My wife and I were recently in the market for new patio doors, and our shopping experience demonstrated the importance of value pricing and reiterated that customers will pay more for a better service experience. In fact, one of the salesmen somewhat reminded me of the Dan Akroyd refrigerator repair skit from Saturday Night Live. Our salesman was not showing any rear-end cleavage, but he certainly did not seem concerned about the impression he left.
After deciding we needed new patio doors, we called 3 businesses to learn about their offerings and get price quotes. All of them scheduled appointments with us. The first company scheduled their salesman (let’s call him Zeke) to come to our home in a few days. The night before the appointment, Zeke called to confirm the time, and on his way to our house he called to say he would be there in 15 minutes. When he arrived, Zeke measured the openings and asked us what types of doors we were considering. He then showed us options in his brochure, and brought in a couple samples for us to consider. After narrowing down our choices, he developed prices for our two preferred options and printed them for us.
Zeke’s quotes were higher than we anticipated, but we were impressed with Zeke. He was very professional and courteous, asked the right questions and addressed our concerns. Although he asked for our business during the appointment, he was not pushy when we deferred and explained we would be talking with other companies. Within a few hours of the meeting, Zeke sent a follow up email thanking us for the opportunity. He also followed up by calling us a few days later to ask if we had any questions.
Our experiences with the next two companies were not as good. The second company we had called also scheduled an appointment for their salesman to visit us (let’s call him Max). Somewhat similar to Zeke, Max showed up on time, measured the space, and asked us what we wanted. He seemed to process everything a little more slowly, though, and the appointment seemed to drag. Max gave us a price for one type of solution, and pointed to some options in their brochure, but he wasn’t completely clear on the differences. We also asked about another option, but Max just said that would be more expensive and probably not worth it. Max gave us the sheet with his quote, and told us to call if we wanted to buy. No samples, no follow-up email, no follow-up call. Perhaps the lack of follow up was because Max sensed in our appointment that we were not impressed with him. He just did not seem all that interested in our business. When he left, our first discussion was about Max rather than the doors. We were unimpressed.
The third company’s representative (call him Jim) was a nice enough guy, but he seemed to lose confidence in his product fairly quickly. He showed us a sample when we asked, but as we pointed out some quality issues, he quickly said he would have the lowest price. While Zeke described the amount of customization we could get from Company 1, and Max somewhat reluctantly answered questions about customization at # 2, the third salesman would not entertain it. Perhaps he sensed quickly that we would not go for the lower quality doors even at half the price, but he did not ask for our business and never followed up.
Because of the lower quality, the third company did not have a realistic shot at our business. The quality of the first two company products seemed comparable, but the real difference was in the salesmen. Zeke seemed to want our business and made the effort to make sure we understood and were confident in their service. Max looked a little more unkempt and seemed less interested. Although Zeke’s prices on directly comparable products were higher, we were more confident in the service with Zeke and thought the extra price would be worth it.
In the end, we went with the highest price, but the most professional and diligent salesman. While there are customers who will always want the lowest prices, there are many others like us who care about the service and will pay a little more. Low prices will usually not overcome poor service. Keep that in mind with your own sales and customer service teams. When they perform at the highest levels, you have more pricing power.
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