Imagine the difference.
You go into a sales call and the first item on the agenda is the price. The potential buyer knows that the price stated is the price, without variation. The whole conversation therefore is about quality, delivery, and all the other things that make up value to the buyer. It may also save you time by quickly eliminating those for whom the price is beyond their budget or expectations.
On the other hand, when you go into a conversation with the other party believing that price is negotiable, the whole conversation then becomes about price, and not about all the other elements that create value for both parties.
What if we’re undercut by a competitor you cry?
Inevitably that will happen from time to time.
Get used to it.
Two strategic questions about price to ask yourself:
- Do I want this customer who is prepared to swap supplies for a few bob in the absence of the other services that we provide?
- Who is it that this competitive supplier is overcharging that we should be talking to?
Most sales conversations I have seen default to debates on price. This does no party any good, as price is only one element of value.
As Benjamin Franklin noted: The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten’.
Header cartoon credit: Tom Fishburne at Marketoonist.com. Thanks Tom!.
