Recently – a collegue recounted his experience selling a fully-capable product with a price less than half its competitors.

“After the presentation, the customer turned to the sales representative and asked, ‘What’s wrong with it?'”

This, more than 78 years after J. Walter Thompson’s research for Pond’s Cold Cream proved that price and quality are directly correlated in customers’ minds

Compare the potential customer’s – “What’s wrong with it?” – with the following from JWT’s 1926 Pond’s customer research:

“Reasonable in price, used by everyone, many women had begun to think that they could not be as good as creams that were more costly or that were imported.”

This strategy also works in the service industry, illustrated by this exchange between a collegue and an industry leader:

“How to do you get clients to buy into your recommendations?”

“Charge more.”