Far too many salespeople roll over and play dead the moment the customer pushes back on their price.
All of the macho bravado the salesperson exhibited getting ready for the call is gone in a flash.
Stop and ask yourself, “Why does this happen?” And don’t think for a moment you haven’t done the same thing, because we all have, myself included.
One of the biggest reasons why is we suddenly begin fearing not being able to close the sale at all, so when the customer brings up price, we naturally agree that is the problem.
When these situations occur, I have to put much of the issue into the lap of the leadership team.
I can recall several instances in my own selling career where it was far easier for me to give the customer a discount than to suffer the consequences of telling my boss I didn’t get the sale.
It’s a little bit like having to pick your poison, and for me, being chewed out for giving a discount was less than the chewing out I’d get if I didn’t get the sale at all.
The other big problem is that while offering the discount may have taken profit away from the company, it didn’t impact my pay / bonus plan. In fact, my bonus was based on volume, so holding firm on the price and losing the sale was a bigger problem to me personally.
How can we expect front-line salespeople and even their managers to know what to do when the signals they get are so mixed up?
Discounting a price must be seen across the entire organization as an issue. The senior management the sales leadership team must be in sync so that salespeople are not getting mixed signals about what is most important.
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
One Response
Hello Mark,
Good article and something that I encounter on a day to day basis. Would just like to share a few thoughts on some insights gained over time.
Customer price pushback complaints often identifies training requirements needed by the sales team on a solution selling platform. Being able to correctly identify and manage these pushbacks for what they are and refocusing the team members through effective training and coaching can resolve a large percentage of these matters. Market acceptance of product and benefits are additional aspects to review concurrently.
Time and time again we see this common issue whereby the path of least resistance is for the “Sales person to roll over and play dead” without putting the effort into the sale.
As managers need to look at what training we are provide to deal with this common problem.