Overcoming the Competition

It's undeniable that we're living in a buyer's market. Virtually everything can be negotiated, and as a salesperson it can be tough to know where to draw the line. The philosophy that unsold ad space is waste, and that we should let the market determine the value of our product is more difficult to dispute than ever. In a bad economy, the tendency is for businesses to take turns lowering their prices in order to gain market share.

There is however, an alternative to this slippery-slope price war. Imagine for a second, that instead of offering their products at a lower price, your competition gave away their products and services for free. Let's face it, with the desperate times we're facing, it might not be all that far-fetched. So, how would you compete if you charged for your products and your competition gave it away?

Think about some of the things people pay for that they could essentially have for free. People buy books, when they could get them from the library. About 1 in 10 people pay for satellite radio, while terrestrial radio costs nothing. I buy music from iTunes when I could get all the music I want for free from file sharing services like Limewire or Bit Torrent. So, what makes us willing to shell out money for things we can obtain for nothing? And how can we adjust the way we do business to create that same kind of value in the minds of our customers?

Looking at the aforementioned industries that have thrived by selling products that are available for free can teach us a lot. People are willing to pay for good service. The easier we can make the consumer's experience with our product, the better. People are willing to pay for a sense of membership. Think about how your relationship with a customer, and their personalized experience with your product can give them a sense of pride and passion about their decision to do business with you. Finally, people are willing to pay for something if you're the only one who offers it. Stop thinking about how you can make your product better, and start thinking about what you have that they don't.

If you assume your competition will start giving their product away for free, you'll minimize the amount of time you spend negotiating rate, and you can start building value for the future. After all, as a billboard I saw recently said, "Interesting thing about recessions: they end."