Have you looked around lately … e.g. Television, advertising while surfing the Internet, brochures, bill boards, shopping malls etc.?
All you ever see is “On Sale” – (nearly) everywhere.
Then all of those advertising where many larger retailer constantly tell you “if you find the same product cheaper in other stores we beat it by some percent”.
Let’s face it; there will always be someone offering their products or services cheaper than you. But are they offering exactly the same as you? Make sure you know how you compare to the competition. It’s worth it – are you comparing apples with apples?
Giving away the margin and undercutting your prices because you can’t say ‘NO’ is not good for anyone. It devalues you, your product, and your market. If done on mass then customers expect ‘cheap’ all the time, not fully appreciating the real value of the products or services they buy. All you do is risk devaluing you and your business.
If your customer is saying “I can get the same thing much cheaper down the road” don’t just accept this as truth. Too many sales people accept these statements at face value not bothering to check if it is true or not. And some customers try this tactic to see if you will cave in or not so they can get something at your expense.
What is the real price for things and why do so many sales people drop their prices time and time again? If sales people continually do this it can leave the customer doubting the people they are buying from and questioning the real value of what they are getting.
Don’t forget the price is just an arbitrary figure until it is ascribed a value. It means nothing in of itself. Sure the pricing of your product or service needs to be pitched in the right market level, however, make sure you can articulate the value of your product or service offering using real evidence. If you do your homework you might find that you are selling yourself, your products and services too cheaply.