This week on the J.O. blog, we’re addressing a common conversation had between agencies and clients. Honestly, this is a conversation everyone in the business world, including marketing, communications, public relations and graphic design fields, have to have from time to time. It’s an important issue that we were inspired by this Digital Brew blog to cover. It’s also a conversation that focuses on three specific parts of the work equation: quality, speed and price. Now, let’s get into it.
For marketing agencies, speed, quality and price are a conversation to have with clients.
You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Cue The Rolling Stones as we settle into the idea that you can’t always get what you want —pretty much ever, but especially in the context of hiring a team of communicators on your behalf.
| By the way, have you read our statement on AI? Learn how we plan to use — and not use — AI in our work.
By that we mean in the perfect scenario, everyone wants to get exactly what they want (quality work) exactly when they want it (speed) for as low a dollar point as possible (price). In a world of seeking fast, cheap AND good, it’s unfortunately true that in almost all situations, only two are possible.
As a client, you can have:
- High quality work at a low price … but it will likely take a while.
- High quality work quickly … but it will cost more.
- Quick work at a low price … but it likely won’t be great quality.
Here’s a graphic that explains the unattainable triangle.
But what if a client says, “I want them all”? This is called the unattainable triangle. Here’s how Digital Brew describes it: “The triangle is considered to be ‘unattainable’ because any business that attains it would be inherently flawed. For example, in an ideal world, businesses would produce high-quality goods at a fraction of the cost and time. Logistically, this theory doesn’t work. Think about what happens in the business world. Consumers associate high prices with high quality and cheap prices with low quality rather that is true or not.”
The quandary of the unattainable triangle is a reminder that you really do get what you pay for.
How J.O. Approaches the Unattainable Triangle
As a team of creatives, marketers and communicators, all of us at J.O. come to work every day because we enjoy this work. We love working with clients and find a lot of joy in helping others write a new chapter, build a new dream and broadcast a new service. We’re in the marketing, advertising and public relations world not to get rich, but to use our skills in service to others. Because of that, we provide our services at a price that we believe is fitting for the skills and resources we’ve gathered over the last 26 years.
We’re ready and willing to work with clients and deliver what they need and when, but if it needs to be at rapid speed, there may be higher prices. That’s the reality of working with people (and business in general) — you can’t have great work both quickly and at a low price. The sayings abound for this truth: great things take time; you get what you pay for; slow and steady wins the race; quality over quantity; haste makes waste; you can’t have champagne on a beer budget; quality comes at a price, whether time or money; good things aren’t cheap and cheap things aren’t good; you can’t have it all.
| If you’re looking for more on the unattainable triangle, check out this read that includes some great real-world examples.
The reality of work is you can’t have speed, quality and a low price — that’s the unattainable triangle.
Find a Sweet Spot with J.O. Agency
After 26 years of marketing, communications and public relations in Fort Worth, Texas, the J.O. Agency has learned a lot about great work. We’ve won awards for it and we’ve created a track-record of true success for our clients. We’ll work with you to find the sweet spot of working within your timeline and providing excellent work that’s worth its price. Take a look at our work and then send us an email at hello@joagency.com.
Finally, remember: As The Rolling Stones tell us, you can’t always get what you want … but you get what you need. It all works out in the end.