Who is my client?

How many times have all entrepreneurs or sales people heard a knock-out argument of their clients: "But the other system (service, product) is so much cheaper!"
Are we here to be cheaper? Are we here to be professional? Are we here to provide high quality services or to make money? Or both? Should we reduce prices? Should we reduce prices on the account of quality?
Are those moral questions or purely business ones? Can we (and should we) differentiate between morals and business? Can we avoid this?
Being an entrepreneur in the field of Internet marketing and, hence, having a huge competition, I face those questions every day.
Unfortunately it's hard to argue that the world of Israeli business and competition is the world of wolves and it's subjected to the laws of survival. But should this survival be achieved at any cost?
I had an interesting discussion today regarding those issues with Gila Ben Avraham, the owner of The Bag and a talented programmer, who stated her position pretty clearly: "What is required is to provide a platform to rely on in ALL aspects, and that includes the moral ones. No surprises for the client, no hidden costs down the road, reasonable response and support times, good availability, good faith and fidelity." And she is right about it. At the end of the day what matters, even if we look at it only from the business (and not moral) perspective, is good reputation. Without reliable product or service and without transparency and honesty in supplying those services and products, it's impossible to maintain good reputation.
But we also don't need to forget another important aspect - ourselves. As service providers (or product suppliers) we need to feel good with the price our clients pay for our products. In the other words, the price we request from our clients should be consistent not only with the time it takes us to produce it, but also with the quality of the product, with professional knowledge and final client's benefits.

This reminds me of a story told by Paul McKenna in one of his books:

In the days gone by, there was a wealthy man who had a wonderful steamship, but as is the way with expensive things, it was prone to breaking down. Normally, the ship's engineers could get it going again, but one day, after a particularly difficult journey, the engine failed, and no one could get it going again.
One by one, every mechanic and engineer in the land was summoned to try to fix the engine, and one by one they failed. Finally, word came to the wealthy man of a wise old shipmaker who might be able to help, but at a hefty price. The wealthy man agreed at once.
Soon an old man who looked like he must have been fixing ships for a hundred years arrived. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and he immediately went to work. He inspected the large network of pipes leading to and from the engine very carefully, occasionally placing his hand upon the pipes to test for warmth.
Finally, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped against one of the pipes. Instantly, the sound of steam rushing through the pipes could be heard and the engine lurched into life as the old man carefully put his hammer away.
When the wealthy man asked the shipmaker what he owed him, the bill came to ten thousand pounds, a princely sum then.
'What?!' the ship-owner exclaimed. 'You hardly did anything at all! Justify your bill or will have you thrown into jail.'
The old man began to scrawl something onto a ragged piece of paper he pulled from his pocket. The welthy man smiled as he read it and apologized to the shipmaker for his rude behaviour. 
This is what it said:
For tapping with a hammer - 1 pound
For knowing where to tap - 9,999 pounds.


So... if we know "where to tap," we, in my humble opinion, should prove it by our work. If we succeed to prove it, then we have to be rewarded accordingly.
That's true, not everyone is our client. Not everyone can appreciate quality. But this doesn't mean that for the sake of winning a lot of unappreciative clients, real professionals need to drop the standards of their work and spend a lot of time producing low-quality, low-price mass products.
Besides, as Gila mentioned, if we work for a price that doesn't justify the amount of work we put in, there is a risk of being stuck with lots of work and no money.


Now I'm busy defining for myself, who is my ideal client... a client who will allow me to feel good with the product and service I supply and with the price I'm rewarded with. 


Maybe a good idea would be to open a new market for customers coaching :) ... Some way to explain to the general public how to look for a really cost effective product or service, how to differentiate between those who are trying to sell at any cost and real professionals who can't jeopardize the quality of their work by so-called "competitive prices."