You Get What You Pay For!

[jdmidwest]

Having been in sales of some form or another for over 35 years now, it never ceases to amaze me what a customer is thinking at the point of purchase. From my grandfather's little country store to high end Point of Sale Systems and Building Components, the customer mentality really varies. I have only sold the top of the line, the other guys, my competition, had the lesser value products and I have adjusted my sales mode to achieve my goals.

At a jobsite yesterday in a meeting with the owners explaining how to prep for my product, there was a ordeal going on behind me with a steel building contractor erecting a building. The first owner stated "have you ever seen such an unorganized mess?". He also asked me if any of them looked like they knew what they were doing. The job trucks were unmarked and no company logos on anything. No safety gear, hard hats, or fall protection. No organization or leader ship. One crew on one side of the building was working against the other crew on the other side of the building.

I went on about my business and near the end, the second owner mentioned my quote was a slight amount higher than my competitor. I thought this strange as myself, the owners of my business, and a few employees of my business patronize his business without questioning his prices. The competitor does not shop there and has no employees. He even mention taking some of the bill out in trade with the owner of my business, but still complained about the price. It was like the small amount was going to be a deal breaker. I told him that the pricing I gave him in August was for more product than actually measurements so the final quote would be less than the difference with better quality.

At that time more commotion over my shoulder drew the owners attention. They started in on questions again about what I thought about the steel building. One asked me if I had ever saw any use cable for structural bracing on steel building, I stated no, most use steel rods. They concurred, stating that all of their other buildings used steel rod bracing and most were 30 years old or more and still standing.

It was at that point I had to ask "did you put the building out for bid?" They both stated yes, this company was by and far the lowest bidder.... I chuckled and both just looked at me, but neither caught the message I was trying to get across.

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

[FishinCricket]

Agreed, at least to the greater extent... It was essentially the same when I was a roofer.. Brings to mind the municipal bid process where they put out a request for bids and MUST go with the lowest bid.. As a salesman myself I always scratched my head.

Then I realized that those moments are a golden opportunity to get that point across.. Hopefully you picked up on that enough to end the above story with "so I capitalized on that moment to drive my point home with my customer..."

I did want to chuckle at you for one thing though.. (hope you don't mind)

I have only sold the top of the line, the other guys, my competition, had the lesser value products and I have adjusted my sales mode to achieve my goals.

No disrespect to your product, but you show me a salesman that doesn't believe this about his product and I'll show you an unemployed salesman..

Thanks for the story...

[jdmidwest]

I see what you are saying but the truth is, all of the products I have sold have been the best quality, backed by service and experience. The current product I sell is the industry leader, it is the product spec'd in the bids for all to match. We have a franchise, and the support of a nationwide dealer network, and only sell the brand our franchise allows. Others in my line of work can pick and choose products based on pricing and drop them when a cheaper one comes along. Our buying capacity does allow us alot of freedom to compete with the others but we have never compromised quality to get a sale, it causes too many headaches in the long run. We end up replacing, repairing, re-doing our competitors work all of the time and usually the customer figures it out in the long run, but not always.

I have never sold the product where I could walk up and say that it does the same thing as the other guy and it is cheaper than theirs.

[gotmuddy]

I agree 100%. I recently spent $550 on a Snap-On cordless impact wrench(I am a atv mechanic by trade). Lots of people said that I spent WAY too much money on it. However the other mechanic has had his impact for over 4 years and uses his impact every single day and it works. So as far as I am concerned its well worth the money.

[Stoneroller]

you can't fix stupid

[FishinCricket]

you can't fix stupid

And you'd be wise not to ignore it, eh?