I’m never in favor of price discounting, but it seems every year about this time, we enter into the silly season of price discounting. Too many salespeople and companies that are chasing a number suddenly get the urge to think the way they can hit their number is by price discounting. Nothing will destroy sales motivation more effectively long-term than by allowing yourself to play this price discounting game. You run the risk of permanently lowering your level of sales motivation each time you think price discounting is the solution.
If you’re chasing a year-end number, shift your strategy to finding a more compelling value proposition that does not include cutting your price. Start by ensuring your value proposition is in line with the customer’s top needs. After you’ve done this step, the next approach is to offer something additional on your end that is of low-cost to you but high-value to the customer. Again, you will find this out if you’ve done your homework and know the key drivers for the customer in terms of how they make a buying decision.
The solution lies not in turning to price discounting, but in matching your proposition to the needs of the customer. When you turn to price discounting to make your number, you’re telling the customer that you are available for playing games. This will always spill over into the following year. Customers don’t forget. They will call you out on the pricing you offered previously and challenge you to offer them the discounted price for the entire upcoming year. And ultimately where does that leave you? Your sales motivation is permanently brought down a notch and the value your customers see in you is impaired. When viewed from that perspective, price discounting doesn’t look so glamorous as a sales strategy.
