Warning: Don't Cut Prices If You Want To Stay In Business

If you're in the business of sales, you probably know that making sales isn't easy. It gets even harder when you don't have a grasp on customer psychology or when you don't really understand the sales process. The objective of selling is to close the deal, but it is far more important that you're satisfied with the outcome.

This won't be the case if you constantly find yourself lowering prices.

However, lowering prices is a standard in the sales industry. It's probably happened to you. You ask your prospect to close and for some reason they say no or give you an excuse. What did you do in this situation?

Many people's first instinct is to panic and automatically lower the price. However that's a huge mistake because the problem is usually caused by a lack of understanding, not the inability for afford your product or service. Your prospect most likely doesn't understand the true value of what you're offering or genuinely feels that they don't want it.

It's becoming increasingly common in sales to expect that you'll need to pass a discount over to your customers. Many sales people start calculating the math in their head before even asking what would convince the customer to buy.

Here's a simple yet highly effective solution. When a prospect turns your offer down, politely ask them why they won't buy instead of automatically offering a lower price. It only takes a few seconds, yet in those few seconds you can learn exactly what you need to do to gain their business at the price you want.

However, before that even happens you need to instill true value in your product. Effective selling can overcome a lot of rejection before they even get the chance to say no. Stress to the customer that what they're getting is far more valuable than the small price you're asking them to pay. If you don't honestly feel this way then you should honestly be selling something else.

You do not need to lower your price to make sales. This will only decrease your profits and leave you feeling unsatisfied. Even worse, it can lead to bigger problems like decreased product/service value, and never-ending price wars because your competitors start dropping prices as well.

Keeping your prices reasonable yet firm will be good for your business. You may not get as many customers, but the customers you do get are the ones who understand that you're offering something with real value. These are the type of people that are likely to become repeat customers and they're generally easier to work with. Cutting prices just to close individual sales is bad news for business.