Discussing Sales Pricing Early

Happy Friday Sales Hackers!

Cheers- You’ve made it through another week! I’ve put together some of the highlights from our LinkedIn Community this week. We round up the best content that we can for the blog, but we’ve realized there are so many good discussions going on in our community that we don’t want overlooked!

Please let me know if you have any feedback, or have something to contribute to next weeks Community Round Up. I look forward to hearing from you! Enjoy the weekend… you earned it!

Best,

Jessie Barnes

This Week’s Question:

Jake ReniDiscussing sales pricing early… What are your thoughts on the topic?

Best Responses from our Sales Hacker LinkedIn Community:

Scott WardWhy would you drive a cycle with someone if you don’t have an idea if you are in the same ballpark . While BANT is a little dated I would say its at least a good idea to know if they are in the realm of affordability. Saves time from unqualified prospect. I read an article that said top producing sales people on average spend 2 more hours a day selling than average reps and they are also ruthless where they spend and prioritize their time. My 2C

Derek NeulandI believe pricing should come up either when the customer asks while in the sales cycle, or when you are going to trial. That way you can qualify them before you get too far into the sales cycle.

Brandon RedlingerPricing often comes up early in sales conversations, so I think you definitely need to prepare for it. However, it’s often dangerous. Many people jump too quickly to price without fully understanding the product or knowing the real value for them.

My favorite approach answering that question is “it depends.” And it does. Essentially, you say “we have a few different pricing options, but it really depends on what you’re looking for. Can you tell me more about your needs? I want to make sure you get the right product/service, and make sure we’re even the best fit for you.” People generally appreciate custom solutions rather than one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter solutions.

Of course, you’ll inevitably run into people who just keep asking and asking for price without giving you any other details about their needs. Ideally, you would have done your research before jumping on the call, so you have a good idea of where they fit, and you can give them a ballpark. Then quickly dive deeper into needs development, etc.

Dara Joelle de la TorreThere is always a time and place for the pricing discussion and this differs from prospect to prospect.

In my experience as an AE…

For prospects that like to know off the bat, they tend to cut to the chase and ask the question about price then and there. I typically don’t bring up the pricing discussion voluntarily until I feel I’ve 1) learned their needs and 2) built value around how I can help them address those needs.

In thinking about the meetings I’ve had lately, pricing discussions have happened in various situations:

* at the end of an awesome discovery call

* after a demonstration

* when we’ve discussed some technical requirements that may include additional costs

Before I was an AE, I was an LDR. In this role, I would ask the budget question if I got the impression the prospect may be price sensitive. This way, I could give my AE a heads up that pricing may be an obstacle to deal with later. I would still let my AE handle all things related to pricing. We found that in some instances, the need for our product helped loosen their company’s purse strings a little, giving them enough budget to buy. That would’ve been a deal we missed out on if we disqualified them too early.

Jeremiah BoehnerIt depends on what you’re selling but you should not be afraid to tell the price. I certainly don’t want my BDR’s giving prices to customers because we’re ad network and price’s customers pay are based upon a variety of factors, but they do have some standard responses.

However if you’re selling a service or flat price product don’t be afraid to tell them the price right away. Why waist 2hrs of your time telling a customer all about something raising their buying temp to find out at the end that it’s out of their budget. I always try to find out if a customer has a budget the first 5 minutes of a call if they don’t I try to end the call as quickly as possible.

Shaun Ricci: I personally like to talk price early on only if I am pushed on it. My preference would be to build value of course, but if someone presses me on price I don’t want to dodge their question. When I am a buyer, I often have a good idea of value before I talk to a rep so when a BDR tells me “I don’t have enough information to give you a price” when their price is likely a flat per seat charge it just frustrates me.

Loren Padelford: The job of sales is not to get to a yes, but to uncover the no as quickly as possible. Price drives a lot of no’s. I agree with Mark and many others, bring price up early and get over it. Better than wasting a lot of time in discovery only to find out that the prospects budget is below what you can sell for. For us, price comes up in the first conversation.

Jessie is a former Content Marketing Manager at Sales Hacker. She previously worked in Sales and as a Hospitality Consultant. Currently, she’s Associate Editor and Social Media at The Everymom.

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