Risk & Business Magazine CMW Insurance Fall 2015 | Page 22

Don’t Let “Price” Derail Your Sale
Avoiding the Classic Mistake

BY: ERIC FRY, MANAGING PARTNER, SANDLER TRAINING

H

as this ever happened to you? You’ve
had a series of great discussions with
a prospect, taken lots of great notes, and
you’ve developed the proverbial “killer
presentation.” You’ve started to deliver
that presentation, and you’ve gotten
all kinds of positive signals from the
prospect: encouraging body language,
words of approval, that kind of thing.
Things seemed promising. Then you got
to the final slide, the slide everything else
was supposed to justify: the price.
And all the positive signals stopped cold.
The meeting ended without a
commitment. The prospect had to
think about it, had to talk to people, had
to check the numbers, had to do any
number of things other than say “yes” or
“no” to your pricing. And you left without
any timeline. And the deal died.

HAVE THE MONEY DISCUSSION
BEFORE YOU PRESENT
Once you have uncovered pain that
can be successfully addressed by your
product or service, you must discover the
prospect’s expectations or limitations
regarding the financial aspects—the
price, costs, terms, fees, etc.—associated
with the acquisition of your product
or service. Why would you save that
discussion for the final slide of your
presentation? Doing so only produces the
perfect opportunity for a “Let me think it
over” moment.

Not all money messages were negative.
Perhaps you were taught that “it takes
money to make money,” or “money is a
well-deserved reward for hard work.”
These messages – both positive and
negative – were most likely appropriate
in the context in which they were
conveyed. In the sales arena, however,
it’s important to understand that talking
about money—fees, price, terms, etc.— is
an integral part of selling, and that this
discussion must take place before the
presentation.

Many salespeople (perhaps you
as well) feel uncomfortable
discussing money issues
with prospects and

What happened?
You made a classic mistake.
You saved the money
discussion for last.

clients. The discomfort is most often
the result of early childhood messages,
primarily received from parents, which
suggest that it is not appropriate to talk
about money. Can you remember your
parents telling you that it is not polite to
ask someone how much money he earns
or how much something costs? Were
you taught that money was the root of all
evil?

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RISK & BUSINESS MAGAZINETM FALL 2015

If you are very comfortable
discussing money issues, you
want to make sure that you don’t
appear insensitive to your prospect’s
concerns. Conversely, if you are
uncomfortable, you must be aware of
your tonality and body language. You
don’t want to telegraph your discomfort
because it could undermine your
credibility and possibly cast doubt on the
validity of your price or fees.
Having a strategy and a prepared set of
questions can help ease this discomfort
(for you or your prospects) and make the
financial conversation a natural part
of the selling process. The most direct
strategy for uncovering a prospect’s
budget situation is simply to ask.