Subscriber Discussion

Would You Suggest A Competitor's Product If Yours Were Not Best For A Customer?

UD
Undisclosed Distributor #1
Mar 22, 2017

What will you do if a customer asks to tell you that if your cameras are not best please suggest me a good brand CCTV? In this situation will you tell your product is best or will suggest other brand cameras and let the project go out of your hand?

JH
John Honovich
Mar 22, 2017
IPVM

Knowing your customer's requirements and your own offering, do you believe there is clearly a better competitive product?

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UD
Undisclosed Distributor #1
Mar 22, 2017

We have the AVTECH brand. For me, when the customer asked I believed that there is a better product than us .

Now this thing I cannot say to the customer because one thing thats going in my mind is if my company came to know that i told there is a better product than us, what could be the consequences. In this scenario what would you do?

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JH
John Honovich
Mar 22, 2017
IPVM

I think telling them is the right thing to do and will earn you trust for future business when their needs better fit your offering.

However, your company may object to this as I am sure many would not allow it.

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UD
Undisclosed Distributor #1
Mar 22, 2017

lets see what other members suggest .

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #5
Mar 27, 2017

 

In fact. I do it before.
You can't always win the battle but you can win the customer.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Mar 22, 2017

In our business (mostly K-12 customers) I've happily told customer's a number of times when a product I sell doesn't fit or solve their problem adequately. It's like John said - you're building trust and in our case we build long term relationships with our customers. Being honest with them can make a big difference in establishing that.

Alternatively, it might always be worth looking into adding other lines that could help you fit better (unless of course it's a far out situation that you might never see again).

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Mar 22, 2017

If you use the same type of equipment in your own home and are happy with it, that's worth mentioning. I know there are better quality cameras out there than what's in my home, but at what cost? Sure, I could spend a lot more money, but do I really need the very best? It's like buying anything else, there are better cars, better TV's, better appliances, but is there a big price difference?

Sell your experience and your knowledge along with your product. Be honest about whether or not there are better products, and this will build trust between you and your customer.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
Mar 22, 2017

Short answer : I wholeheartedly agree with the other two integrator comments.  If there is another brand that is better, look at if you can provide it, if it is truly better.  As mentioned everything has a cost/performance trade off.

If I were presented with that query I would ask very detailed questions as to what they need improved?  It may very well be that the equipment is not very good and needs to be upgraded, or maybe it isn't properly installed/configured/placed ect and some tweaking would improve the perception that the system is not good.  For someone who self installed that is just an opportunity to better sell a professionals services. 

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Josh Hendricks
Mar 22, 2017
Milestone Systems

From my perspective, I'd rather customers appreciate their products than to be dissatisfied and I want to minimize the after-sale costs involved with trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

If my product is unsuitable based on the customer's requirements, I would tell them this at a minimum and then consider whether I need to change something to correct this in the future.

If I actually know which product will suit their needs, as far as I'm concerned I've already lost this sale so there's no damage done by pointing them in the right direction. In fact, they may appreciate the honesty and a trust which brings them back in the future when the circumstances are different.

That's just me though. I'm not a sales person and there's probably a good reason for that :)

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Bennett Schreiber
Mar 27, 2017

As a dedicated follower of the advancement of the industry, I would use the best product available for the challenge, however, that being said, if you are a paid employee of a firm with a fixed set of product, then you may be going against the policy of the people/company putting bread and butter on your table.

Like some of the other replies, I would 1st investigate what the valued client is truly looking for.  If an available product is not part of your menu, I would 1st get the nod from my Manager.

Other times RFPs are written tailoring to a specific product unique to the competition for only 1 or 2 features but enough to keep your product out of the bid.  If a consultant is running the show, you may have to abide by the product he/she proposes.  If there is a superior product available the Consultant/Customer/End-user may be able to agree to your superior product if you can prove its value and get a mod to the proposal.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #6
Mar 27, 2017

You'll win more projects and lifelong customers being honest than dishonest. 

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JW
Justin Wheatley
Mar 27, 2017

Absolutely, and I would not be out of line with our company's approach to the business in doing that. Of course we would try our very best to find the positive points of our product as applied to the customer's specific requirements, but it simply doesn't serve us to sell our products to a customer who may find others would do the job better for them.

The hope is obviously that the customer would respect and remember our honesty, and bear us in mind for opportunities in the future, but we would rather not have a customer than have one who regrets buying our products.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #7
Mar 27, 2017
IPVMU Certified

I don't see any manufacturers replying yet (maybe they are afraid that John will reveal what company they work for even though they posted as "undisclosed") but I will be brave an chime in and say that I do, in fact I had that conversation less than an hour ago.

JH
John Honovich
Mar 27, 2017
IPVM

I don't see any manufacturers replying yet (maybe they are afraid that John will reveal what company they work for even though they posted as "undisclosed")

Excuse me? Manufacturers post all the time on all sorts of sensitive topics. And we only disclose company affiliation if it is a clear conflict of interest against (e.g., attacking their main rival, etc.).

I don't know how manufacturers in general feel, but I bet most would not recommend a competitor.

 

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Kevin White
Mar 27, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Of course.

I just did this last week on a nice sized camera project. it wasn't the cameras, but the VMS that the other brand was a better fit.

i did offer to price providing and installing all the cameras and let the other company provide the software, licenses and programming.

We provide more system offerings than security cameras. Would rather the customer trust me, than be sorry he/she ever met me when i sell them the wrong solution.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #8
Mar 27, 2017

This is a bit of a tricky question as "best" is, in many cases, a subjective assessment of a device or functionality rather than an objective, verifiable performance metric(s) that pertain to the successful execution of a solution for the user. 

As a manufacturer, I always ask what the application is and what the expectations of performance are. Ideally, we demonstrate the device(s) and/or functionality to show proof of concept. If I don't have "the best," I explain the shortcomings and discuss the value proposition of the various solutions to the problem. With so many scenarios where this could come up, shortcoming may or may not be significant. 

If all things add up to using an alternate product, the user will make that educated decision based on facts, price, performance, and relationship, ie, value. If my product cannot do what needs to be done then I would never jeopardize my integrity as an industry professional for a sale. 

What ever you do, do not determine "best" by what a datasheet says. This is one reason IPVM is such a valuable resource for our industry - empirical head to head testing.

 

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