
Price negotiations: How to respond when a competing vendor underbids you - dangrossman
http://blog.close.io/price-negotiations-underbidding-competitor
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pogo
In general, this is good advice for dealing with price objection in the
negotiation of a premium product. It correctly emphasizes long term
relationships over a single sale. It also encourages you to stick to your guns
on maintaining margin instead of chasing revenue - critical for premium
products.

Where the article loses me is when it advocates telling the customer that
you'll lie to help them get a better offer from the competition: "I'll even
help you negotiate a lower price by sending you an email underbidding their
latest offer." This is ethically wrong. But if that's not a convincing
argument, it's also pragmatically a very bad idea. Maintaining integrity is
the only sustainable business practice in the long run. Lying & cheating may
work once, twice, or a dozen times, but it will catch up to you. Even more
pragmatically, you've just told the customer that you can't be trusted, that
you'll lie to make a situation more favorable for you. That's undermined your
relationship when it's purpose was meant to do just the opposite.

