In my consulting practice I encounter a fair number of business leaders that struggle with price pressures in their market. The push is on to continually reduce costs and lower prices - "We're loosing business to competition every day, they beat us on price."

Let me make a bold statement. It you continually loose on price, the odds are overwhelming you are a bad marketer.

All things being equal, a customer will buy the least cost widget or solution. The reality is, all things are never equal. There is always the opportunity to create an orange to compare to the apples in your market - service, packaging, partnering, promotions, pedigree, heritage, and quality are a few. There are many more.

Yes. Some markets are more price sensitive than others. But don't use price sensitive markets as an excuse for bad marketing. Find your orange, tell the world, and increase the value of your average sale, it's one of three ways to grow your business.