While trying to replace window weather stripping, my husband and I discovered that some windows pealed off easily in long strips and others wouldn’t peel at all. Worse, they were gummy and awful requiring paint thinner, scraping, and scrubbing. Speculating that we must have switched brands mid application a few years ago, we vowed never to use a cheap alternative again even if it meant having to drive across six counties to get “the real thing.” Now I have no idea what the top brand seal and peel is, probably Seal and Peel, but I know we will ask before buying more. And we will gladly pay a higher price! 

Do your products and services have an edge? It can be anywhere along the life cycle of the product, not just the purchase price. From instructions for proper installation to final disposal, what advantage do you offer? Or back up even farther. What problem is the customer trying to solve by using your product? Where do you provide value that the competition doesn’t?

If you have an edge, do your customers appreciate it? Does it matter to them? These are important questions. You may be different but not in a way that matters to your customer. Maybe your caulking material remains clear while others get cloudy. But maybe most customers only use the caulking in the winter when it is dark and cold and no one is standing outside and noticing discolored weather caulking. A competitive edge is not an edge unless your customers care about it!

Assuming you have an edge valuable to your potential customers, do they know it? Do they know that it is going to take them 30 seconds to peel your weather stripping and hours to remove the other guy’s? And do they associate your brand with that advantage?

If you are not a major brand with a major edge, you are a Brand X and probably compete primarily on price. Worse, you are tainted by the bad experiences that buyers have had with other Brand X products, even those totally unrelated to yours. After suffering gummy weather strips, blistering paint, and drooping hinges, a buyer may insist upon top brand products for every future do-it-yourself home improvement need. Your Brand X hammer, though of excellent quality and with a great price tag, may sink with the whole ship. One bad apple can spoil things for all the Brand X products.

But that doesn’t have to be the case! If you look at the bigger picture, you can identify ways to protect yourself from being dragged down by inferior products in your industry. Things like product guarantees, alliances, and seals of approval, among others, should be explored but only with a deep understanding of your customers’ problems and how they make buying decisions.

Constantly cutting prices is not the answer; understanding and meeting customer needs is!