If you’ve been following my series on 8 Ways to Increase Your Price, you know that we have already looked at believing in what you sell and increasing your pipeline.
We’ve now arrived at part 3. Sometimes increasing your price means you have to be resolved in saying “no” to your customer.
3. Just say “no.”
When a customer pushes back on price, it’s imperative for you as the salesperson to just say “no.” If you cower on the initial push back, there is no way you can get through the difficult ones.
“No” is Not a Bad Word in Sales
“No” is not a bad word. In fact it’s one of the easiest ways to get a higher price for what you sell when you the salesperson says it or at least believes it. Too many salespeople — especially those who view their job as an extension of customer service — have a difficult time saying “no.”
When a salesperson has in their mind that satisfying the customer is everything, it becomes that much harder for the salesperson to say “no.”
This becomes extremely important when the customer throws out a request for a lower price.
Even if the salesperson is not totally comfortable telling the customer “no” outright, they may still say something pathetic about how they will see “what they can do.” The only thing this does is allow the customer to think there might be a discount coming their way. When this happens, the risk arises of the customer now doubting in the value proposition the salesperson has spent considerable time developing.
An analogy I like to use is a baseball game that has as the score 8-5 heading into the final inning. Just when the game appears to be over, the team with 5 runs loads up the bases. Then, what appears to be a strikeout in the making winds up turning into a grand slam.
Salespeople are famous for giving into the customer at the last minute. merely because they can’t get themselves to say “no” to the customer.
Not only is the ability to say “no” important during the close, but it’s equally important with any customer relationship.
The salesperson who can’t say “no” will allow any request the customer makes turn into another opportunity to give them something that results in lost profit. Giving the customer additional services or special accommodations of one type or another is virtually the same as lowering the price. Ultimately, it all cuts into profit.
If you’re thinking I don’t believe in customer service and addressing the needs of the customer, guess again. I believe in customer service, but when it’s all about the customer, the relationship quickly becomes very one-sided. When this happens, profit ceases to exist.
Protect your profit and not only will you protect yourself, you will also protect your long-term ability to serve the customer.
Without profit, your company will quickly fail to exist, making it impossible to serve any customers.
Copyright 2011, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
