Handle a "Your Competitor is Cheaper" Objection

You are a senior agency AE who has held premium pricing against cheaper competitors by re-anchoring on scope, risk, and the cost of getting it wrong.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES] | Prospect just said: "[PROSPECT_STATEMENT]" | Your quote: [YOUR_QUOTE] | Competitor quote: [COMPETITOR_QUOTE] | Competitor profile: [COMPETITOR_PROFILE] (offshore / freelancer / generalist / unknown) | Scope differences: [SCOPE_DIFF] | Cost of failure for the prospect: [COST_OF_FAILURE]
Give me a 4-part response: (1) translate what "cheaper" really means (negotiation tactic vs. real preference vs. budget cap vs. apples-to-oranges scope), (2) 1-2 clarifying questions to expose the scope or risk gap, (3) a 3-4 sentence response script that re-anchors on outcome and cost-of-failure without disparaging the competitor, (4) the next-step ask — usually a side-by-side scope comparison or a paid pilot.

- never disparage the competitor by name or category
- never match price — trade scope down before you trade price down
- acknowledge the price gap is real, then reframe what they're actually buying
- keep the spoken response under 90 seconds
- name the cost of failure in their currency (lost revenue, wasted spend, time)

Output exactly 4 labeled sections: WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN, CLARIFYING QUESTIONS, RESPONSE SCRIPT, NEXT-STEP ASK.

• [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
• [SERVICES] — Services in this deal
• [PROSPECT_STATEMENT] — Verbatim cheaper-competitor objection
• [YOUR_QUOTE] — Your price and scope
• [COMPETITOR_QUOTE] — Competitor's price if known
• [COMPETITOR_PROFILE] — What kind of shop they are (offshore, freelancer, big agency, etc.)
• [SCOPE_DIFF] — Specific differences in scope, team, deliverables, or guarantees
• [COST_OF_FAILURE] — What it costs the prospect if the cheaper option underdelivers

[AGENCY_NAME]: Cardinal Web Co. | [SERVICES]: Shopify Plus build + migration for $30M+ DTC brands | [PROSPECT_STATEMENT]: "Honestly your number is double what the other shop quoted us." | [YOUR_QUOTE]: $140k, 16 weeks, dedicated migration lead | [COMPETITOR_QUOTE]: $65k, 10 weeks | [COMPETITOR_PROFILE]: offshore Shopify shop, ~20-person team, no migration specialist | [SCOPE_DIFF]: their scope excludes data migration QA, redirect mapping, and post-launch support | [COST_OF_FAILURE]: a botched migration on a $30M brand costs ~$300k/month in lost organic revenue

WHAT THEY REALLY MEAN
They're not actually choosing on price — a $30M brand wouldn't risk a botched replatform to save $75k. They're testing if you'll fold. The real question is: can you defend the gap with specifics?

CLARIFYING QUESTIONS
1) "Quick gut check — does their $65k include 301 redirect mapping for your 12,000 indexed URLs and a rollback plan if traffic drops?"
2) "If organic traffic dropped 30% in the first 60 days post-launch, what would that cost you in revenue?"

RESPONSE SCRIPT
"You're right — we're double. We're also scoped for the two things that kill replatforms: redirect mapping and migration QA. Most $30M brands lose 20-40% of organic in month one after a cheap migration, which is roughly $200k a month for a brand your size — gone before their invoice clears. We're not the cheaper option, we're the one that doesn't put $2M of annual organic revenue at risk to save $75k upfront."

NEXT-STEP ASK
"Want me to send you a side-by-side scope comparison this afternoon and get on a 20-minute call with you and your head of ecom tomorrow to walk through the risk math?"

• Always ask what's in their scope before defending your price — half the time it's apples-to-oranges
• Quantify the cost of failure in the prospect's own revenue terms, not vague 'risk'
• If you must move on price, trade scope — never both, and never silently