Many writers with little obvious experience in business suggest that the way for a business to prosper in a recession is to slash prices to the bone in order to lure customers away from competitors.

Such advice is, in a word, moronic.

Low-price providers are almost always driven under by market forces. Businesses which base their marketing around always offering the lowest prices struggle to attract good employees and also struggle to position their offerings as anything other than the cheapest in town.

Several studies have found that price is number 4 or 5 in the list of important factors that get people to buy. Few people buy on low-price alone, and with good reason - how often have you bought the cheapest thing available and been satisfied with the purchase?

People buy experience at every stage of the transaction. Positioning your products and services as rock-bottom cheap with your advertising in fact drives away prospects seeking a higher quality experience.

"If it is so cheap it cannot possibly be very good," they think. In many cases they are right. Even when the low-price shopper comes to look at your offerings his expectations are low.

You can succeed at business or selling your personal services in the recession by positioning your offer so it appears not to offer the most rock-bottom price, but the best value to your ideal customer.

As a marketing consultant I am often surprised by the vague notions business owners have about who their customers are and what is important to them. Just knowing your customers better often brings insights and ideas that can spur growth, even in tough economic climates like the current recession.

Even a one-person business or the out-of-work guy can benefit from understanding this: Positioning yourself as the low-price provider actually makes it harder to make much money. It also ensures whatever customers you gain with such marketing will be fickle and leave you like a worn-out shoe for a still cheaper provider when they get the chance.

And there is the rub. There are good customers who happily pay you well for the value you provide - making their lives easier and more pleasurable... and then there are bad customers - the ones who whine and complain when you increase prices and leave as soon as they find a cheaper provider.

Even in a recession positioning your business or services as the cheapest in town is almost always a mistake if you intend to build a long-term business. Instead you will strive to offer better value than your cheaper competition: making each transaction larger so the customer gets more benefits, satisfaction, and pleasure from doing business with you.