This ones easy at least...  STOP showing prices for each piece of equipment!!!!
I've only been doing package pricing for the last few years and I can only recall a few times when someone just had to know the cost of a specific item.  And only recently did someone want to purchase that item on their own..  Have at it, less for me to have to deal with any warranty bs..

VW,

If you were installing 105's previously, then you should be installing the 205,s now. I've only installed the 103,s once and they were supplied by the customer for a commercial building. They didn't seem to like the performance either. I won't sell anything lower than the 105/205's.

The 205's work the same as the 105, performance wise.

On package pricing - do you at least show the product number? I tried to do package pricing a while back and got nothing but grief from customers who thought I was trying to hide something. I went back with detailed proposals with parts, prices and labor all broken out and boom - done deals. maybe people around here are just jaded but they like their details and research. Makes my life easier.

No, we don't show model #s.  We show a description, with the manufacturers name.  For example:
- Yamaha Aventage 7.2 Ch AVR w/ 4K support
- Sonance Visual Performance In-Wall Subwoofer
- Universal Remote Control hard button remote w/ 2" screen & Charging Cradle

Thats basically it.  Some items may get a little more of a description than others, but no model #s listed.

+1

I do the same. If they want model numbers, it's like giving them an internet shopping list. jmo

So if they ask for it do you refuse and walk away?

We won't just walk away but we will not give an itemized proposal.  If they need to know a product here or there thats one thing..   we just try to push them on the fact that we sell packages, and they're really purchasing us and our know how not just a bunch of equipment.  Usually we come from a referral so it just hasn't been a big deal for us at all.

This is also my situation ^

Once in a while i'll get someone who pushes past that point and i'll explain like this: I ask them when they go to their favorite restaurant to look at the bill. It is not broken all the way down to each ingredient. They are paying for their meal as a whole and I am similar in that i'm providing the whole system in that all pieces are chosen because they work well together.
I also explain that it would take too long to break down the proposal to each individual piece and if they really want that then there will be a non refundable design fee that will be incorporated into the deposit should we move ahead.
It's only come to that once or twice but at that point they are fine with the proposal being the way it is.

Of course not. But, they have to ask, and you may be surprised how many people do not ask. Why give them an open door to do online price searches?

By listing model numbers, you are openiong the door to inspire people to compare prices. I simply give them detailed product descriptions, and let them know this is what we recommend.

A lot of integration sales people came from retaial backgrounds, and tend to sell that way. The best advice I ever received was from a former sales manager that kept instilling in us salesz-guys to divorce ourselves from the "Retail Mentality". By that he meant, don't assume the client is looking for the cheapest prices --- they are looking for solutions, quality and to be assured that what you are suggesting will work well for them, and yes they will be paying a little more for having the correct products installed and installed professionally. I'll go one further in that, we often told our clients up front, thet we may actually be more expensive than the other guys, but that you get what you pay for in terms of the end result, and quality of service and support. The majority of our clients understood this, and that curtailed their price shopping.

A lot of sales guys when suggesting equipment think from their pocket-books and not the clients pocket books (which is usually a lot healthier $$$).

If they do ask it throws up the red flag (Internet search for the cheapest price).

If they do get the model numbers, I generally am not going to waste a lot of my time with them, as they are totally cost driven and not solution driven.

A lot of our clients are too busy or are not total cheap asses, like the Best Buy / Walmart / Amazon shoppers.

In our retail store division, we have people coming in all of the time with busted stuff they bought online, and they are desperate to get it fixed vs. shipping it back to where they got it. Imagine if you purchsed a 60 inch flat screen online, or a big heavy amplifier, and they broke, and you tossed all of the packaging. What a hassle to pack and ship back to whomever, and then have to wait around forever for a replacement or repair.

Same thing you do when a good girlfriend turns bad - kick em to the curb! 8>)

+1

So true. Good post and advice. Thx

On our quickbooks system, The left column on the proposal has the model numbers for our ordering purposes but when it is emailed or printed out, They only have descriptions of items. This works pretty well but when it comes time to order, you have to have it pulled up on a computer to see model #'s