Don’t Waver Over Price

We have arrived at the last day of my in-depth exploration of 5 Sales Tips to Maximize Your Price.

If you missed the previous posts, here they are:

• Sell the Outcome, Not the Activity
• Sell the Urgency of the Customer’s Timeline
• Are Your Customers Confident in You?
• Stop Breaking Down Your Pricing Model

Today we are talking about why you must not waver on your price.

If you can’t state your price with conviction, then how do you expect your customer to believe you?  More price concessions are given to customers due to the salesperson’s lack of confidence than nearly any other reason.

Confidence in price is essential.

There is no room for negotiation on this.

This is a key reason why I firmly believe we sell first, negotiate second.   If we do the job we’re capable of doing when it comes to selling, then we’ll be in a position to truly understand the needs of the customer and be able to fashion our proposal to ensure they gain maximum value from what we’re offering.

Wavering over price is not just a matter of principle. It’s a matter of profit.  Any discount in price, regardless of how you try to spin it, is going to result in a loss of both total revenue and, more importantly, profit.

Another reason why salespeople waver over price is due to the time pressure they’re facing to close a deal or the lack of other viable prospects.  Both of these situations are preventable if there is a the right sales strategy in place to ensure a full pipeline.

Having a full pipeline provides a level of confidence to help withstand the customer’s push.

In the end, the greatest defense is by being willing to walk away.  Yes, it’s difficult, and yes, it can be scary.

I know. I’ve been there.

The first time you walk away, you’ll wonder what you just did.

However, the first time you walk away and the customer then comes back later and buys at full price, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment like none other.  More importantly, by holding to your price once, you’ll be far more confident the next time you get pushed.

For the customer who does buy from you at full-price, you will also be locking in a permanent higher level of profit that will stay with you throughout the entire customer relationship.

Don’t waver on price. The result of standing firm will be worth it.

Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.