You have to pay for quality. Or?

Like me, have you also thought the following?

1. If you want the best product then you also have to pay well for that product.
2. If you want the best service then you also have to pay well for that service.
3. If you want the best girlfriend / boyfriend then you also have to pay well for him or her.

Of course, there is something wrong with the above last statement. Who pays for a girlfriend or a boyfriend? Not normal people I would think. Having said that, is there really anything that suggests that statement 1 and 2 are any more accurate? Is there anything that suggests that statement 1 and 2 makes any more sense and is it correct that you have to pay for quality?

Not one day goes by here in Norway without us hearing or reading about the focus on cost reductions within the oil and gas sector. Even the “tabloid crap” have decided to favour articles about this as opposed to giving up to date info on who is arguing with who in the latest TV reality show. This considered, we must have some significant problems. Problems that one have to face and problems that so far are being dealt with in the right manner. All this got me thinking; Not about the fact that I didn`t get the latest reality show update in the paper, but more around the fact that us Norwegians seem to be set on the fact that you have to pay for quality and the fact that we are we are well known for exactly this around the globe. Strange? I think so. Why are we Norwegians “always” prepared to pay more for what we think is best products and services?

Thank God (literally) there is a logical answer to this. It was God who sent the message to Adam and Eve that they had to leave a note (in form of a letter) on the ice for the Norwegians. In the letter, it had to say the following: Quality costs money. Promise God that neither of you forget to spread this message.

Last week I read a blog post from one of my industry colleagues that really got me to think about the famous cost vs quality saga. I shouldn`t really be calling this person a colleague considering his post was an embarrassment to the industry as a whole, but for the benefit of this post and out of respect to him, he shall be referred to as a colleague. This colleague of mine argued that quality costs money and the more you pay the better the product or the service, irrespective of other factors. He went on to say that the most expensive suppliers automatically are the best and “basically screw the rest”. He didn`t put it exactly like this of course, but so be it.

In one way or another, we should all be pleased that he posted this, in particular companies looking to use external recruiters. In a short blog post, this person has helped us to establish which recruitment company is the best, the number one, the star recruiter. If you still haven’t work out who this is well here is the answer: The most expensive recruitment company. So when you are offered a 35% recruitment fee through an agent then just to be sure, do as follows: Suggest the recruiter ups their fee to 50%? Nothing can go wrong then…

In all seriousness, the person who wrote this post got me thinking about the relationship between quality and cost and how much we can benefit from (especially within the oil industry) becoming better at finding quality in the somewhat more reasonable products and services that are being offered. If we can achieve this while at the same time forget the message from God then the oil industry here in Norway will be in a position to, once again, show its fruitfulness.

When reading this I am sure you already have come up with a number of products and services in which you have experienced are better the higher the cost is. Of course, there will be many cases such as this. At the same time, there are many cases in which the less expensive products and services are as good as the most expensive.

Here are some:

• A trip to warmer climates that the family ordered 12 months ago for 3000 Euros is of the same quality to the same trip the neighbour ordered 3 weeks in advance at a cost of 5000 Euros.
• A flight with KLM on a Monday for 600 Euros is just as comfortable / un-comfortable as the same flight with KLM on a Tuesday that cost 900 Euros (as long as the Monday flight don`t crash that is)
• Peter, the Geophysicist, doesn’t become any better over night simply because his Head-hunter have priced him 5000 Euros higher than what a previous Head-hunter did.
• The eggs from the chickens in your neighbours garden that you got for free are just as good (if not better) than the eggs you bought for 4 Euros in the supermarket.

Do you have to pay for the best quality? I can`t answer that, neither can you and neither could God (although he thought he could). Whether you have to pay more for the best quality or not is dependent on a number of factors such as the businesses need, the level of competition and last, but not least, what you are left with in terms of the product or the service.

My company, OG-S AS, have now increased our recruitment fees to 80% of a candidates` first year salary. This means we are the best and this means you should use our services. Of course, only until a competitor decides to put their rates up to 81%…

If you wouldn`t mind leaving a comment and / or rate this post that would be much appreciated