Three years ago my wife and I bought the Munster’s house. Hopefully most of you know who the Munster’s are – the TV show from the 60’s about Herman Munster and his family. It was a copy-cat of the Addams Family, but their house made The Addams’ house look like the Clampett’s mansion. Ok, enough 1960s sitcoms…
We needed to remodel. The word “needed” is literal – the house inspector stated that it wasn’t habitable. So, we started the bid process in hiring a contractor. When we narrowed it down to two, they delivered their pricing and ideas. Sam was about 5% less expensive than Donnie (btw, these names are fictitious). However, both of their proposals were out of our budget. I told them both the same thing – I’ll review my numbers and figure out where we can stretch a little and I’ll let you know in a couple of days. You then let us know how much just the kitchen and two of the bathrooms would be. If there is any room leftover, then we’ll do something else. The only urgent requirements that were uninhabitable were the kitchen and those two bathrooms. Sam, the less expensive of the two, agreed and we decided to meet in a week or so. Donnie also agreed, but then said something that blew me away…
“Chris, let me be the first to put my cards on the table. I want to earn your trust. I’ll email you an estimate of what these three rooms will cost before you tell me how much you can stretch your budget” … and the next day I received his modified proposal.
Two days later I told both of them my stretched budget, and the next week they both presented their revised proposals. As expected, Sam was a little less than Donnie but not by much. However, it didn’t really matter … Donnie won the job when he showed me his cards. He won my trust and if he had a boss, might’ve been fired for such a stunt. However, when you’re spending $50-$60k on your most intimate asset – your home – then trust becomes much more of a factor than a few dollars.
So, how can this help you? When it’s appropriate, show your cards. Let your customers know ahead of time information that your competition is probably hiding. Don’t do this all the time, but when it’s not a “best price” situation, when your prospect doesn’t know you that well, when the system is complex and the prospect requires a trusting relationship, or when the customer is extremely important and you need to win the job … try this strategy and tell them why you’re doing it. “I’m showing you this cost structure up front because I want to win your trust before I win your business.”
One last thing … mean it. Don’t just use this technique to win a job, actually care about having a trusting relationship.
