I come from an industry where many companies send pricing to other companies who in turn submit consolidated pricing to other companies who may even then send more consolidated pricing to yet other companies. If you think this sounds like a lot of administrative back and forth, people chasing each other for information by a certain deadline so that another deadline can be met, you're right.
If you're often in the position of that 2nd, 3rd, or 4th tier provider, you will achieve a competitive advantage and reduce administrative burden by embedding your pricing model into the pricing models of higher tier providers.
I've experienced this firsthand. When I led pricing operations at a contract research organization, we often had to solicit quotes for data capture technology. We had two preferred providers- one required contacting them for a quote every time (and they always went down to the wire in responding), while the other allowed us to embed their quote estimator directly into our pricing tool- 100% self service.
There were many occasions where our proposal deadline did not allow us time to go out for a quote, so take a guess which provider we usually put forward on those opportunities- the one who was easier and faster to do business with. That provider, in turn, saved tremendous time and effort from not having to triage and process those quoting requests, which probably amounted to one hundred or more per year. We sent them a monthly report of proposals we sent that included their pricing, so they could track in their CRM.
Here are a few varieties for how to do this in your situation:
For repeat customers, negotiate an enterprise or preferred provider agreement that commits fixed, standardized pricing to your counterparty. Offer to help your counterparty embed that pricing into their model.
If the other party only needs estimated pricing, provide them a "ballpark" quoting tool they can embed into their model.
For tighter security, offer a web interface that your customers can log into and generate quotes at their convenience. This approach works particularly well if you field requests from a wide variety of companies instead of a handful of close partners.
Train your business development teams on what's being embedded into those companies' pricing models, so they can rapidly respond to questions that arise.
What could be better than winning business you didn't even know existed, all because you made it easier for someone else to recommend you?
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I've helped multiple clients embed their pricing into their partner's pricing model. Book a meeting or contact me to discuss how you can make it happen too.
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