If you have been in the Kitchen and Bath design field for even only a month, you possibly have already experienced clients who ask you for a better price. Sometimes they claim that they have a lower quote from elsewhere and ask if you can match it or do better.

Recently, a designer (I will call her Julie for practical purposes) that I work with asked me if I could help her get a better price for a prospect who claimed that she had two other quotes that were $2,000 less. I asked Julie how the communication went that expressed this and I asked the designer if she had seen either of the other two quotes.

Julie had not seen either of the other two quotes but was nervous about losing this prospect’s business. When I asked about how the client expressed this, Julie read the email message to me from the prospect who said that she really wanted to do business with Julie, but that she had received two other quotes that were about $2,000 less.

My advice was to not discuss price at this point. First, Julie had no way to know if the client was being truthful about these other quotes, and if they were, she didn’t know what she was up against. Julie had no visibility to what was or was not included in these quotes, what brands were quoted, etc.

I told Julie that it is way too premature to discuss the price. The next step should be for Julie to request the next meeting with the prospect. 

First, the prospect already told Julie in her message that she really preferred to do business with her. This means that something about how Julie worked with this prospect, her listening skills, communicating, friendliness, etc. made the prospect very comfortable and compelled her to want to do business there.

Second, the only practical way to have a discussion about the price was for Julie to review the details about her design and make comparisons to the other quotes.

Here is what I suggested on how to proceed:

Julie’s next step should be to email this prospect back and arrange the next meeting, but that the wording in the email is very important. I suggested that she compose a message that reads something like:

Ms. Prospect, I can certainly understand your concern about the lower price you were quoted elsewhere. If you could bring in your other quotes, we could compare them and see where the differences are.  I am available to meet with you next Monday morning or next Wednesday afternoon, which would work best for you?

Julie composed an email that was worded very close to this and she had her next appointment!

You should not be discussing prices or looking for discounts when you are flying blind. Also, as was the case here, it probably isn’t about the price, but rather understanding the differences and the value that is being provided.