I recently ran across a LinkedIn question asking when it was appropriate to introduce pricing to a sales prospect. After I read through the responses, I realized that a lot of sales professionals have no clue. Furthermore, most of the responses were dated and irrelevant. If you are in sales, you should not be afraid to talk pricing with your client when the time is right. In the following post, I'll highlight my philosophy, and how I navigate the choppy waters of a sales call.
First, it's important to get one thing straight when you’re prospecting: the more "at bats" you have, the more home runs you will hit. Every NO that you get is one NO closer to that YES. It also might be worth noting that timing is a key element in every sale made. Just because you get a No today doesn't mean it's a No forever.
As a side note, if you don't have a sales management tool, I suggest that you start researching one. I personally utilize Salesforce (www.salesforce.com)
THE INITIAL CONVERSATION
When talking with a new prospect, you first want to gather all the information that you can. Begin the call by introducing yourself and why you're calling. Avoid the small talk. Don't BS yourself- you're not friends with person on the other end of the line...yet. After you’ve introduced yourself and explained why you're calling, ask an open ended question that gets the prospect talking. Don't ask a question that qualifies as a Yes or No response. You want them to talk as long as they will. With every word uttered, you’re gathering information. Now it's time to shut up and listen.
During this time of listening, you should be looking for complaints, problems, or anything that gives you ammunition to relate their pain points to your solutions. My goal is to fish out at least 3 or 4 problem areas. I keep asking open-ended questions until I have enough information. This stage of the call is called the discovery phase. After you're done playing Sherlock Holmes, take a moment to concisely sum up what you just heard, weeding out the fluff that doesn't matter. A good line that I use is "I think I understand what you're saying. What I just heard is that: ________________"… fill in the blanks with something like "sales are down because of the economy, or you don't have the resources to incorporate a new marketing strategy" From there you can Spin their problem and present your solution.
Only present solutions that honestly address their problems; this will show the prospect that you have been listening and understand their needs.
After I’ve presented my solution, I make sure the prospect is still "following" what I'm saying by asking a question like, "Our marketing solution is geared to help you generate more warm leads and reduce the amount of time spent chasing after dead-end prospects. If I was able to help you reduce your cost-per-lead and increase your revenue, you would be interested in learning more about our solution, right?" Ask them questions that get them saying YES!
Remember that you must value the prospect’s time. Now might be a perfect time for them to continue the conversation, but most often they want to schedule a more in-depth conversation at another time. No worries; just make sure that you schedule the call no more than a few days out so they don't forget about you.
THE IN-DEPTH FOLLOW-UP
The next stage is the in-depth follow-up. At this point you have your prospect on the line (literally and figuratively); now all you have to do is pull them into the boat. Gather all the remaining information to find best product for their needs. This takes about 40-45 minutes for me, assuming things are going well. Toward the end of the conversation, I start moving to the close. Pricing can be an intimidating topic to introduce to any prospect, especially if your product is a high-ticket item. The key here is to present your product as a value-add rather than a cost. Many sales professionals will tell you that you’re selling the solution, the features and benefits, and the value of the product. Seems obvious, doesn't it?
At this point, you've data mined the prospect to find all the golden nuggets you need, and you've explained your product and its feature and benefits. Presenting a brief overview of the call and what you've learned will help ease the pain of the pricing discussion. Ask the prospect if he/she is truly interested in the product and if it would solve the problems they've previously indicated. If no, you must find out why and start tackling those objections.
When the prospect says yes, you're halfway to victory. Now is the time to talk money. When presenting my price, I typically use this line: "John, I'm glad to hear you’re interested in our services. I understand you’re a busy guy, and I respect your time. It seems clear that you have a need for our services, and that we can help increase your bottom line. Before we go any further, I want to discuss pricing. Our services start out at $________ a month to get started. Knowing the benefits of our services and the increased revenue they will generate for you, is the price going to be a problem?
You will get one of two answers: yes or no. Either way you win. Why? If your prospect says no, you have the green light, as you've gotten past the budget objection. If they say yes, they either don't have that kind of money, or they’re not ready to commit. Now you have the opportunity for a rebuttal. Try to ask questions about where they’re spending their money to see if they may be able to reallocate funds to your product.
If not, you've just saved yourself and your prospect a lot of time.
Warning: Sales methods are going to vary depending on the products or services sold and price-points. Keep in mind, this is the process I use to sell high-end marketing retainers.
I welcome your comments. Tell me if you agree or disagree!
Sean Michael Royer
