I have said here before, if the only way to improve your product or service is by lowering your price…you are doomed for failure. You might as well sell off all of your crap and go back to working for the man.
If however, you are prepared to offer a better user experience than your low-priced compatriot, keep reading.
You see, people WILL pay more for perceived value!
Coach sells purses for $400; Wal-Mart sells purses for $40. They both do the same friggin’ thing, yet Coach is having a fantastic Christmas season…and so is Wal-Mart, but more on that in another post.
The difference between the two is that Coach sells on reputation and prestige and image, and Wal-Mart sells on price and function.
As a contractor, you typically don’t have the have the ability to sell on brand name (yours), so use the products and materials you use every day as a selling point.
For example, if you are a plumber and I ask you for a quote to install a garbage disposal, you can do one of two things; list a random disposal in your quote along with your price and be on your merry way hoping I say yes to your…wait for it…price. Or, you can get creative, get guys or girls like me to spice up your proposals and make them sing to your prospects.
That way, you aren’t just selling a garbage disposal with a few hours of labor, you are selling piece of mind that anything they throw down the drain (within reason) will be handled by the new double-crushing action of the Insincerator 5000 (as any plumber will tell you, I just made that up), which means no more plunger or water backing up in the sink.
See what I did there?
I brought something as mundane as a garbage disposal to life by providing a feature (the double-crushing action) with a benefit (no more backups or plungers).
Now, instead of just boring someone to death with a flyer from the manufacturer, take some of their marketing materials and use them in your proposals. You get free marketing support from multi-million dollar companies everyday if you know where to look for it. So spruce up your next proposal by giving it a little sizzle. Cause it’s the sizzle that sells the steak!
