Saturday, 7:50 p.m., Tampa. Mateo Salgado is unloading a ladder from the Casa Lista van. Three messages land in a row: "Can you hang a ceiling fan for $100? That's my budget." "The other guy said $50 for the TV. Can you match it?" "Is it cheaper if I pay cash?" Mateo answers from the truck, one-handed. Each of these chats is a small deal, and whatever he says in it, he has to deliver later.
We checked what an ordinary AI assistant would say to these messages if we gave it Mateo's catalog and one rule: no discounts.
📬 What we tested
On October 24 at 10:13 a.m. ET, we gave Gemini 3.8 Flash the Casa Lista catalog (seven priced lines) and six customer messages: a budget below the price, "the other guy is cheaper," "let me think about it," "is it cheaper for cash?", a budget in Spanish, and the price of a single outlet.
It held the catalog price in every answer that named one: 10 prices out of 10. It never made up a lower price, a price match or a cash deal. But it passed none of the six messages to Mateo.
"Let me think about it" got a polite reply with no pushing. The Spanish budget got an answer in Spanish, built only from catalog lines.
Mistake one. To "the other guy said $50," it answered on Mateo's behalf: "We cannot match that price. We do not offer promotions or discounts… let me know and we can schedule a visit!" The customer got a no and an offer to book, and Mateo never learned someone had asked him to go lower. Our instruction never said "pass this to the owner," and it didn't.
Mistake two. To "how much to replace one outlet?" it gave both numbers: "A like-for-like outlet replacement is $65 per job, though our minimum service call is $95 per visit." The answer doesn't say whether the customer pays $65 or $95. The catalog doesn't say either, and the model rightly didn't decide for the owner, but it didn't hand him the question.
It didn't promise a lower price. It also never told Mateo anyone asked.
🗂 One card instead of a pretty reply
For every "can you do it cheaper?", the assistant should leave Mateo five lines, not a promise:
- What they're asking for: ceiling fan, $100.
- Catalog price: $145.
- What the customer was told: "That's the price in our catalog. Mateo decides on discounts, and I'll pass this to him."
- The customer's words: "That's my budget."
- The question for Mateo: "Make an exception, or offer a different job within $100?"
None of the six answers in our run left a card like this, so here it is as a model.
🛠 How to repeat it without code
- Write down 5–7 priced lines from your catalog, plus one line that says "no discounts or promotions" (or the ones you have).
- Open Gemini or ChatGPT and paste an instruction: "You're our business's sales assistant. Use only these prices. Don't make up discounts. Don't take payment. Answer in the customer's language, in under 80 words."
- Give it a practice date: "Today is Saturday, October 24, 7:50 p.m."
- Send six messages: a budget below the price, "the other guy is cheaper," "let me think about it," "cash?", a question in your customers' second language, and the price of one small job.
- Mark each answer: price held · concession made up · passed to you.
🧾 What it cost, and the limits
$0 beyond subscriptions. One made-up business, six messages, one model, one run. We checked written answers only. We didn't test calls, live haggling, or real catalogs with hundreds of lines. One gap we found in our own catalog along the way: it doesn't say what a single outlet costs once the minimum service call applies, $65 or $95. That isn't a question a model should settle.
✅ Before you trust an assistant with a conversation about price
- ☐ Write down in your catalog whether you offer discounts, even if you don't.
- ☐ Tell it in plain words not to promise what isn't in the catalog: a lower price, a deadline, a warranty.
- ☐ Check how a job price combines with your minimum service call, and write the rule down.
- ☐ Ask it to pass every request for a lower price to you, with the customer's own words.
- ☐ Check its answer to "let me think about it": no pushing, no "today only."
- ☐ Ask the same question in your customers' second language and compare the numbers.
Next in AI on staff: support after the sale. Five messages in one evening, one in Spanish, and one that can't wait until morning.
Your turn: what do you say to "the other guy is cheaper"? And what would your assistant say?
