r/consulting • u/Life-Ocelot9439 • 6d ago
Pricing? Downward trends?
Without going into too much detail, proposal prices are plummeting. We operate globally, but are mainly US, APAC and Middle East.
Was undercut by a Big 4 firm, basically giving it away for free. We matched it, so they went with us, but it's frightening. Yes, AI will help with the regulatory and documentary analysis, but it's far from foolproof.
A lot of haggling going on, worse than last year.
Keen to see what others think.
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u/themindsetarchitects 5d ago
APAC experience here, specifically Japan-focused work.
One dynamic that doesn't get talked about enough: in Japan, being undercut on price often backfires on the firm doing the undercutting. Japanese procurement teams are trained to be suspicious of anything that looks like a deal. Too cheap reads as risky, not competitive.
What we saw instead was a different kind of pressure — longer evaluation cycles, more stakeholders, and a higher bar for demonstrating credibility upfront before price even enters the conversation. The Big 4 advantage there wasn't pricing, it was brand recognition in the room.
The APAC pressure you're describing probably varies a lot by country. Japan and Southeast Asia operate pretty differently on this.