Negotiating Pricing
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November 2009
In today’s challenging sales environment, we are all under pressure to lower our prices to secure the business. In many cases, if you do so, you are doing yourself and your firm a disfavor. As a sales professional you are hired to sell the value of your organization’s products and services and it lessens what you offer if you are always bending to the buyer’s demands.
In this month’s Negotiations Tips article, “I want a lower price,” Negotiations expert Bruce Hoelzen shares a series of strategies on how to deal with this type of demand from a customer. You will immediately recognize Bruce’s wise counsel on how to respond when these demands surface.
"I Want A Lower Price"
Who doesn’t want a lower price? We would all like to get a lower price on everything thing we buy (with brain surgery and parachutes being two possible exceptions!). As a salesperson, that simple demand is probably the one you dread hearing the most. But, when you do hear it, what do you do? Simply lower your price?
The AGREE methodology has eight simple and effective strategies for dealing with this common demand. The eight strategies are presented in order of increasing risk. Under each strategy are some sample statements, in quotes, that you could say to put the strategy into action. We’ll examine four strategies this month and four next month.
The ONE Thing!
Colleague Marie Elwood of Avalaunche specializes brand management and new product consulting for many successful firms. She has been kind enough to allow us to reprint one of her most recent newsletters, which provides a distinct tip on what you can do to get terrific feedback from your customers. Thank you, Marie, for sharing.
- If you really want candid feedback that you can use to improve your brand, performance, and your relationships, here’s a secret that will help you get the results you want. It’s a question we use a lot at Avalaunche, because it works like magic to help people focus and prioritize. Try framing your questions around “the ONE THING.”
Let me show you some examples: Ask your consumers:
- “What’s the ONE THING we can do to make this product a better fit for YOU?”
- “If there was just ONE THING that would make you use this more often, what would it be?”
- “If there was just ONE THING that would really make this company stand out from everybody else in your mind, what would it be?”
Ask your boss:
- “If there was just ONE THING you’d like me to improve upon in the next 6 months, what would it be?”
- “If there was just ONE THING we need to hit a home run on together this year, what would you say it is?”
Ask your friend:
- “What’s the ONE THING I can do right now to really help you through this rough time?”
When you use this approach, you’ll find the quality of the responses you get will improve dramatically- - so ask the question, listen to the answer, and use it as a springboard to get even more in-depth insights. Try it this week.
Sales Excellence Podcasts
Beginning this month, we are launching a series of “Sales Excellence” podcasts, covering areas of sales force effectiveness that we believe you will find useful.
Our objective is to interview sales professionals, including colleagues and customer executives, on topics of sales force performance. Each podcast is between 8- 15 minutes in length. We will highlight a podcast during each of the upcoming newsletters, which you can download and listen at your own convenience. Soon, you will also be able to receive these podcasts as they are published if you choose to subscribe.
Our first podcast features an interview with Marty Mercer, one of our facilitators who specializes in teaching salespeople how to create persuasive presentations. This podcast provides terrific tips on how to ENERGIZE your presentations. Marty’s enthusiasm for the topic is obvious through his comments and we believe you will find more than one tip to apply immediately.
To listen to this podcast, go to: http://www.saleseffectiveness.com/seipodcast/SEIPod cast_Energizing_Your_Presentations.mp3
Happy Selling!