My client became a little defensive. Put yourself in that manager's shoes. Now that's risk. It wouldn't be hard to justify a price double that. Worry less about low price and more about lowering the risk .
Relationships mitigate risk.
The greater the relationship, the lower the perceived risk. That's why the salesman with the longer relationship almost always has the benefit of the doubt in a competitive situation. Make ample use of third party recommendations , customer lists, case studies and testimonials. All of these say to the customer that someone else, or lots of someone else's, have used the product or service. That means its less risk for your customer to buy it.