When a prospective client shares that your competition is way cheaper than you, how do you respond? Your response can make all the difference in the world. It's all about knowing your own value.
I run into this all the time in my world, and you may have seen it as well.
I'm meeting with a potential client, or possibly talking to them on the phone. At a certain point in the conversation, we get to budget. As we're talking through that, they say something like this:
"Your competition quoted me X number of dollars, which is one third of what you just quoted me."
How are they expecting me to respond? You probably know the answer already, especially if you've run into this situation yourself.
People who say something like that assume you want the sale at any cost, because that's what they've run into before. They assume you will respond with something like, "Well, we can do it for that price too!"
Instead, I respond with something along these lines:
"I appreciate you sharing that. Why do you think they're so much cheaper than us?"
You might be shocked at some of the things people share.
"Well, they probably don't have the history or track record that you do."
"They don't have the expertise that you do."
"They probably don't have the background that you do."
However they respond is very, very important. Because what they're really sharing is the reason that they would pay you more than they would the other guy.
Of course, your tonality becomes excruciatingly important. But if you do this right, suddenly you're having a full blown conversation.
"That doesn't surprise me. Would you like to talk about that?"
Remember, there's always going to be somebody cheaper than you. If you want to be the cheapest, it's going to be a challenge! Because only one company in your industry can really be the cheapest, and they probably won't be in business for long.
And if you're not the cheapest, and your prospect wants the cheapest, you want to figure that out as soon as possible so you don't waste your time or their time.
