How to Compete Against a Lower Price

The next time you walk down the aisle of your local grocery store pay a little more attention to the prices than you normally do. In the laundry aisle you’ll find both Tide, made by Procter & Gamble, the leading seller in that category for nearly 100 years. But I can almost guarantee you it’s not the cheapest detergent on the shelf. So how can it be a best seller when it costs so much.

This is the problem with comparing the value of a product or service based strictly on price. If we all bought items only based on price everything in the store would be the same price.

Build Your Brand

Tide is a safe brand. It’s a well-known brand. There’s a good chance your mother and grandmother used it and recommended it to you. It commands a higher price because bad products don’t last 100 years on store shelves.

Capitalize on the brands you carry. Tie your name to quality products. Just like having influential friends can help you in life; brands can do the same for your business.

Build Your Reputation By Building Relationships

There are business relationships and social relationships. Both are essential to growing a strong business. Keeping your word and standing behind your product will build your brand name. Getting involved in your church, civic groups, local chamber of commerce, charity work will build your company reputation. The more solid your reputation becomes the more valuable your products and service appear to your customers.

Compare Apples to Apples

If your customer has decided not to buy from you make sure they have all the facts. More sales are lost because of lack of communication than any other reason. Value is a perception customers create in their own mind. If they can’t see the value then it makes perfect sense for them not to buy your product or service.

A product can have all the features in the world but those are of no value to a customer unless there is some form of benefit. Customers buy products based on how the product makes them feel not what the product does.

Some Final Thoughts

Price is perception. Nothing more. Don’t make it out to be more than it is. Your job is to match up the best product with the most benefits that produce a happy customer. You are Lt. Colombo asking just one more question.

We all want to get the biggest bang for our buck. But it’s not always easy to ferret out the information we need to make an informed decision. As a business owner you have to stop thinking of yourself as a salesperson and start thinking of yourself as the customer’s assistant buyer. That’s what customers are really looking for.