Many times, salespeople place a higher level of importance on price than buyers. Price is important, but it’s rarely the only consideration customers and prospects have when making purchase decisions. They may bring price up early, and perhaps leverage price as a negotiation tactic. When price continues to come up early in sales discussions, it’s no wonder that causes the hyper price sensitivity in salespeople. This reminds me of a story from early in my career.
I worked for a company that used Action Selling (Sales Board) as their sales program of choice for all salespeople in the organization. They asked certain managers to be trainers of this program in their geographical area. These were generally two-day sessions and I was conducting my first session in St. Louis, Mo.
At the start of the second day, we were discussing the selling of vinyl siding to builders and one of attendees raised his hand and said “Brian, I appreciate your time, and although some of this stuff makes sense, it’s not going to work in the real world. This is a tough market; customers will leave you for a $1/square. I have literally lost customers because my price was $1/square higher than somebody else. So, you can talk about creating value all you want, but you should really come out into the field and make some sales calls, and you’ll realize quickly what I’m talking about.”
I stood there looking at him, with 30 people looking back at me, not really knowing how to respond. I thought for a couple of seconds and said, “That’s great news.” He seemed puzzled, just looking at me as I continued, “At our next break, I’ll call your manager and get you permission to sell your vinyl siding for $1 a square less than everybody in that market, then the orders should start rolling in. You walk into a builder’s office who uses a competitor’s vinyl siding. You drop your sample and your price list that’s $1/square less on the desk…mic drop…and walk out.” I then asked him, “When will the builder call you to place an order?” He responded, “He probably won’t call me.” Folks, it’s not about a $1/square is it?
You must be in the ballpark, I get that. But as a sales professional you should really be able to define and communicate what else, besides a product and a price, does the customer get when they purchase from you. In most sales situations, the buyers of products are asking themselves a question – “Why, based on the options available to me, should I buy from you?” If the seller of that product can not answer that question in a real, meaningful, impactful way, they are driving buyers to make purchase decisions based solely on price. If you’re finding yourself in a lot of price-driven sales encounters, perhaps give some thought to your answer, or lack thereof to the above question. Food for thought, are you giving buyers other reasons to buy from you besides price? Happy Selling!!
