The term 20/20 vision, as we know, relates to what the optometry profession calls one’s visual acuity – or in lay terms, the clarity and sharpness of that vision.
As we enter a new decade and open our diaries and calendars to the year 2020, it’s perhaps opportune to reflect on the many synonyms of vision, those that describe our ability to engage in forward-thinking, to look ahead and see the bigger picture, and create a better future.
In short, our capacity to be visionary.
A common trait among visionaries is to see a situation in its entirety without becoming bogged down in or obsessed by what might be a relatively minor detail. For example, they quickly and readily understand that the price you pay for an item and what it actually costs are very different.
If that sounds paradoxical, imagine you’re shopping for a pair of shoes and find two pairs that appeal to your fastidious sartorial style. One costs $100, the other $400. That’s a hefty price differential but does that alone tell you which one is more expensive?
Certainly not. You need to know a lot more about the shoes, the leather used, the stitching and soles…and so it goes on. You simply don’t have enough information – intel, if you will – to make that call.
The same applies to just about every product on the market, and certainly to the world of backlit LED displays.
The visionaries among us know that the VitrineMedia product is backed by remarkable technology; it is researched, developed, manufactured, put through rigorous quality control tests, warranted and supported by those who sell it; its construction using recyclable materials and offering great energy efficiency gives it an environmentally friendly carbon footprint; and it is a product that has changed their business fortunes.
They see value – and where value is great, the product becomes inexpensive.
Their adversaries, those who fall into the “can’t see the wood for the trees” category, see only one thing: price.
That’s it, the rest soars over their heads as said heads spin with impulsive – and are I say, crackpot – delight at having “jagged a bargain”.
“That display I recently installed in my window cost me just $2,500,” they’re quick to tell anyone and everyone, smiling like the cat that got the cream as they extol their business savvy by adding that had they purchased the identical display of one large banner and nine A3 screens from VitrineMedia, it would have cost them about $1,000 more.
Closer examination and gaining that ‘intel’ I spoke of earlier will quickly reveal that there’s nothing ‘identical’ about the two sets of products. At best, the naked eye has them looking similar.
VitrineMedia’s LED panels are guaranteed for 80,000 hours. That’s nine years and three months of constant backlit power, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. No questions asked. Total peace of mind knowing that the $3,500 you invested in the display will have you and your business looking remarkable for almost 10 years – and at just 92 cents per day.
At today’s prices, you can’t even get a litre of petrol, nor a simple entry level postage stamp, while a cup of coffee from your favourite barista will about five times that. And who knows what the buying power of 92 cents will be in 2030!!
Our friend the cat with the cream, however, has an installation that, two years from now, will have run its race – and cost him $3.42 per day, not to mention the frustration associated with knowing he has been hoodwinked.
Sadly, some still need to learn the hard way. They need to go through the experience before they understand that cheaper almost always comes with a lower price tag but invariably a higher cost.
And that, in anyone’s language, makes cheaper more expensive…and none more so in the language of the 2020 visionary who is, ultimately, the cat that got the cream.
Happy New Year.
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