Do you ever feel like you’re falling back on price a little too early? Leaving too much money on the table? You may be able to stop “giving it away” by simply shutting-up (pardon my candor).

Raise Prices and Believe

A coaching client came to me agonizing over what he should charge for his services. Since we had already analyzed this issue and had established what would be an appropriate fee structure for his business, I was surprised that the topic was coming up, again. He claimed that while he believed that the new higher fees were a bargain for his customers from a return on investment standpoint, and that he felt strongly that his previous customers had gotten way more than they had paid for, we were talking about his rates, again. It seemed to me that though he knew he was worth his prices intellectually, he couldn't bring himself to believe in them when in the heat of a sales call. And sure enough, although he had taken on several new customers, he had not been able to sign any new clients at the new higher rates.

Don’t Rescue

When debriefing him on his last call I discovered he had made a selling mistake that is commonly made on painful sales calls; he was jumping too soon to the rescue of a client who was merely thinking out loud. I know it's hard to believe, but many sales people talk a little too much for their own good, and answer “unasked” questions. When a prospect makes a statement, the salesperson hears a question in the statement, and attempts to answer it, which is usually not in their best interest. For example, a prospect says, “Your price is a bit more than we expected,” and the salesperson automatically replies, “Let me see if I can shave a few bucks off of it.” Why do salespeople respond this way? Because when they hear a surprised reaction to the price, they begin to doubt the legitimacy of their pricing (like my coaching client) and make the assumption that the prospect is really asking: “Can you lower your price?” 

Let Them Talk

Before responding to the prospect’s statement, it’s important to ask a question to first determine why the prospect made the statement. Rather than offering to “shave a few bucks,” a good response might be; “Now, you’re telling me that for a reason,” or, simply to ask, “Which means?” Or maybe the best response is no response; just let the client think out loud for a moment. It’s surprising how often that the intent of this kind of statement is not to obtain a lower price, but only to say out loud that they’ll have to adjust their budget to go with your product or service. They may simply be going over in their mind what other funds are available in other “buckets” in their budget that they can “steal” from, or who will have to free up the funds so that they can buy your stuff.

It’s often easy to avoid “leaving money on the table; stop answering “unasked” questions and hold your tongue! 2007 Marr Professional Development Corporation

Joe Marr is a public speaker, sales and management consultant and trainer, and runs the Sandler Sales Institute at 501 Avis Drive in Ann Arbor. To get more information on Selling Smart training sessions being conducted this season, call: (734) 821-4830 or visit his website at: www.sandlerannarbor.com