Chapter 15
Talking Price
Thinking and acting about price as a trusted advisor sets you apart from being just another sales rep. In this chapter we help you understand what is behind price concerns. We provide practical guidance on when to talk price, and offer a simple solution to price anxiety.
For many in business, talking about price is at best awkward; at worst a disaster. You know you have a great product or service, you believe in your company—but when it comes to talking price, you put it off as long as possible. You hesitate, you stammer. You shy away from bringing it up, especially early on when estimates are uncertain and customers may be ill-informed. You hope they will be so dazzled by your presentation that price doesn’t even matter. But in the real world, price matters—to your customers and to you.
No business development topic, with the exception of closing, provides as much angst as pricing. How often do you hear (or voice) these kinds of pricing fears?
- “I don’t want to mention price too early. Because if we lead with a high price to give ourselves bargaining room, they’ll reject us before they understand the total picture. And they’ll go with someone else.”
- “We lost that deal on price. That’s the third time this month. The salespeople are right—it’s a very price-competitive market out there, and we are pricing ourselves right out of business.”
- “I can’t believe they objected to our price. We bent over backwards to make it a good price. They are just price-buyers. ...
