Stop Competing on Price Alone
If you’re a sparky in Coorparoo or a law firm in the CBD, you know the drill. A potential customer calls up, asks for a quote, and then goes with the bloke who’s fifty bucks cheaper. It’s frustrating. It feels like a race to the bottom where nobody wins except the person looking for the cheapest, nastiest job.
But here’s the thing: people don't actually want the cheapest price. They want the best value. They want to know that if they hire you, you’ll show up on time, do a decent job, and won't leave a mess on their carpet.
The problem is that most small businesses look exactly the same from the outside. If your website looks like everyone else's and you talk like everyone else, the only thing left for the customer to judge you on is your price.
To break out of that cycle, you need to show people what you actually stand for. This isn't about some fancy mission statement hanging in a corporate boardroom. It’s about communicating your values in a way that makes people want to give you money.
What We Mean by "Values" (In Plain English)
Forget the marketing fluff. In the real world, your values are just the "rules" for how you do business.
Do you always clean up after a job? Do you answer the phone within three rings? Do you give honest advice even if it means you make less money today? Do you only use the highest quality materials, even if they cost more?
These are your values. When you communicate these clearly, you stop being a "commodity" and start being a specialist. We worked with a landscaping crew in Ipswich who were struggling to win quotes against cheaper solo operators. Once we helped them lean into their value of "Zero-Stress Project Management"—meaning they handled the permits, the soil tests, and the cleanup without the owner lifting a finger—they started winning jobs at 20% higher prices.
Customers weren't paying for the turf; they were paying for the peace of mind. That’s why people buy from you rather than just choosing the cheapest logo in the phone book.
How to Show Your Values (Without Sounding Like a Wanker)
Most business owners get this wrong. They put words like "Integrity" or "Excellence" on their website. Honestly? Those words are useless. Every dodgy operator in Brisbane claims to have integrity.
To make your values work for you, you have to prove them.
1. Show, Don't Just Tell
Instead of saying "We provide great customer service," say "We guarantee a return phone call within 2 hours or we give you $50 off your bill."Instead of saying "We are professional," show a photo of your team in clean, branded uniforms standing next to a tidy van. This tells the customer more about your standards than a thousand-word essay ever could.
2. Use the Right Tone
The way you speak to customers in your emails, on your site, and over the phone tells them everything they need to know about your business. If you want to be seen as the high-end, premium choice, your emails shouldn't be full of typos and slang. If you want to be the friendly, local choice, don't use stiff, formal language that sounds like a bank. This way you talk is often the deciding factor in whether a lead becomes a paying customer.3. Own Your Mistakes
Nothing proves your values more than how you handle a screw-up. If a job goes wrong, do you hide, or do you fix it at your own expense? Sharing stories (or even testimonials) about how you made things right builds massive trust. It shows that your values aren't just for when things are easy. Having a plan to protect your reputation when things go sideways is actually a powerful marketing tool.The Secret Benefit: Hiring Better People
There is a massive side effect to talking about your values that most owners overlook: it makes it much easier to find good staff.
Right now, every business in South East Queensland is screaming for good workers. If you’re just offering a paycheck, you’re competing with everyone else on wages. But if you stand for something—like "We never cut corners" or "We value family time and finish at 4 PM every day"—you will attract people who care about those same things.
You can actually hire better staff without necessarily being the highest payer in town, simply because people want to work for a boss they actually respect.
What Will This Cost You?
Changing how you talk about your business doesn't cost much in terms of dollars, but it takes time and consistency.
Website Updates: You might need to spend a few hours (or a few hundred dollars with an editor) to rewrite your "About Us" page and your service descriptions to reflect your actual standards. Training: You need to spend time with your team so they know how to represent these values. There’s no point claiming you’re "on time every time" if your lead technician is always 20 minutes late. Lost Jobs: Yes, you might actually lose some jobs. If your value is "We only use premium Australian steel," you will lose the customers who only care about the absolute lowest price. And that’s a good thing. Those are usually the customers who complain the most and have the thinnest margins anyway.
How Long Until You See Results?
This isn't like turning on a tap. If you change your messaging today, you won't get 50 calls tomorrow.
However, you will notice a change in the quality* of the calls you get within about 30 to 60 days. You’ll find that people stop opening the conversation with "How much for X?" and start saying "I saw that you guys specialise in Y, can you help me?"
Within six months, your referral rate will likely climb. Why? Because it’s much easier for a happy customer to refer "the guys who always clean up and show up on time" than it is to refer "some plumber I used."
Your Action Plan
Don't try to overhaul everything at once. Start here:
1. Pick Three: What are the three things you actually care about in your business? (e.g., No jargon, fixed pricing, local parts only). 2. Check Your Website: Does it actually mention these three things? If not, add them to the homepage in plain English. 3. Update Your Quotes: Add a small section to your quotes or proposals titled "Why we do things differently." List your values there. 4. Tell Your Team: Make sure everyone on the tools knows what the "standard" is. If you say you’re the cleanest tradies in Brisbane, every van needs a vacuum cleaner in it.
Stop trying to be everything to everyone. When you stand for something specific, you’ll find that the right customers—the ones who pay on time and don't haggle—will find you.
If you’re struggling to figure out how to put this into words, or you want to make sure your marketing is actually bringing in the right kind of leads, get in touch with us at Local Marketing Group. We help Brisbane businesses stop competing on price and start winning on value.