Rationalized myths in business often masquerade as truth, based on perception rather than facts. Such myths—like 'customers only care about price'—lead companies to design strategies and models around faulty assumptions. Post-mortems frequently reveal lost bids result from unclear value propositions, slow responses, and inflexible contracts rather than price alone. Shifting focus to flexibility, transparency, and proactive support restores perceived value and enables differentiation. Businesses must interrogate patterns they take for granted and validate assumptions with direct customer insight before structuring offers or pricing. Relying on outdated surveys or competitor behavior often reinforces these false narratives.
What makes these myths dangerous isn't their persistence, it's how we rationalize them. We tell ourselves they're based on data. (A survey from 2018? Please.) We cite competitor behavior. We assume it's "just the way things are." And then we design strategies, products and entire business models around them. But these myths are born from perceptions. Not facts. Not insights. Just patterns we've gotten used to seeing and explaining away.
A B2B manufacturing client clung to this like a security blanket. Every RFP became a downward spiral of discounting. When asked how they knew price was the only factor, they pointed to lost bids. But after diving into post-mortems with prospects, the real reasons surfaced: unclear value, slow response times and rigid contract terms. The issue wasn't price. It was perceived value. Prospects didn't see what made this manufacturer better because nothing was communicated that truly differentiated them. They'd accepted the myth and acted accordingly.
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