Robert's Rants
Robert's Rants
A personal blog on the Canadian pesticide industry and other pet peeves and interests

“I can get it cheaper”

I had a customer come in Friday and mentioned he can purchase the C/M 924 glue boards at a buck cheaper at the competitor and wanted me to match the price onn 4 cases.  The $4.00 wouldn’t be the end of the world, but somewhere every businessperson has to ask “Am I worth more than my competitor?”

I hate to lose a sale to a competitor, and especially to the competitor where the cheaper price was, but I had to say no, I won’t match it.  But I should have said:

“We can’t match it and continue to offer all the other services, training, product stewardship, and access to information that we hope makes you…and all our customers… more successful”

We have made a decision internally that we will price our products, and services at a level we feel is reasonable.  But still, the customer actually determines the final price for us.  And those that realize the service has value add that into the cost of goods. 

There is worth and value in going beyond what is expected, and doing those things you know in your heart are good for your customer.  But how do you price it out?  Good question and something you have to continually evaluate.

We have set our Mission and Strategy that we will provide quality products at a “fair” price.

But fair doesn’ mean cheapest…

This topic can be debated forever, and hundreds of text books written on it.  So the way to find out if your value is worth the extra money?

Ask your customer maybe?  That seems too easy!

More on this as it’s Monday and my brain is still in the weekend!