I saw a Google ad from Hammonds this morning; is said ‘No false discounts, just fair pricing’.

Last night I visited a client who had had quotes from Sharps and Hammonds.

The Hammonds salesman went in first, designed the room, priced it up, deducted the current ’special offer’ discount and then delivered the coup de grace: “Here is a letter from our managing director (all neatly typed up on a Hammond’s letterhead) saying “As we have reached out annual sales target, all further business in the current trading year can be discounted by an extra 10%”. How nice thought the client “We have Sharps coming tomorrow and will get back to you after we have compared the prices”.

The next night, the Sharps salesman created an identical design; “That will cost you an arm and a leg” said Mr Sharps, “but as we have are having half price sale that ends tomorrow (yawn) its only an arm if you sign up tonight”. The client hesitated. “Better still”, said Mr Sharps producing a letter from the managing director, all neatly typed up on a Sharp’s letterhead and saying “As we have reached out annual sales target, all further business in the current trading year can be discounted by an extra 10%”.

You can’t beat the old ones but what does this say about our competitors respect for the client?

Has anybody had a similar experience?