I have just had the most frustrating phone call…a client (let’s call him Dave) that I have spent quite a bit of time talking to about their specific training needs has just come back to me with feedback from his procurement department to tell me that we didn’t win the work because of cost! But the reason why I am frustrated is that the company that did get the work doesn’t offer anywhere near the same value that we do. 

Dave wanted the course to be CPD-accredited, the course offered by the competition isn’t CPD-accredited (ours is), he also wanted a copy of the NEC3 contract, the course offered by the competition doesn’t offer a copy of the contract (ours does), plus we have a whole host of other value-added services like Webinars and Post-Course Support that the competition doesn’t offer but still over a discrepancy in price of R15,000.00 we lost the work.

Dave says that his hands are tied and it is ultimately procurement’s decision (someone who I have never spoken to and who just compared one quote to another and simply just looked at the price)…this situation got me thinking about the age old issue of price vs. value. 

I know the trainer for the competitive course, not a bad guy but he is definitely not a construction expert. His CV is a long one, it mentions everything under the sun but the word ‘construction’ is blatantly missing and so I can only conclude that he has no experience in the construction industry, so how on earth can he successfully facilitate a training course of the NEC3? 

Although the procurement department saves Dave and the company R15k on the cost of the course initially, it is all a matter of scale...does the price saved actually outweigh the value? Think about this…what if the course they turned down (from me) actually offered something better? Our training course WOULD have finally sorted out once and for the issue of Z-Clauses that Dave told me has plagued his department for ages as well finally explaining Compensation Events in detail - think of how this knowledge would have in the long-run saved Dave and the company a whole lot more than a mere R15k!

I understand that in this economy that budgets are and can be restrictive at times but in this case the R15k saving is (and I appreciate that this is my opinion) short-sighted. So, I’ll say it again, it is all a matter of scale and in business today more people need to start seeing the 'value' because value will typically trump price every single time! I am also pragmatic and appreciate that the perfect scenario is to have the perfect balance of price and value but when you can't achieve that perfect balance, which one wins...price or value?

So, I have just one final thought for anyone looking for training in 2018 to think about…as the saying goes you get what you pay for and remember that cheap isn’t always cheerful…especially when it comes to training! 

To find out more about all the additional value and services that we offer on each and every training course (that our competitors don’t!) please visit our website www.alusani.co.za

For more insights into this topic, you can also refer to another article that I published on LinkedIn some time ago called - 'Are You Comparing Apples with Apples?':-)