Avoid the price haggler. If you give in, they’ll haggle you on everything.
A customer who wants to haggle over price many times will be the same person who will hassle you on everything else.
Sure, who doesn’t want to close every sale? I do!
But be careful with the person who fights you during the buying process over price. If you give in and offer them a lower price, then what you have done is validated their process and given them permission to bug you on everything else.
Customers must see value. If they don’t see value in what you’re offering, then you are setting yourself up for trouble.
In my career there have been a couple of times where I have allowed a customer to squeeze me on price, and each time I’ve come to regret it.
The reason is simple — if they don’t understand your value proposition, then that means they only understand their own. This mean trouble, because you the salesperson have no idea what their value proposition is.
In order for any sale to be meaningful to both the customer and the salesperson, both parties have to be in agreement when it comes to the value proposition.
Hold firm on your price. If the customer doesn’t come around to understanding the value proposition, you have every right to walk away. The beauty is when the customer who is hassling you over price winds up going to a competitor, it puts the problem in their world.
I’ve seen many situations where the competitor who is initially patting themselves on the back for “stealing” a customer winds up wishing the customer had never entered their world.
Keep in mind the type of customer I’m talking about here is the “ultra discount seeker.” If the person is merely raising a small objection over price, then you can certainly deal with it through your value proposition. What I’m cautioning you on is the one who from the first moment you start talking price, they’re trying to get you to make significant reductions.
By being careful to avoid these type of customers, not only will you protect your own profit margin and sales process, but you’ll wind up giving your competitor an upset stomach from having to deal with them.
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
