I live in a suburb on the far side of a large metropolitan area. Last week I needed to go to another suburb 30-45 minutes away to drop off my sewing machine at the fix-it place and to pick up a new hose for my vacuum cleaner.
I had 2 choices for the vacuum cleaner hose - so I called the first one, got a price, found out they had it in stock and then called the 2nd place. The 2nd place was $5 cheaper but they didn't have it in stock at the location I wanted, if I would drive another 20-30 minutes I could get it, but then I'd be an hour or more away from home and with gas prices like they are around here I didn't think $5 was worth my time and gas so I said no thank you, the other place has it in stock I'll just pick it up there.
After that the guy at the 2nd place offered me another $5 off if I'd wait until Monday to pick up the part - so now I could save $10 off of the price at the initial supplier, but I'd have to make a 2nd trip, and I wouldn't be able to use my vacuum over the weekend. Once again I said, thank you but that won't work for me. Then the guy says "well you must do business with us because we are a much better company than XYZ."
I don't appreciate competitor bashing - that statement guaranteed that I probably won't call that company again. If he had not said that - the next time I needed something for my vacuum I would have called both places the day before I was going to go out and probably would have used the second place if they were cheaper - now that I know that the location closest to me is just a branch and not the main store/warehouse.
Maybe it's an over-reaction of some sort on my part, but that's how I see it. I don't see any good in being negative about your competition. I think you do better overall if you simply focus on your strengths and your customer service and developing some sort of connection with any potential customer you talk to.
What do you think?
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