If you’re not getting the price you want, it might be more than just your selling process that you need analyze.
The problem might be due to your prospecting process and specifically who you’re targeting in the prospecting process.
The price you get when you close the sale starts with who you have in the top of your sales funnel.
In B2B (Business to Business) selling, this many times means you may be targeting the right company, but not the right person.
Prospecting is not about going after whoever will talk with you or whoever you get routed to the first time you break through to the company you’re trying to reach.
Prospecting is about focusing your efforts against the person(s) who have the greatest potential to deliver not just a sale, but a sale at maximum price.
Easiest guideline to follow is to remember buyers who buy based on tactical reasons tend to be economic buyers. Buyers who are buying based on strategic needs are solution buyers.
Solution buyers will always provide you with a better opportunity to maximize price.
What does all this mean to you in the prospecting process? It means a lot.
Key is to early on validate why the prospect is willing to talk with you. If the prospect is not willing to share with you strategically what their issues are, then you’re not at the right level of the organization.
Don’t fall for the idea that just because you’re talking with the “user” or “owner” of what it is you’re selling that you can maximize price. Many “users” are so low in the organization they have zero control over their budget, meaning even though they might be a “user,” they’re still an economic buyer.
“Users” can still be a source of valuable information to you, but the person who you want to enter into a sales conversation with is the person who sees what you have as a strategic benefit.
Find the strategic-oriented prospect and you’ll find less pressure to discount your price when you close the sale.
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.
