

...."hey Portland meter maid!"..."kiss my ass!"

The City of Portland meter maids have no brains...they just walk up and down the street all day looking to make quota.

How low have we actually gone with the "invention" of airlines charging for pillows....and now Portland "splitting-hairs" on the ordinance regarding license plates?

I received a very large fine for not having my front plate "adhered" to the bumper while in a public parking space.....she actually "lifted" my wiper blade to place the ticket...over my plate on in the dashboard...in plain sight. For those of you who are not familiar with Portland meter maids, please allow me to introduce you to the "ill-speaking" Russian that provided my ticket. This is the second time I have had the honor to scrape her dog shit from the bottom of my boot.....thank you ma'am. You are an idiot.

See, in the state of Oregon, there are a few basic laws regarding the display of license plates that new or current residents should know. All license plate renewal fees are covered when registering a vehicle. Additional fees are added to the registration fee of any vehicle that opts to display "special group" or "personalized" plates. Oregon laws stipulate that any personalized plate can be made up of any combination of six letters or numbers with one space (or hyphen) than can be used anywhere within the display characters. The only exception is that a personalized plate cannot have three letters followed by three numbers or three numbers followed by three letters, since those are reserved for standard issue plates.

One-plate Display--If only one plate is issued, it must be attached to the rear of the vehicle. This applies to mopeds, motorcycles, trailers, campers and special-interest vehicles.

Two-plate Display--If two plates are issued, one of the plates must be attached to the front of the vehicle in a clear area (obviously seeing it on the dashboard through clear glass does not count). The front plate may not be displayed on the dashboard within the vehicle. It must be affixed to the framework on the outside of the vehicle. The second plate must be affixed to the framework at the rear of the vehicle. Both plates must be clearly visible.

Tag Display--The month tag (numbered one through 12) is your permanent "anniversary" registration tag and must be displayed in the lower left portion of the license plate. The year tag must be displayed in the lower right hand portion of the license plate. These tags must be affixed to the license plate itself: Tagging on any type of plate cover or license frame is prohibited.

Don't make the same mistake I made. Please stay away from the extremely skinny, ill-mannered, missing-tooth Russian in downtown Portland.....and make sure you have both plates on your car....the mayor cannot find another way to gain additional revenue for his bike paths.....

...“Is there any way you can go lower?”

The Sausage Vendor said he bought his sausages for a buck, and sells them for $.95. When challenged as to how he would make money, he said, “No problem, I’ll make it up in volume.”

Business owners focus on Revenue when they should be focused on Profit. If they focused on Profit, they would raise their prices more often.

The old saying is wrong – “If you’re worrying about sales, profits will take care of themselves”.

Neither Revenue nor Sales are a good place to focus financially – we need to focus on profit (actually cash flow, but that’s another story.)

What barriers do you encounter in communicating your pricing to potential clients?

Competition, market conditions, aging industry, complex service, fear, not understanding how to price? Probably a little of most of the above. When we aren’t sold on our pricing, what does that communicate to the potential client? It communicates that all of the above (competition, market, fear, etc.) are all good reasons not to buy my product or service from me. The best way to create pricing problems is to not believe in our own pricing.

A caterer friend gave his “best, lowest” price to a potential client, skimmed of any “excess” profit, and the client’s response was “Is there any way you can go lower?” When we aren’t confident in our prices, we mentally set up shop in a place that attracts bottom-feeders like the guy above. Getting a lot of pushback on your prices? It’s possible its because your prices are too low!

Joel Spolsky is the co-founder and CEO of Fog Creek Software, said “I often meet people at parties and conferences who are starting companies, and they will invariably ask me, “Say, Joel, do you have any advice for start-ups? Since I know next to nothing about these people or their businesses, or even their industries, I usually just say, “Yes! You should raise all your prices!”

And we both have a good laugh, ha ha ha, then the founder ignores me. But my advice was most likely right. That’s because almost every start-up I have ever seen has set its prices too low.

Of the three business owner Profiles – Market Focused, Systems Focused, and Product Focused, the Market Focused entrepreneur is most likely to have good pricing, and the Product Focused craftsperson will have the worst.

The problem – the overwhelming number of businesses are started by Product Focused craftspeople. (The Systems Focused manager loves accounting-driven pricing that ignores all market conditions; they also start the fewest businesses.)

What makes for the most profitable company? One that focuses on providing VALUE, not COST! Lower prices is not value, it is simply lower prices (and may communicate less value).

FIND VALUE OUTSIDE OF PRICE! If relationships are equal, there are only two other buying questions – 1) How much does it cost? (price question), or 2) Can you do it? (value question). If you’re getting the “How much does it cost?” question too often, you’re not focused on adding value or you’re not confident in the extra value you’re delivering. Either one will lose you clients much more than your pricing itself.

What does having slightly higher prices communicate to the customer? We are confident in how our product performs.

How do we get confidence?

1. Understand the value to your clients. Ask them – why do you buy from me? What are you buying that you don’t think I even know I’m selling? It’s the best question you’ll ever ask them.

2. Stop thinking about how YOU think you perform (internal/craftsmen view), start pricing based on how you benefit them (see #1 above.)

3. Get some support – have somebody hold your feet to the fire on WHEN you will raise your prices.

Raising your prices is usually the fastest way to create new PROFIT. If you’re already covering all your costs, then every penny of higher prices falls directly to the bottom line. Want to make more money in less time? This is one of the best ways to do it.