Loading...
Answers
MenuHow can I figure out the pricing of our competition?
Answers
Why do you need to know about the pricing of your competition in the first place? If you're offering great value, people will buy from you even if you're charging 5 times more. If you want to offer the lowest price possible to get more clients, then ask yourself how little can you actually charge. And put that price.
Spending the time to identify the price of your competitors is a waste of time. In 99% of the cases.
1. Buy a Google Voice number
2. Call using a nickname
3. Do not ask about the price when you get on the call with the sales team or whoever let them ask questions and do their pitch on the phone. Depending on what it is they may want to do demo with you via Join.Me or Skype. Just go with the motions.
4. Ask about how they separate themselves from the competition. What makes them better?
Companies love talking about themselves. e
5. Finally at the end ask about pricing.
I have done it many times.
Do you know any of their customers? Try approaching one.
Alternative, if its a more commodity type service or product, see if you can find it on line and figure out what its selling fore.
One simple way you could do this is to offer a price-match guarantee: tell you prospective customers you will be match or beat (even by 5% or 10%) your competitors price, on production of a quote from your competitor. That way, you outsource competitive pricing intelligence to your customers. Nothing wrong with that!
Your buyer’s willingness to pay is equal to the competitor’s price plus positive differentiation value minus negative differentiation value. In other words, whatever your competitor is charging plus how much the buyer values what you do better, minus how much the buyer values what your competitor does better. You may not know how much your competitor discounts, but if you can find their list price it can be helpful. If your competitor sells to the government, their prices are likely on the GSA price list. If you use a sales channel or other types of subcontractors who also partner with your competitors, they likely have the information you seek. Often, they will learn how much the competitor is charging. Ask sales where the information came from. If the information came from a buyer’s procurement agent, they are likely telling you your competitor’s price is lower than it really is. Consider creating your own competitor price database. Log who gave it to you and the original source of the information. Over time, you may create a clear picture of your competitor’s prices and maybe even their pricing strategy.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Related Questions
-
If you wrote a book to send a message out to the world, is it OK to give it for free or to charge for it?
This is a hugely important question. Thanks for asking it. You have to first understand the goal of your book. Book sales are a terrible return on investment for 99.99% of authors. The real value is in growing your business and creating new opportunities for more substantial returns. You can often put the same amount of energy into selling a book (and gaining a few bucks) as you would into creating a new client (depending on your business that can be substantial revenue). So know your goals. If your goal is to use your book as a lead generator for your business, then sure, you want to make it available for sale wherever people buy books (at least online), but you want to get that book into the hands of as many potential clients as possible. So plan on giving away lots of them for free. To do that, you're going to need a printing partner who knows how to get you fantastic bulk discount rates so you're spending no more than a few bucks a book. What you also have to consider is that if your book is going to be your calling card, it has to be exceptional. Not good. Not alright. But exceptional. It has to capture the essence of you. Your voice has to resound through the writing. And it has to be a page turner. So hire the right expert or team to help to ensure you are showing off your brand in a way that excites the kind of people you want to attract. Feel free to get in touch with me for more thoughts in this direction. This is the world I live in. Big Love, CoreyCM
-
Does odd pricing turn you off (e.g., $29 vs $30)?
For me personally, no. However, what you really need is a larger data set. Gumroad just did a post on prices ending in "9": http://blog.gumroad.com/post/64417917582/a-penny-saved-psychological-pricing 37signals started with prices that ended in 9: http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1287-ask-37signals-how-did-you-come-up-with-pricing-for-your-products ... but they later did research and found it didn't matter (for them). The answer for YOU will likely be to test these things for yourself on your SaaS app.JJ
-
What's a reasonable profit margin on merchandise?
Are you the manufacturer or reseller? If you are the reseller, typically about 40-50% above cost. Use the MSRP as an indicator.ZR
-
How do I become a consultant?
STOP!!! DON'T DO IT. GO GET A REAL JOB!! PLEASE! You don't plan to be a consultant. You become a consultant because the experience and wisdom you have is so obvious that those around you are eager to pay you for your insight. It's a calling -- not a job. Giving your "business advice" to a startup is like telling a 2-year-old to go "poo poo in th potty" -- anyone can do it. You just have to be a little bit more sophisticated than a baby. To service people who have money (and who are serious about how they spend that money) you need to take you game to a whole new level. I suggest you intern or partner with an amazing consultant who does this already. Learn. Do the gritty work that no one else is wiling to do. Everyone is a coach. Right? Drink a beer on game day and you supposedly know more than than the dude on the sidelines with the clipboard. But is that "really" the case? Of course not... DON'T BE A COACH. BE A LEADER.DW
-
How can I convince customers that we offer a fair price if we're providing a new service that does not yet exist?
What you are asking for has one simple answer: Marketing. I assume however that you would want a more specific how to guide for such marketing efforts. I won't venture in giving you a ton of possible irrelevant examples but I would like start our conversation by saying that if there is no market demand and you do have a clever useful product you need to market the emotional need and consider why it hasn't been served. When you find that this is what you leverage.HV
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.