What to Compete On If Your Competitors Are Waging a Price War!
February 23, 2010 – 3:19 pm
Are you getting squeezed by competitors who are willing to do window cleaning work for far less you would charge, day in and day out?
Instead of getting frustrated, learn a lesson from the Walmart-killers of the retail world: When the competition is obsessed with price, change the rules, so that price matters less to the customers.
As John Jantsch puts it, “compete on emotion“.
If they are pounding the price card, don’t even try to compete. Trump their price with your “super-friendly” card, or your “so easy-going” card, or your “absolute risk-removal, if you don’t love it then we’ll come over and rub your feet” card.
Remember that people make buying decision based on emotions, primarily, and then back them up with logic.
As Dan and Chip Heath put it in their awesome book “Switch” – it’s as if we all have 2 decision makers in our heads: the emotional “elephant” that exerts tremendous influence over our actions, and its rational “rider”, who also has some say, but is a lot smaller.
Price differentiation is focused on persuading the rider within us to make the logical choice to save some money, but the elephant is a force to be reckoned with, if you can get him moving.
You just have to motivate him.
Make him feel important, noticed, and valued. If the elephant likes you, and feels safe with you, then you’ve often got the rider beat, and he’s dragged along for the ride.
Kevin
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