One of the greatest challenges for the successful Mad Marketer is battling price competition and competitors' "bargain strategies." The ideal way to do this, of course is through powerful product or service differentiation, strong branding and exemplary customer service... but when these tactics are (for any reason) ineffective or inadequate, you must use a powerful "high road" tactic to place your would-be market share invaders behind you on the preference menu.
Sadly, you cannot insult these other purveyors, or you'll diminish your perceived objectivity and integrity with your prospects. You must gently admonish them with a subtle, seemingly logical argument that will make them question exactly what type of "bargain" they might be getting. Subtlety and the impression of being concerned for your prospect's well-being are the two key ingredients to this helpful manipulation.
You can't be trite and say, somewhat vindictively with nose elevated in the air, "Well, sometimes you get what you pay for," or "They can sell it cheaper because its made of shoddy materials, falls apart, and contains carcinogenic substances." These comments come across as defensive, immature, cold and spiteful. The higher ground approach is infinitely more effective.
Don't compete. Don't insult. EDUCATE! You will come across as much more concerned, professional, respectable and far less desperate if you sow the seeds of doubt about the "bargain" by saying something that includes the following elements:
1) Complement your prospect on his or her ability to be frugal and to conduct such thorough pricing research;
2) Mention how you understand the cutting costs is of the utmost importance, in both the short run, and of course, in the longer run;
3) Woefully mention that because of your quality standards, and in the interest of providing the best warranties and customer support to make an investment in your product or service the best "all around choice," you cannot reduce your price, as this would ultimately force you into sacrificing product or service reliability, and good customer relationships and recurring business in the longer run;
4) Wish your prospect well with his or her "bargain" [try to look very sincere as you do this], and;
5) Ask: "Please email or phone me to let me know how it works out for you. You deserve the best. Also, if you have any difficulties at all with it [the "bargain"] I'll be right here for you.
If you have done this properly, your prospect will be filled with doubts about the "bargain," beginning to have serious regrets about not having chosen your product or service in the first place, and is in the process of devising a means of extricating himself or herself from the bargain which he or she is now perceiving as either a deal with the devil, a trojan horse, or a gift-wrapped time bomb.
This is very powerfully effective at converting customers, retaining customers, and building a trusting rapport. And you can do this without directly insulting either your so-called competitor or the intelligence of your prospective soon-to-be-proselytized customer.
You've simply created enough doubt for your conquest to "seriously reconsider," at no cost to his or her ego, and without lowering your price.
This is a diplomatically optimal customer capture tactic; and all you had to do was to apply a bit of behavioral psychology.
Now: your actionable assignment is to start working with this potent tactic. Please keep me apprised of how well it works. It should be very effective, and you might just wind up owing me dinner.
Douglas E. Castle [http://DouglasCastleRSSFeeds.blogspot.com]
p.s. There are few pleasures in this life to rival the glorious feeling of having righteously 'saved' or harvested a client or customer relationship using a morally-sound and highly ethical tactic. And the wonder of it all is that it is even effective in a try cash-tight economy.
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