Value, service and experience in business.

How many of you professionals can relate to this story about value, service and experience?

A customer wanted to purchase some beautiful handmade cakes and spotted a local cake maker who did amazing work and charged a fair price.

The customer thought that her price was way too high, so she approached the cake maker and, in quite an abrupt fashion, stated.

“I want to buy a cake from you, but I think you charge too much!”

The cake maker was a little taken aback but replied.

Okay, how much do you think I should charge?

The customer replied.

“I think you should charge ‘x’ much, because the flour will cost this much, and eggs this much, and fondant this much, etc. I have even factored in the price of a pan.”

The final price the customer had calculated was a lot cheaper than the cake maker’s original price, but she said.

“Okay, it’s a deal. You will get your cake in a week.”

The customer is very pleased with herself, and she can’t resist telling all her friends what a fabulous deal she has negotiated, how smart she is, and that, in a week, she will have her gorgeous cake.

A week later, her cake arrives. She opens it, and inside is flour, eggs, fondant, etc. and even a pan. Angrily, she contacts the cake maker, asking,

“How could you do this to me? I asked you for a cake, and you sent me a box of flour, eggs, fondant and a pan!”

The cake maker quietly replies. 

“You got exactly what you paid for. If you think that something is missing, then you are right, and you need to pay for it.”

The moral of the story.

When you buy a bespoke service, you are not just buying the materials, you are buying the time, effort, skill, training, costs of business, tax, overheads, love, passion and dedication that go into providing a bespoke service.

So please, have some respect for people who are doing what they are doing for a living, to feed the family.

If you’re ‘baking that special cake’, carry on with what you are doing, for people who are watching others ‘baking the cake’ and think they can do better – go for it.

Do you add value in the service you provide, and are you also prepared to pay for experience? I’d love to know your thoughts.