Comments Salespeople Hate Hearing: Part 4 - "What's your Best Price?"

       By: Jim Masson
Posted: 2007-01-23 23:32:20
There are several comments that salespeople hate hearing from their prospects. "What's your best price?" is one of them. When prospects ask this question, it creates a sense of panic in the minds of thousands of salespeople everyday.The question can and will be asked by your prospects at absolutely any stage of the sales cycle. I actually have heard it asked as salespeople greeted their prospect.If the salesperson mishandles this question, a number of things can happen. Unfortunately, none of them will put a smile on your face or a commission into your pocket . When mishandled, the question can definitely destroy your sales profitability or perhaps kill the deal completely by setting up the need to 'price shop'.It can also take the salesperson off his or her selling plan totally and put the prospect in absolute control. Guess what? That's what the prospect is trying to accomplish, isn't it? The problem is that many salespeople walk right into the customer's trap by dealing with the price question prematurely.Price is not the primary driver of most transactions in the marketplace. In fact, it ranks well down the list in most consumer surveys. A product or service that actually will work best for the prospect is far more important. So is affordability, which is significantly different from price, isn't it?It is important to recognize the fact that slashing price prior to receiving a shopper's commitment to buy will seldom produce that commitment. Most prospects consider overall value and their financial ability long before being concerned about the actual price or the product or service.vWhen value is demonstrated to be greater than the price being asked, price is seldom a major issue. One of the techniques that master salespeople employ is to defer price discussions until after value and the suitability of the offering has been established.
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