Win deals without discounts

Ask yourself this…when your company gets an RFP from a potential client. How do you win that client over? 

Some may use features, some use references or reviews, and many feel that price ultimately has the largest impact. 

Jason Feifer of Entrepreneur magazine shared a story which should change the way you think about winning over new clients. He was accidentally locked out of his office and requested quotes from four locksmiths. The one who won his business and got him back into his office didn’t have the lowest price. In fact, he had the highest price. 

So how did this locksmith win the deal?

He won the deal with trust. The locksmith’s first priority was ensuring he understand the client’s problem and connecting personally. This created trust on two levels. First trust that the locksmith was competent and second was trust on a personal level as he addressed his potential client by name, thanked him, and followed up in a conversational manner.

Here at Zangerine I work in helping clients automate many manual tasks like inventory management, e-commerce, and order management. I love hearing clients tell me they have cut the time they have to put into these tasks by 87% as Zangerine automates previously manual tasks. What most business owners don’t realize when they first engage with me though is that automation is meant to free you up to spend most of your time on things that cannot or should not be automated…tasks like creating trust. 

If a large portion of your time is taken up in doing routine manual tasks, then you don’t have the time to try and understand the problems of each prospective new client. You may even be tempted in these cases to simply try and win on price by discounting. Read Jason’s story though and you will come away with the understanding that winning on price isn’t the best way, and often backfires, losing you the deal.

Building trust however requires the time and the willingness to connect with potential clients and understand their unique situation. 

The willingness is up to you. The time to do it…well let’s talk about how Zangerine can automate that.

Jonathan Ames

Client success

Zangerine