I’ve never been one who believed that a salesperson’s only success came via his or her “gift of gab”, or that to consistently win business one had to constantly turn a “no” into a “yes”. Granted, the ability to respond quickly in the face of adversity is a plus. However, there are times when sales must be convincing and must assume a more proactive role. Times when sales must defend price against customers who try to use them as unpaid consultants, or better put, as sources to lower existing supplier bids. There are some B2B sales statements that your sales team can use to redefine existing customer relationships, ones that just don’t seem to bear any fruit. It's about defending your price and refusing to allow your customers to use your company as a source to lower costs.
Rookie Salespeople Rule
In my post, B2B Sales Success: Be A Rookie Again - Simple Questions to Win Business , I outlined several simple questions that could be used to uncover a customer’s purchase criteria, questions that are typically asked by rookie salespeople or salespeople that are new to a given industry. Surprisingly, a number of salespeople achieve success simply because they ask the kinds of straightforward questions that lead to winning business.
Rookie salespeople ask these questions, but for whatever reason, more experienced ones must remind themselves of the importance of these questions. As we become more aware of the industry and market we sell into, we tend to allow our assumptions take over. We assume what the customer wants, instead of asking them what they need.
Rookie salespeople aren’t inhibited by the fear of being right or wrong. They aren’t concerned with how they’ll be perceived. Rookie salespeople know they have limited knowledge and they know the customer knows that. In essence, they are less concerned about perception, less concerned about making a mistake and more focused with uncovering what’s needed to secure an order. It’s exactly this approach that must be taken with customers who continually shop your price to lower their costs. You must redefine the relationship and use some simple and straightforward statements that define your position and the importance of your hard work. Don’t ever become a pricing source. So, what are some of the B2B sales statements that you can use to defend price?
To learn more about defending your position as the incumbent supplier against competitors, please read: Stop Losing Business to Overseas Competitors: Define Your Customer’s True Purchasing Costs
- Statement #1: “I understand that you need vendors who can help reduce your costs. However, it just seems like we continue to do our competitor’s homework for them. We continue to come to the table with aggressive pricing, and cost cutting solutions, only to lose business to a competitor that isn’t as aggressive as we are. Doesn’t that alone speak to how much we can do for your company?”
- Statement #2: “We always come to the table with below market pricing. It’s a testament to how much we want to become a vendor of yours. However, no matter what we offer, or how we offer it, we continue to lose out on bids. What does our company need to do in order to finally move forward with an order?”
- Statement #3: “We know from existing business within this market that our pricing and product offering are aggressive. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to move forward with your enterprise. Is there any particular reason why that is?”
- Statement #4: “Please understand, if we had your business, we wouldn’t need the threat of losing to competitors in order to offer you the best pricing – we’d offer it simply because your business warranted it.”
- Statement #5: “We know our price is aggressive. We know our product offering is solid. We just need to understand why your company is unable to move forward with an order? Are there political issues and internal criteria within your company that dictate who wins on bids, and if so, can you explain what we need to do to finally move forward?”
Why Should You Defend Price?
Now, there are many salespeople who are extremely uncomfortable with directly challenging a customer, and for good reason. It’s not easy to move forward with these aforementioned questions and statements. However, think of what it takes to give a customer a good price. Think of how salespeople need support from management, coworkers and other team members. Think of what goes into providing a customer with an aggressive and extremely competitive bid. That support isn’t indefinite. At some point in time, your support structure will tell you to abandon pursuit with this customer. So, isn’t it better to discuss how this might happen with your customer first, before no longer being able to provide good prices? Absolutely!
Here is one final statement to use
- Statement #6: “As you know, we’ve been coming to the table with aggressive pricing. That happens because my team and management give me the go-ahead and tools to make it work. However, if we aren’t able to secure an order, then at some point I won’t have that support, and I’ll only be able to give you our list price. I don’t want that to happen, so what can we do together to move forward?”
These are but a few statements that your sales team can use to defend price against the dreaded price shoppers, those customers who continually use your company to lower costs without actually ever placing an order. Price shopping is a reality. Companies do it all the time. Sometimes it’s obvious. Sometimes it’s more discreet. The intention isn’t to imply that you should immediately sever the relationship if your sales team is unable to secure an order. Instead, it’s to understand why some customers continually come back to your company to get your competitors to lower their prices.
To read about using the pre-sell or trial-close sales technique, please read: Protecting Your Price Against the Price Shoppers
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