I only know what I read, which of course is a limitation
when providing commentary on the news. However, from a marketing point of view
this story is too good to ignore. As they say, you just can’t make this stuff
up.
Stephen Drew was, in 2013, a member of the World Series
champion Boston Red Sox. He is a shortstop, and he has reasonably good numbers.
He tanked in the post-season, except that he offered up a game-changing
(literally) home run in Game 6 of the Series. The Red Sox like him. They
offered him a $14.1 million qualifying offer for 2014, which he rejected,
preferring to become a free agent and test the market for his services. Drew's
agent insists that there is great demand—but as of this moment he has not signed
with another team. And Spring Training is two weeks away.
The big news is that his agent is seeking a multi-year deal,
but with a player opt-out clause after the first year. Why? Because if the
market is better next year, Drew wants to be able to get out and test it
again—without penalty.
This means that Drew and his agent expect a team to commit
to him for more than one year, which is possibly realistic. If after the 2014
season the market for shortstops doesn’t improve and Drew wants to stay put,
the contract stands. If the market is better and Drew feels that he wants to
pursue other options, he simply opts out. And if the market is better and he
doesn’t pursue a different job, presumably because at that point he believes
that he can’t close one, that signing team is left with the market’s rejected
(we might assume underperforming) shortstop. So, the signing team assumes all
the risk in the deal.
Wouldn’t you love to be in a position to ask your customers
to think only of your interests, and not of their own?
There exists on this planet a theory that certain types of individuals
are perfectly willing to purchase goods and services at an inflated price
because they believe that doing so somehow reflects positively upon them. There
certainly are service providers who use arrogance as a selling tool. I don’t
know if that’s the ploy here, but I do know this: Drew has been testing the
market since last October, and the market has pretty much weighed in for the
present. So perhaps some expectation adjustment is in order.
It remains to be seen whether this demand will be met. But
in the meantime, here is some marketing advice for the rest of us: always be
aware of the benefit you provide, and of its worth in your market. Don’t
undervalue yourself, but don’t unreasonably inflate your worth either. Always
match your benefit to the customer’s need. And always, always have a proposal that meets the customer at least halfway. You
will at least be assured that someone will not write a post like this one.
