In fact, in enterprise sales, the product price is usually hidden behind a phone call step, for precisely the reason that it enables customer segmentation and price discrimination. People complain about this, but it’s not going away, as it materially benefits the business.
Shopping around addresses only a small part of the purpose of “call us” pricing. It’s not so much about hiding the price of a vendor relative to the competition, as it is about hiding the price offered to one customer relative to other customers. All vendors are incentivized to price discriminate, the better they can do so the better they will do in the marketplace. Importantly, there’s a set of skills and tactics a salesperson will bring to that call to strike a deal that leaves the least amount of money on the table. Eg, a good salesperson will listen to the customer’s needs and tell a compelling story tailored to those needs justifying the product’s price (not unlike a recruiter trying to close a candidate at a salary lower in the range, by talking up other ways the opportunity is a great fit for them).
