Ditch Competitor Pricing Obsessions

A customer of mine’s just distributed one of their smaller, niche competitor’s price list around their sales team.  The guy who obtained it got all excited and thought it’d help them beat up the young whipper-snappers more.

I’ve never been able to see this.  These people operate in a ‘solution sales’ environment, meaning what they sell is far removed from a commodity, and several (innumerable even?) bells and whistles and approaches exist that can distinguish competing vendor’s offerings.

So why do so many people get so wound up about their competitors prices?  Maybe it’s because whenever a rep wins a deal, it was solely because they were the best salesperson on the bid, with silkily superior skills.  Yet when they lose a deal, it’s invariably down to the fact the ‘product’ didn’t quite fit, or the price was wrong.

To my mind, intimate knowledge of another’s pricing just makes you lowest-price obsessed, and engineers a Dutch Auction, so everyone losses.

These happenings have always got my goat a bit.  I always always always prefer pitching when they are cheaper bidders.  It lets you focus the prospect’s mind on why they pay that little bit more for the massive extras you provide, and typically it’s this sizzle, not the sausage, that tempts them to select you.