“I lost the business because of price” is an easy out for salespeople because blame is placed on the company. Maybe the reason the deal was lost was due to poor selling skills.
Did you lose to price or did you lose because you shouldn’t have been meeting with the prospect in the first place? If you sell on value, there is no way that the transactional, price driven prospect is going to do business with you. It’s like trying to convince a Walmart shopper to start buying at Nordstrom’s—not going to happen. It was easier to set an appointment, check the sales activity box than to keep prospecting for the right client fit.
Did you lose to price or did you lose because you weren’t able to present a solid business case to the buyer? Part of presenting a business case to the buyer is facilitating a sales conversation that uncovers the cost of current challenges as well as future costs if the buyer does nothing. If you don’t know the answers to the prospect’s financial and strategic “pain,” there is a good chance the meeting wasn’t that compelling. You probably looked and sounded just like your competition and as a result, the buyer defaulted to buying on price or doing nothing.
Did you lose to price or were you simply not talking to the holder of the checkbook and owner of the budget? Or did you settle for the stall, “my boss told me to gather the information and present it to her.” Look over your last two year’s worth of proposals and see how many of those scenario’s resulted in commission checks or return on investment.
Hold the mirror up and ask the questions above. Then determine if you lost on price or selling skills.
Good Selling
Colleen Stanley
Chief Sales Officer
