Effectively Marketing “Cost-Effective” in Life Science

Some products or services offer higher quality AND lower price. “Cost effective” solutions with other benefits and advantages must be marketed and sold carefully. The issue is how to successfully position the offering.

• High Quality may scare away prospects who assume it has a High Price
• Lower Price may mean Low Value to many in the Life Science Community

While great price and great quality is a compelling message, it sounds a lot like “Better, Faster, Cheaper”. Bringing attention to “value” is important but careful attention should be paid to “how” and “when” this attribute is promoted.

There are two schools of thought on how to best address the High Price/Low Cost Conundrum:

• Bring Price Advantage in Early because if you wait too long you risk losing the client due to high-price perception.
• Focus on Quality: Stress the Quality and wait until late in the Sales or Marketing Process to point out your price benefit. Establishing value before price will make the price advantage seem even more compelling.

My Thoughts: Quality, Quality, Quality then Price

Quality Trumps Price, pure and simple. While people want lower pricing, they will pay for quality due to hidden cost of lower priced offerings (time lost due to failed experiments or compromised results). Lead with the your value proposition and your key differentiators that will make an impact on their work whether in written or verbal communications. After the value is established, bringing greater focus to cost-effectiveness should pique their interest. If you bring in price early then it becomes the key focus making your sales or marketing effort a “race to bottom” with your competitors to see who can offer the lowest price. Margins suffer, perception of your product/service suffers and your company loses.