Business professionals, from makers to merchants, and even freelancers, often face a common problem – they devalue the product or service they provide because they enjoy what they do so much. This phenomenon, known as production enjoyment, was studied by Daniel Zane, an associate professor of Marketing at Lehigh University. Zane found that sellers who enjoy what they do are willing to charge less for their products or services because they feel less like work and more like a rewarding experience.
However, Zane discovered that buyers actually perceive products or services with production enjoyment as higher quality and are willing to pay more for them. This creates an interesting asymmetry in the buyer/seller relationship. Sellers may be leaving money on the table by not recognizing the value that their enjoyment brings to their offerings.
To address this issue, Zane suggests that professionals should highlight their enjoyment in the production process when marketing their products or services. By making this enjoyment relative to competitors or other products, sellers can maximize the perceived value of what they offer. Zane conducted a study at Lehigh University where they sold brownies at a student fair, with one brownie labeled as the baker’s favorite to make. The majority of buyers chose the brownie with production enjoyment, demonstrating the impact of highlighting enjoyment on consumer decisions.
This strategy also proved effective in online marketing, with products marketed as having production enjoyment receiving 40% more click-throughs. Zane emphasized that this approach can benefit a wide range of professionals, including artisans, bakers, and freelancers. Even IT professionals were found to charge less for tasks they enjoyed, such as coding, compared to less enjoyable work like SEO.
Zane’s research revealed that buyers were willing to pay around 10% more for goods and services with production enjoyment than sellers believed they were worth. This highlights the importance of not letting enjoyment hold professionals back from pricing their products or services appropriately. Despite the clear benefits of highlighting production enjoyment, Zane found that only 1% of peer-to-peer sellers mention it in their ads, indicating a need for more sellers to focus on this aspect of their offerings.
In conclusion, production enjoyment can significantly impact the perceived value of products and services. By emphasizing this enjoyment in marketing efforts, professionals can attract more customers and command higher prices for their offerings. Sellers should not underestimate the value that their enjoyment brings to their work and should strive to communicate this to potential buyers to maximize their business success.
