Sometimes ideas about what to write on this blog just fall right into my lap. I just got off the phone with a potential customer who was asking for a price on a scale system. Once I told him the price, he immediately questioned me and wondered why my item was so much more expensive than a “similar” item he had just seen on another website. I explained the brand name stood for quality and that the product was built well and designed for a specific type of application. However, he was not going to accept any of that, since he had already been “wowed” by the super low price and the salesman on the “other” website.

Once the conversation with the customer ended, I visited the “other website” and here is what I found.  The product that the customer was comparing against mine was quite a bit less expensive and it did seem to do the same type of task as my product. However, there are a couple of things I wanted to mention about this little exchange.

The “other” website shows the item, shows pictures, describes it etc….however, there is never one mention of who the manufacturer is.  Why is that?  The customer on the phone also mentioned that the salesman he talked to said the item would last for as long as you needed it to.  I’m not going to throw a fellow salesman under the bus, but salespeople can say all kinds of things.  Based on the type of product that was discussed, I don’t know if I would state that the product would last “as long as you needed it to”.  I also noticed while browsing through this “other” website that they seem to intentionally mislabel or use models that are slightly incorrect throughout their website.  For example, a mfg. model# SP1000 becomes a SB1000 on their website.  Why is that?  Are they trying to deceive customers? 

The title of this entry is Quality vs. Price.  The customer who called in today seemingly was sold on the other company’s product because of the low price and the salesman.  Sadly, this probably happens more frequently that any of us realize. As we all are finding out with the internet, some folks will say/do anything to make a sale and move boxes. Price is not always the most important factor…don’t forget the old saying “you get what you pay for”.  At Central Carolina Scale, we sell only the best weigh scales we know of.  The scales are made by the best companies in the weighing industry. Quality and value are always at the top of our list of must haves. That’s why we carry names like Cardinal Scale, Doran, Digi, Rice Lake Weighing, GSE, Thurman, Intercomp, B-Tek, Pennsylvania, CAS, Ohaus…..get the picture?  We don’t hide the mfg from you. We don’t tell you what you want to hear — we tell you the facts. We will recommend the product that you need, which may/may not be what you want to hear.  So if you want to hear the truth and get good solid product info and recommendations, give us a try.  Otherwise, good luck on the “other” sites and hope you get what’s in the picture!