Last week I wrote about the issue of discounting, and needless to say it generated a major amount of conversation all over social media and in emails and phone calls to me.
A few people pushed back on my thinking. I’m fine with that, as I know what I say won’t always resonate with everyone. In case you missed last week, here’s a link.
Let me this week cut to the chase and share with you what I believe is 100% the #1 way to stop discounting your price and having to make deals to close deals. Are you ready?
It’s YOU! That’s right! It’s you and, more specifically, your mental outlook.
If you don’t believe 110% in how you can help others with what you have to offer, how will you ever begin to be strong enough to ward off the customer who pushes back on your price? It’s simple — you won’t! You’ll cave in a New York minute, and worse yet, you’ll begin to believe you need to cut your price all the time to close deals.
It starts by thinking not about the price you’re charging, but rather about the outcome the customer will receive when they “invest” with you. Who cares how high your price is! It’s worth it if what the customer is receiving is exponentially more.
Your first job is to make a list of all the ways the customers you’ve helped have benefited from buying from you. Next to each item you list, put a dollar amount as to what you feel it was worth to them over a period of six months and then over 3 years. You’ll be amazed that when you then compare the amounts you wrote down with the amount they “invested” with you, they really did receive quite a bargain.
The example I’ll use is the person who sells sales effectiveness software. Price tag is $100,000, and there are plenty of competitors in the market at $75,000. The salesperson knows from past customers installing the software that a company will generate an incremental $1M in sales per year because people are more effective.
Customers also told the salesperson that if they weren’t able to get their salespeople to sell more, the salespeople would quit and the company would be forced to find new people. What’s the cost of that problem? Huge!
It’s not just the issue of hiring, but it’s also the sales lost during the turnover and training period. Now look at those numbers and compare it to the $100,000 — what a bargain! Oh, but wait, what about the cheaper version at $75,000 from a competitor? If they buy from a competitor, it means you won’t be there to help them. Remember my comment about believing in how you can help them? Now you see where the 100K is a bargain when compared to the ROI the customer will receive.
The more you believe in yourself and the more you believe in how you will help others, the more the customer will see what you have is exactly what they need — without a discount!
Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.
