You get what you pay for…0
“You get what you pay for”
Since this seems to be one of the most common excuses I see amongst independent contractors, employees or businesses that sell their services online to companies, I thought I would write about this cop out.
I say excuses, because 75% of the time whenever an independent contractor gives me poor service or skill or behaves in an unprofessional, childish, immature manner, they try to use this as their excuse for their behavior.
First off, in my opinoin you do NOT get what you pay for.
The only time I’ve seen this to be relevant, is when I’m purchasing a tangible product such as a TV, car, DVD player, camera, etc.
When it comes to hiring staff online (a service), I find this term is ONLY used by the low level unprofessional workers who swarm the Internet selling their services.
I’ve been in business since 1989, & I’ve been running my online business since 2002.
At first when I started my business online I believed this “you get what you pay for” nonsense until I started to encounter independent contractors, employees, workers, etc. who charged a lot of money & were still unprofessional, couldn’t communicate well at all, wouldn’t meet deadlines, disappeared, had attitude, didn’t care about the company, they only cared about themselves, etc.
I’ve hired high priced people & lower priced people & I’ve come to the logical conclusion that it’s NOT the price a person charges that matters, it’s THE PERSON’S INTEGRITY that matters.
If the human being themselves has a good work ethic, they care about quality, they care about communication, they don’t lie about their skillset, their skill level is above average, they care about the company & not just making a buck for quick cash or to get a so called positive review, then THEY themselves are worth the money.
Any person or business anywhere in the world can charge whatever price they choose. Retailers have a harder time because they have to cover fixed costs & compete with other tangible products, but someone who offers a service can choose what they charge. They don’t have to charge a high price if they don’t wish to, or they can overcharge & then “claim” they are great when really they aren’t.
I do realize that a lot of people think that if something is high priced it’s worth more & I too used to think that & still do when it comes to tangible items, but I’ve learned since then that when it comes to a service, it’s utter nonsense that just because someone charges more they are worth more & that you get what you pay for.
So to all businesses out there, be very careful of these independent contractors, employees or staffers who try to convince you that they are really worth every dime they are charging & use the “you get what you pay for” sales pitch. It’s just their ego trying to justify why they are charging so much. If they are really that good, they don’t need to use sales pitches or excuses to convince you. They are confident in themselves.
I have found that even the independent contractors you can’t budget out to pay who may be charging the “going rate” will still use this disrespectful phrase in an effort to try & make you feel guilty because you can’t budget out their rate.
The smart professional independent contractors understand that maybe the company just can’t afford their rate, it’s not an insult to them, nor is the company doing this to be nasty, their revenue is just their revenue. They are always polite & bow out gracefully & they NEVER ever take a lower rate & then compromise the quality of their work. Their name & their reputation is too important to them.
I’ve also come across those types of independent contractors who lower their rate & then when the company complains about the level of work or lack of professionalism, they justify their poor work with “well I’m not charging you my regular rate”, as if that’s a reason to offer a lower rate & then give shoddy service. Very unprofessional & once again, an immature attitude where they justify their dysfunctional actions & blame the company.
I have found it’s only the immature ones that probably get very little work because of their nasty attitude that have to come up with some excuse as to why they aren’t making money, so they blame everyone else for their actions.
In fact, some of the best staffers I’ve ever hired & still have with me are the ones who charged less. They far outshone the ones who charged a lot because A+ workers aren’t in it for the money, they are in it to enjoy their work & build up the company they work for. So long as they can support themselves, they know the company will increase their salary or hourly rate if they prove themselves to the company & that the company will increase their compensation once the company is bringing in more revenue. That’s their job, to help the company grow, not bring the company down.
It’s unfortunate that so many workers are the latter.
And for all of you independent contractors out there who go around lying to companies, we have your number. Integrity doesn’t have a price tag on it, you either have integrity or you don’t.
Michelle