Expose Bait and Switch

A major obstacle solution sellers face is not simply the cheaper quote, but one where a competing bid claims to offer exactly the same as you, but for way less money.

In such cases, should you be able to justify that your price premium alone unlocks the unique capabilities essential to the success of the buyer’s plan, then you’re home.

It’s not usually as easy as that though.

Another strand is to draw attention to Lifetime Values.  This involves distinguishing between Day One Costs and On-Costs.  Matters are often further complicated by the people responsible for the former not having anything to do with the latter.

I discovered today another way of gently introducing this concept to buyers in the form of TechCrunch’s iPhone app rant on Bait & Switch.

This gives insight into the classic cheaper-vendor tactic of hooking you on a seemingly remarkable low initial price, only for a myriad of previously unmentioned and expensive add-ons to be necessary as the project/relationship progresses.

Getting buyers to sit down and acknowledge the true like-for-like proposal comparison can be far from straightforward, especially when the resultant ‘hit’ would affect neither them personally nor their budgets, yet using this ‘bait & switch’ analogy could well be a winning way to move them towards this vital thinking.