THE GIFT SHIRT ANALOGY

Have you ever received a free t-shirt as part of some type of event, promotion, or giveaway?  Have you ever looked at one of those shirts and immediately had a thought along the lines of, “Well, I guess I can use that to work out in” or better yet, “That should make a nice garage rag?”  For those that produce those shirts, what is the intended outcome?  What is the expected ROI for the cost and effort?  If going for just-in-time promotional results (e.g., “Stop by booth #481 for a chance to win ______” as is seen on some shirts at association conferences), then okay, maybe I can understand that.  Overall, I find it interesting how much money and effort goes into producing shirts that are immediately discarded.  And for the record, it doesn’t start and end with shirts.  Many other branded giveaways get produced and just as quickly thrown to the side.  What is our infatuation with thinking that people are going to appreciate cheap giveaways? 

At this point, you may be asking, “Why is he writing about gift shirts?”  I am writing about them because I think it is an interesting analogy that holds lessons for those who are looking to purchase solutions from vendors.  It falls along the lines of something my mother used to tell me with good frequency: “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”  If you want something of value, you should not only expect to pay for it, but you should want to pay for it. 

If a vendor sells you on the concept and value of a solution and then is willing to provide it to you for a cost that seems too low, in many instances, that should actually be cause for concern rather than celebration.  While there are commoditized products out in the market, business solutions usually do not fall into that category.  Whether purchasing software, consulting, a combination of the two, or some other type of solution, one should consider that they are paying for best practice and expertise (or possibly a lack thereof).  That expertise may come through in the direct advice being given and/or in the quality and power of the product being provided.  Regardless, it reminds me of something else my mother used to tell me: “You get what you pay for.” 

From time to time, we are asked by a prospect if they can have a free trial period of our software and our answer is always no (we do our best to let them down nicely).  The reality is that it costs us to provide our solution and consult our clients around best practices.  We take our consulting seriously and want to ensure that we do all that we can to guarantee the success of each and every one of our clients. 

We don’t want to end up tossed aside as one of those gift shirts.  In our case, it wouldn’t be for a lack of quality (we are confident in that), but the all-too-prevalent misperception that if I don’t have to pay much for it then I don’t have to tend to it.  There is value in paying for something because the fact that money was expended will help to ensure that the proper attention and effort is given to making it successful.  In reality, this is the most important take away from the gift shirt analogy.  If one receives a shirt as part of a promotional giveaway, it becomes easy to make it a rag because there was no investment on the part of the receiver.  Nothing invested, nothing lost. 

Don’t mistake some of what I’m saying.  I’m not suggesting that the best provider can charge anything they want.  All I’m saying is that one should be prepared to pay for something that is truly valuable and if something is relatively cheap, it is probably just that: cheap.

Questions? Comments? Learn more at www.3creek.com or contact us at info@3creek.com