The Value of Partnership

It never fails to amaze me how many people buy products and services based solely on price.

I think my favorite quote on this subject is from Warren Buffet (Kind of a smart businessman) who said, "Price is what you pay, Value is what you get."  Somehow we forget that and price seems to be the thing we react to the most instinctively.  In reality we all know that paying $1.00 for something every month for 12 months is more expensive than buying a better quality thing for $6.00 that lasts 12 months.  Yes the purchase price is 600% higher, but the TCO is 50% lower.

That is the value aspect of things.

In my industry (Technology) so many things are purchased based on price alone.  My goal is to make sure the value of my offering is higher than the purchase price and higher than the Total Cost of Ownership.  My solutions might cost more up front, but the TCO is always lower than the value the solution brings.  I also strive to ensure the value a solution brings is higher than the value of my competitors offerings.  Not many people are good at comparing value to value (as opposed to TCO to TCO or ROI to ROI) but that is why I think partnership is do valuable!

Who else is really going to help you figure out the best way to spend your money, even if it's not with me.