Markovsky On Distributors' Leverage: Benefiting From Your Manufacturers' Brands And Services
Brands are defined as a collection of personally perceived attributes that portray the good or ill will felt by customers toward a specific product or service. Brands can be a powerful tool in both differentiating you and establishing a higher perceived value for your offering. To the extent that you can use a brand to establish a “better” perceived deliverable in your customers' minds, they will often be willing to pay more for it. For example, consider the possibility of a $15,000 entry-level Lexus car. If such a product were offered, it would undoubtedly be perceived as a much better product and value than a $15,000 version of a lower perceived brand. In truth, the Lexus might be de-contented to a point where it is completely inferior, but the perception in the marketplace would clearly favor the highly perceived Lexus brand.
Even if a customer isn't necessarily willing to pay more for a superior brand, at the very least, its inclusion in your offering may sway the project your way, assuming reasonably comparable pricing. The point is that if all things are equal, people will go with a more highly perceived brand of product. It has, however, been our experience that distributors quite often avoid pressing their premium brands as a way to establish a greater value in their offering.