Curbing Price Quote Chaos —Morgan

As one of the 92 survey respondents volunteered, “I expect my suppliers to give their absolute best price the first time.” Another stated, “I don’t accept bids that are ‘low-ball’ just to get the work—no supplier can afford to maintain that kind of pricing.”

We asked a similar question to our suppliers: “How often, if ever, do you offer to lower your price when you find the initial price you quoted to a customer was too high?” Surprisingly, 70 percent of the print suppliers said they occasionally lower their price quotes if a customer asks them to do so. As one supplier stated, “If it is a good client and they need help to stay within a budget, we will lower our price. Or if a prospective client wants to use us, but can’t justify the higher price, we may adjust it, taking into account the potential benefits (potential volume, profitability, etc.).”