A few years back, a client called me with updates:
“Many do what you guys do,” he said.
“I know,” I said, instantly guessing where this headed. “We get the same spam your company does.”
“Really?” He seemed puzzled.
“Yep,”I continued, “That’s how mass-e-marketing works: Buy or sell 3D, you and I, we are on the same soliciting lists.”
I resent sidetracking, yet I dislike dissing our competition even more: It makes one sound insecure and, most times, it’s a straight path to fee-haggling. After several less successful attempts to divert gossiping, I learned that it is better to detour an inquiry before it becomes personal. I was ready to take the same scenic road into the world of explaining how spamming-for-3D-jobs works, when my scrutinizing client bee-lined:
“So what do you think?”
“About?”
“About your competition.”
I gave up.”Some are really-really good at it.”
“At what?” His question seemed genuine, so I subtracted several rudeness points and added them in the ‘not-so-bright’ rubric.
“At’doing what we do’,” I said and instantly regretted that the last bit came too fast.
He paused and I worried. For no reason.
“Some have prices way lower than yours,” he continued, unfazed.
“I know that too.”
“By half,” he said, content he was back on track with his initial line of inquiry. “So, I don’t know…”
I gave up.
“Great,” I said but not believed it for a moment.
From that point on, there was no need to wait and go through the bargaining phase, just to be out-bid, but only after a longer conversation. I helped him make his mind:
“Go for it!”
“And what are you guys going to do?” Asked my euphemism-proof client.
“The same thing your company does when your BRIC*-peers solicit your clients to replace your product at a way lower price than yours.”
I don’t remember where we went with the conversation. At the end of it, with or without my-‘your’-overkill, it wasn’t going to be a job. So I was surprised when, months later, he called again, this time asking us to fix a couple of renderings done in China for one of his high-caliber clients.
“It wasn’t us,” he said apologetically. “Our client asked for the lowest bid, and yours wasn’t.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, and then I asked for twice our normal rates.
He paid. Gladly.
*BRIC countries: Brasil, Russia, India China. – Wikipedia