But the OP didn't say the customer asked how much the best tech is paid, just the one. That guy is concerned with saving money, not getting the best.

The marine industry is full of dealers who jack up their labor rates as soon as the guy down the road does, without bothering to think about whether it's justified. I worked for one of those and when they said they wanted to raise the rate, I asked if I was getting a raise. They initially asked why I expected a raise and I told them to justify the price increase without doing anything more for it. I told them that the price they can charge will eventually be determined by what people want to pay, based on the service they have received, or the service they heard others had received. If they or others had received bad service, they wouldn't have many service customers or they would have people asking for a discount and, while I never threatened to do less or a worse job, I made it clear that my integrity as a service tech determined this, not the fact that they wanted more money just because the guy up the street raised their rates.

I got my raise.