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I spoke to a property settlement agent recently who told me that many of his competitors readily discount their prices,
sometimes without even being asked.
He told me that when customers ask him to drop his prices to match a competitor he says
"What aspect of the service do you want me to omit?"
Of course the customer replies "None", after which he explains to the prospect what aspects of the
property settlement the competitor might be scrimping on or omitting in order to save money.
Most of his prospects have little idea what a settlement agent does.
He realises it's his job to educate them and justify why they should pay the market rate.
A good marketer will be successful in any business.
A good settlement agent will only ever be a good settlement agent.
If he or she can't sell themselves, discounting is their only fall back.
When someone asks you to discount, you need to be able to quickly reel off half a dozen reasons
why it would be foolish to pay less.
In my industry, I could drop my prices by giving clients one voice instead of two,
using tacky background music, not prompting clients to update their messages,
or asking them to write their own scripts.
I wouldn't do it though, because it diminishes the impact of the medium.
If we can't show prospects why scrimping on these features is a bad idea we don't deserve their business.
You don't need to discount if you can educate.
I love the tactic adopted by a Gold Coast butcher
why buys cheap sausages from a competitor and allows customers to sample both his top quality sausages,
and his competitor's cheap and nasty ones.
Give people a reason to spend more and they'll be happy doing it.
Otherwise be prepared to carve your margins up by discounting.
I'm Kym Illman and thank you for watching.