sketchysales

Sales Manager

How do you handle this situation?

Scenario - prospect sends you details for quoting, you go back with a proposal with your standard margins etc.

Prospect responds to proposal - thanks but your prices are a lot higher than another quote we have had, these are the prices we have had, can you meet them?

I appreciate there are a ton of variables in this scenario and the size of the deal may determine your approach but I would be keen to know how you other sales savages approach this situation.

The first thing for me is, the prospect is coming back to me and giving me a second chance to quote, why? This tells me there must be something better about my proposal. How do I find this out without scaring off the prospect?

I by principle NEVER drop my prices without a change in service level. If its a small deal (sub £10k) I will typically say sorry but these are the prices take it or leave it. If its a larger deal and im keen to win it, I will "relook" at the prices but will remove areas of service or cut things out to justify the lower price.

How do you handle this situation? How do you find out why they are giving you a second chance?

As a salesperson I constantly try to put myself in the buyers shoes and I know that if someone quoted me double with the same level of service, quality etc (yes it does happen), I wouldn't even entertain that company with another email. The fact someone comes back with a second opportunity tells me they are not getting an "apples for apples" quote. Am I right to assume this?

Keen to know how you guys and gals approach this situation.

🔎 Prospecting

👑 Sales Strategy

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14 comments

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drtendo

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Great question. I work in a publicly traded software org so there is a lot of margin to play with and discounting is expected + our quarterly numbers end up being reported and scrutinised as our shareholders are ruthless - so I'm not sure this will apply super well.

Something along the lines of "the price is the price, however there are things that are valuable to us an an organisation that if you can share, we may be able to invest in this for you which is tantamount to a discount" i.e. if they can commit to certain timeframes that suit you, being a customer reference (or anything else beside quota retirement that you need) then you can "ask the business for investment"

Another question I would ask is "we don't get told that we're expensive a lot - what makes you say that?" because maybe they just haven't attached enough ROI to your proposition - which is something you can actively address.

sketchysales

Politicker

0

Sales Manager

Some great tips in there thanks drendo. Specially like the idea of them committing to a customer reference or something along those lines as a tradeoff for a "investment", thats really cool.

sketchysales

Politicker

0

Sales Manager

my colleagues also think these are great ideas, thanks 😎😎

drtendo

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

you're very welcome! 😊

CaneWolf

Politicker

1

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Did you meet with the prospect before sending over the details? How much discovery did you do? Or was this more of a blind toss back and forth?

sketchysales

Politicker

0

Sales Manager

The situation that prompted the question was actually a small enquiry that my colleague was working on. We don't meet smaller clients so not a lot of discovery had taken place. The question though is applicable even after a meeting though where you have given your pitch but the prospect is using someone else's price to try bring yours down. I guess another way to look at it is do you just stick to your guns? I guess this is industry specific also as it may be easier to stick to your guns if you have very little direct competition compared to a saturated market. What are your thoughts

CaneWolf

Politicker

1

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

I'd see if they'll share the quote with you. Prospects will do that a lot. Then you can see what the comparison is for yourself.

SheCloser

Valued Contributor

0

Staring down at you from the top of the stack rankings

Agreed with CaneWolf, I usually ask for a copy and say listen, this is the best I can do at my level; however, if you share the quote I’ll get it over to my pricing team and we’ll review to ensure it’s apples to apples. If it is, we’ll do our best to meet or beat the pricing. I tell them we never lose on price, I just need details of what is out in the market.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

What was the outcome?

sketchysales

Politicker

1

Sales Manager

I actually don't know because I got a new job before the deal closed😄

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Good for you honey!

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

1

MDR

I'd see if they'll share the quote with you. Prospects will do that a lot. Then you can see what the comparison is for yourself.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

1

ISR

I actually don't know because I got a new job before the deal closed

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

0

ISR

Did you meet with the prospect before sending over the details? How much discovery did you do? Or was this more of a blind toss back and forth?

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