Customers just want products, not (usually over-priced) "solutions"

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Customers just want products, not (usually over-priced) "solutions"

270 points posted to Sales Strategies by mistern 07/27/07

Because I disagree with "Customer wants Solutions not mere Products", here you got this idea.

What is touted as "solutions" is usually over-priced and designed to be hard to compare to other products. I want cheap and good products. I want the customer to be in power.

I just want products. [profanity removed by moderator] good products - for a sensible price. (And I think Dell can do something about that.)

sudhir_reddy 07/27/07	what is the advantage of having a product ( good and affordable ) if's not helping the customer ?? So the product's ultimate aim is to provide a tailor made solutions to the customer for their day-to-day needs... your intention ( Customer in power ) is good..but my intention is " Customer with power "
benjesuit 07/27/07	Like their wildly over-priced XPS line. You can get more powerful and/or configurable option unit from other vendors. I don't know where Dell gets off charging these inflated prices.
mistern 07/27/07	@sudhir_reddy: If I buy a product, I know that it will help me. Your intention may be good but I think you got fooled by marketing folks. There's no reason why "mere" products should be less helpful than "solutions"...
sudhir_reddy 07/27/07	@Mister: what you have quoted ("If I buy a product, I know that it will help me") is itself means that you are buying a solution not a product to help you...Product is the name that we give to a solution!!....hope you understand...from where i am coming from....may be we both are saying the same thing with a different Terminology....so i appreciate your comments while standing by my own....
gmat 07/27/07	.
sudhir_reddy 07/27/07	why are products designed/manufacture ???? There's a PURPOSE right ?..and that Purpose is to provide a solution to the needs of a customer...as simple as that...
gmat 07/27/07	.
benjesuit 07/27/07	Thing is, Dell adds a premium for their "solution" and I'd like to know why?
gmat 07/27/07	.
sudhir_reddy 07/27/07	Here we go!....so the first thing is to 1.identify the problem.... 2.work on the solution 3.then comes the creation of the product so hope everyone agrees with the same...
benjesuit 07/27/07	C.R.E.A.M. Cash rules everything around me.
gmat 07/27/07	.
gmat 07/27/07	.
mistern 07/27/07	@sudhir_reddy: Of course a product is, by itself, also a solution. What is being touted as a "solution" is something completely different, though. Your idea suggests that you mean the latter. Also, you said that you don't want "mere products" which would mean that you want something... fancy. Which is always sold for a (large) premium.
jorge 07/27/07	You forgot 4. Viability There's plenty of solutions but will it make sense to make it? Sometimes you have to settle for something less or different from what you want/need.
mistern 07/27/07	As commonly used, the word solution means something different. It's a marketing term to show that something is not a part of the system, it's the whole system. And that's what I dislike.
steve.au 07/31/07	the comments seem to be an argument largely over semantics. the subject however just comes down to customer preference. some customers just want a box, other customers want more than a box. they want someone who is going to find creative ways to solve business problems by choosing different boxes. customer preference?? isn't that what ideastorm is all about? finding NEW customer preferences.

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