Being cheaper with your quotes doesn’t win work.

If you’re worried about being cheap enough to win jobs and your focus is on your price, you’re focusing on the wrong thing.

Price is important, of course. Your customers don’t want to overpay, but they rarely want the cheap guy either.

If you’ve ever had people come to you and say, “I like you but the other guy is cheaper”, you know they don’t want to go with him.

They want it to be cheaper, but it’s you that they want.

They want to work with the trades business they like the best, trust the most, the one they feel comfortable with, the one they feel confident who will do a good job on their project, etc.

That’s true if you work with Mrs. Jones, just as it’s true if you subcontract to a builder or if you’re working with an architect, a large corporation, government or council.

They all have those concerns. They all know what they want. They’ll want it cheaper, but they don’t want the sh*t trades business. They want the good one.

They don’t want something rubbish. They want the good thing. They just want it cheap if it’s possible.

Remember this thing before you do your quote

This is what you need to remember when you’re quoting for jobs:

Trying to be cheaper is the wrong place to focus. If you only focus on the price, so will they.

You need to show them why they want to work with your company.

Recommended Reading: Price Vs Risk Episode 2 – The Building Game (Sales Process Not Just For Builders)

It involves understanding what they need. Not just a technical solution and not just gathering information so you can give them a quote, but actually understanding what’s important to them in this project. And then, explain how your business will give it to them.

It involves understanding what they’re afraid could go wrong in this project and explaining to them how you and your business and the service you provide will help protect them from those things.

So if your sales focus is on price then you’re doing it wrong.

I can show you how to do it and how to do it right.

I can show you how to build a sales process that focuses on the value you bring to your customers and doesn’t just focus on price.

You do need to tell them how much they have to pay. But if that’s all you’ll tell them, that’s all they’ve got, isn’t it?

I’m talking about a sales process here, not just the documents you’re writing.

If you don’t explain to them why you’re good, they won’t know.

I talk about this in detail at the Tools Down Workshop.

It’s two days. A large part of it is about sales and how you can do your sales properly. By doing so you can win more of your quotes, but also win them at better margins and be less focused on price and have your customers also less focused on price.

If you’re guilty of focusing on price and saying “Yes, I can do you a quote”, and going away, and doing someone a quote, and giving it to them then you’re only doing a quarter of the sales job.

This other stuff is what makes you money, keeps your margins healthy and helps you run and grow a successful trade business.

I’ll see you at the workshop.