Today I saw a post on another forum that made me think about how businesses compete on the Internet. My hypothesis is that too many businesses try to compete on price and not enough on quality or service. I'd welcome your thoughts on this, either here or on my blog. You can read the full article here.
I would totally agree with that. If you give a solid service then you will get repeat business and that's the secret!
I especially like your point on not always undercutting your competition. My field (freelance writing) is especially notorious for this. People are willing to work for virtually nothing, however, the quality of their work reflects this. I have found that by being patient and sticking with the price you are worth, you will find the client base over time.
The interesting thing is that this lengthy article began as a rant. I read a post where someone was upset because he was always getting undercut. I was expecting a good 'how can I market?' question. Instead he wanted to know how to make it impossible for people to print the prices off his website so those prospects cound not show them to his competition and take advantage of their low price guarantee. Eventually I settled down and began revising my work for an audience that is willing to roll-up their sleeves or put their noggin to work. Don't get me wrong. I feel for the guy. I just think he is approaching it from a reactionary stance and needs to get proactive. (Yes I wrote 'proactive', that too oft' overused totally 1990's term.)
But "price difference don't always represent difference in quality". I am in process to write a blog on this topic as well.