By Francis Ardi

Clichés are expressions so often used, they make your message predictable,
making the reader want to 'save his time. They are so general in scope, they don't deliver the desired impact to your message. Let’s explore and examine “You get what you pay for”, an expression commonly used by sellers in attempt to justify price. 

You get what you pay for is second only to ‘Quality’ as being a general and by itself, vague and virtually meaningless expression used in advertising and selling.

    To create the desired impact, you need to use a variation of this basic theme, specifically tailored to the subject matter you’re referring to.  Once again, let’s take the example of “You get what you pay for”.  Here are some specifically applied variations of this basic theme of justifying price:

• You pay peanuts, you get monkeys – means you cannot realistically expect to hire good, willing, dedicated, experienced workers that will likely perform to your expectations for the wages you’re proposing to pay them.
  Notice how this is specifically tailored to the subject of hiring workers, vendors and service providers.

• Buying cheap merchandise to save money is like stopping a clock to save time brings to mind past experiences of buying cheap articles of clothing from a discount store rather than a major mall department store.  After a while you’ve seen that article of clothing coming apart at the seams or something. You soon found yourself going out to buy the more expensive version of that same item of clothing.

• Buy once and buy right – make sure you get what you really want and not settle for anything less.  And make sure it is the right thing for whatever.  Check out the manufacturer’s track record, consumer opinions, etc.  You’ll come away satisfied even if you could have spent less.  You’re more self-assured of something that will deliver on performance and durability.  You’re confident of not having to make the same purchase again any time soon.

• Price should not be the only consideration – means one should find out whether the higher-priced item offers you additional benefits over the less expensive option.  A lower priced laptop computer might have less memory, fewer USB ports, shorter battery operating time, etc.  A less expensive digital camera will have a smaller number of pixels, which means you cannot enlarge a portion of the picture to view details without the picture becoming fuzzy.

• Spending less than what you should could cost you everything – like buying insurance that does not cover some contingencies.  Hiring a contractor that does not pay attention to details like closely following safety standards. Someone getting hurt in your building because of a handrail that did not hold can sue you for personal injury.

• It’s not asking too much for something that will last you a lifetime.  Indeed, there are things you’ll buy only once in your life – like a set of fine cookware, or a $300.00 pair of Gucci patent leather oxfords you’ll wear only to weddings, funerals and black-tie events.  If the shoes look the part, are well made and comfortable to wear for hours, by all means buy them.

• Includes extras competing products don’t  If one brand of something costs more than the other, are there reasons like extra features or better materials used in its manufacture or a longer warranty, more convenient customer service, etc..  It’s more than just a designer label.

• Do the extra features mean anything to you? – Would you use the camera in a cell phone?  How about the image stabilizer on a camcorder?
  (In other words, would you use your camcorder in a moving vehicle?)

• This will save you money in the long run. – Durability, freedom from repairs, less down time, etc.

    As you can see, there are many ways you can tailor this over-used expression to suit your product or service.  I’m sure you can think of others beside what I’ve just shown you.  You just have to figure out exactly how you’re going to justify your price, especially after looking at what your competition has to offer.