Price is visible.
Value isn’t.
Mục lục
The Why Man and Three Simple Questions
This week, I traveled with two colleagues.
One was **Young Bamboo Shoot**, the young sales engineer many of you met in my previous story. Still early in his career, but learning fast with every fleet visit.
The other was his mentor, someone I’ll simply call **The Why Man**.
Sixteen years in the field had taught him something no product catalogue ever could.
Like many of our field visits, we followed the same routine before meeting the customer.
We walked around the trucks.
Observe.
Inspect.
Ask questions.
Only then did we begin the conversation.
**The Why Man** looked exactly as I remembered him.
Dark sunglasses.
A backwards baseball cap.
Hands resting firmly on his hips, supported by a round belly that somehow made him look even more confident standing beside a truck.
But what stayed with me wasn’t his appearance.
It was the questions.
The same three questions.
Again and again.
What happened?
Why did it happen?
How should we explain it to the customer, and what should we do next?
When Every Conversation Ends with Price
After more than an hour under the midday sun, inspecting trucks one by one, we finally sat down with the customer.
Young Bamboo Shoot took the lead.
He explained what we had found during the inspection.
Then he showed how a different tire strategy could lead to:
Lower operating costs.
Less downtime.
Longer casing life.
Better fleet efficiency.
Across the table, the fleet manager listened carefully.
He nodded from time to time.
Occasionally, he shared stories from his own operation.
Eventually, we talked about price.
The meeting ended with a handshake.
The decision stayed the same.
On the drive back, no one said much.
One question stayed with me.
If fleets believe in value…
Why does price still win?
From Purchase Price to Cost per Kilometer
Markets evolve one question at a time.
First:
“Can this tire carry the load?”
Then:
“How long will it last?”
The next question may be the one that matters most.
“What does every kilometer cost?”
Until fleets can measure the invisible, price will continue to dominate the conversation.
Making Value Visible
Perhaps the answer has very little to do with the product itself.
Fleet managers don’t buy expensive tires simply because someone says they are better.
They don’t buy because of a well-designed brochure.
Or a convincing presentation.
They buy when they have enough evidence to justify the decision.
That is the real role of data.
Not to replace experience.
Not to replace salespeople.
But to make value visible.
Without measurable evidence, concepts like lower fuel consumption, longer casing life, reduced downtime, or lower rolling resistance remain promises.
And promises are difficult to compare.
Price, on the other hand, is immediate.
It is visible.
It is measurable.
When price is the only thing that can be measured, price naturally becomes the deciding factor.
Perhaps the future won’t belong to the company with the lowest price.
It will belong to the company that helps fleets measure value.
If fleets can measure fuel savings, casing life, retread performance, downtime, and operating cost with the same confidence they measure purchase price…
…the conversation will begin to change on its own.
Then I thought about The Why Man.
Until value becomes visible,
he will probably keep doing what he has always done.
Training the next Young Bamboo Shoot.
One fleet visit at a time.
Nhat Diem Honq
