One of the most vexing issues facing salespeople is how to win a sale when their solution is not the lowest-priced alternative available to the prospect. Some of them positively dread the moment in the sales cycle when the buyer says: “We like your product, but we can get the same thing cheaper somewhere else, so you’re going to have to sharpen your pencil if you want the deal.”
Often when that happens, the salesperson goes into high-gear selling mode—but this time they target their manager, trying to get a pricing exception to win the business.
Although there are no foolproof ways to defeat the price objection, there are so many avenues available to you that discounts, if any, should be a last resort. It’s such a big topic that I’m going to break it up into a series of articles, but let me start the discussion by addressing the psychology of pricing, as it affects the mind of both the buyer and the seller.
Practical Eloquence Blog
Maybe you shouldn’t. You’ve got a lot of demands on your attention, so you should get a return from taking a little time out of your life to read what I write. Everyone has different reasons for doing things, but here are a few that might work for you:
If you’re already a leader:
- You are looking for ideas, approaches and techniques to get the best thinking and best efforts out of your subordinates.
- You want to drive real change through your organization, advice and know it won’t happen just because you say so.
- You don’t want to rely on authority alone to get things done.
If you’re not yet in a position of authority:
There are a lot of reasons to recommend a book, but The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself, by John Jantsch, has given me one of the best: reading it will make you money. It’s my first book recommendation on Practical Eloquence because of what it did for me:
Brevity is one of the most critical attributes of practical eloquence, because you’re dealing with ever-shrinking attention spans and the discipline of distilling your message to its essence will greatly clarify your thinking.
Here’s one of the best examples of brief eloquence that I’ve come across.
When General Ira Eaker led the first contingents of the 8th Air Force to England in 1942, hopes were running high for America to add its muscle to the war against Nazi Germany. So, when he was asked to speak at a luncheon, the audience was poised to hang on his every word. Here’s his speech, in its entirety:
“We won’t do much talking until we’ve done more fighting. After we’ve gone, we hope you’ll be glad we came.”
He sat down amid thunderous applause.
If you have any other examples of brief but powerful messages, please share them.
