During the global crisis, it’s not easy for businesses to maintain their incomes and productivity. That’s why many businesses are using the discount method for saving the cashflow. Holding on a price down economy is not easy, but it is doable, and, in fact, it’s essential.
Discounting on a price is not a sales strategy. It’s an impulsive move made by the sales department that feels desperate because of the crisis.
In a tough economy, customers think and expect everything is going to be discounted because many businesses are facing hard times. Because of this, salespeople feel it necessary to oblige the customer to close the deal. Unfortunately, however, this leads to a downward spiral, much like an addiction.
Once a discount Is offered to one customer, it comes easier and easier to offer it to the next customers. Before they even know it, the discount is offered to everyone.
Because of this effect, sales will come reduced or a very reduced margin. To make things even worse, the discount ends up altering the attitude of the customer, who now believes the real value of the product or service they bought is reduced price, not the full one. Overcoming this mislabeled sales strategy or offering a discount can only be done when the salesperson is willing to change their way of thinking, despite how difficult it may be.
Follow our suggested three steps about how to hold on to a price in a global crisis.
Step one
The first step in the matter of correcting the salesperson’s mindset is to help them believe in their ability to close deals with the full price. Competent salespeople know why the customer is looking to buy and are able to capitalize on the needs the customer has disclosed.
Most of the time, when sales professionals are thinking that they need a discount, it’s usually because they don’t believe in a solid reason why the customer should buy from them. They have failed to ask the right questions for getting the customer talking and then avoided the critical skill of following up. When the salesperson is not giving enough space for the customer to speak, their presentation may not include the bullet points what the customer is looking for.
The ideal situation is when the salesperson has taken the time to investigate the customer's field and way of working. This helps to ask the right questions and then listen to the responses and adapt to the view of a customer.
Step two
The second step for holding to your price is to avoid the situation of giving a discount. To avoid it keep the message on the immediate return-on-investment. The customer needs to receive it when making a purchase.
Keep in mind that businesses don’t buy anything, they only invest in things. Every purchase made by a business is seen as an investment in helping them achieve their own goals.
For this reason, the message mentioned above should contain personalized reasons to gain the decision to buy. This mindset is best brought out when the salesperson ties their questions into exploring how and what the customer expects to achieve immediately, as well as how they’ve measured results in other purchases they’ve made.
Step three
The last step for holding on your price is to know the right way on how to respond when the customer asks for a discount or states that the price is too high.
The sales team needs to be ready for these kinds of objections and not to be concerned or disarmed by them. The first time the customer brings up this issue, the salesperson should not even acknowledge what was said.
Often customers feel a need to ask the discount and once is asked, they’ve done what they were supposed to do.
The salesperson should only respond to the customer when they have brought the issue up for the second time, and the way they handle the issue, it’s critical. The salespeople need to ask questions that are pointed directly at the most significant need the customer has. This will serve to shift the customer’s thinking back to why they’re looking to buy, to begin with. After they respond, the salesperson should continue the dialogue with a series of follow-up questions designed to uncover even greater needs.
In conclusion
Holding on to a price during a global crisis in a down economy is truly a winning strategy because, in the end, profit margins are higher, the ability to service a customer is better, and the confidence of the salesperson is greater.
When sales professionals believe in their product or service with complete conviction, focus on the immediate ROI, and ask the questions necessary to uncover the customer’s greatest need, resorting to the mislabeled sales strategy of offering a discount will be unnecessary.
Also for saving time and effort from the salespeople, it’s important to take some tools to support the sales work. With Blitz, it’s easy to improve the sales commission calculation. Blitz will make the calculation totally automatic and in time. Save the sales team’s time for the actual sales work and let Blitz help you with commissions.