How strict is your company on pricing?

Interested to understand how flexible people are used to being around pricing.


Interesting also if it varies from SMB to Enterprise?


Are bigger companies stricter in your experience?

How strict is your company

Attached poll
*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.
👑 Sales Strategy
19
softwarebro
Politicker
5
Sales Director
Market share is important to us. We play to win. 
JuicyKlay
Celebrated Contributor
0
AM
That’s how it should be! I’ve only worked for one company with that MO and I miss it. 
HarryCaray
Notable Contributor
3
HMFIC
discounts need approvals, but I don't think I've ever seen a request get denied.  We have margin parameters we're supposed to stay in so as long as we do that it'll get approved.
beerisforclosers
Politicker
2
Account Manager
I work at a large company. We make jokes about how we have never once sold anything at list price, and our customers know to disregard it entirely.

Shoot from the hip!
Molokomjolk
Politicker
2
Sales Director
Reps can give up to 10% if they want. 10-20% needs managers approval. Over 20% needs approval from the VP. Works really well.
JuicyKlay
Celebrated Contributor
0
AM
That makes so much sense. 
Smithy
Politicker
1
Director of Sales
I always like to have discounting parameters in my teams, but anything over an agreed level needs to be approved and have a pretty good justification.
sales7
Politicker
1
Commercial Product Enablement
Interesting, is it a set process, are people blocked at all from offering higher discounts?
Smithy
Politicker
1
Director of Sales
Yes, it normally is a set process, whether that be a set percentage or an actual sales figure.

for e.g. the team can give a 10% discount, but anything higher must be signed off and explained. 

We go back at the end of every quarter and review the number of deals done with discounts, average discount given, reasons for the discount and who does the most discounted deals in the team. We also look at deals lost due to price. We then look at training needs or pricing strategies depending on the data we can pull from the result. 

hope that helps?
rekled
Opinionated
1
Strategic Account Executive
I'm curious to know how involved the Sales team / mid-managers are involved in setting the list price for your organization. Often times, I see executives making the decisions but completely unfamiliar with the actual sales process / transactions.  
Blackwargreymon
Politicker
1
MDR
Can discount to a certain extent but need approvals
Clashingsoulsspell
Politicker
1
ISR
If you have a lot of content and want a central repository and want to manage what teams are using then it’s a great option.  
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
We have a percentage we can deduct, but will need to be routed for approval. 
ARRisLife
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Great topic; curious to see the responses.  We have a decent amount of flexibility, but there's deal grading so the more discount the less you get paid, alternatively there's little kicks for an 'A' deal.  Given the complexity of who we compete with we have specific named competitors that open a different threshold.
sales7
Politicker
0
Commercial Product Enablement
This sounds interesting, I suppose it pays to keep the price high!
NorthernSalesGuru
Politicker
0
Manager, Outbound Sales
Lots of flexibility but there are rules in place to guide and govern this....

Ultimately it still goes through an approval process but more often than not so long as you follow guidelines they’ll approve
Filth
Politicker
0
Live Filthy or Die Clean
The joke at my last job was, "In-Book pricing? But I can't even read!"
Soiboi
Politicker
0
Account Executive, EIAS/Compliance
I can get as low as I want which is nice but hardly ever have to use any discounts at all outside of VARs
Savagedoge
Tycoon
0
Account Executive
I have freedom to use my best judgement, but there’s a red line for sure. I’m not giving out discounts in 90% deals anyway
TheLoneGun
Opinionated
0
Extremely Rad Product Offloading Specialist
We are trying to gain market share, so I can freely discount up to 15% give or take, I rarely discount anything though.  Most companies that are sales-centric have some sort of pre-defined discount parameters. 

The largest, and most corporate places I've worked required lots of managerial overrides for any sort of discount, obviously this is a waste of everyone's time. Personally just a set amount that a salesperson can have in their back pocket for a rainy day makes life easier.
TargetSmasher
Praised Answer
0
Business Development Lead
I’m the only BDM and I operate across both consultancy and SaaS business. Consultancy I spec out according to engineer time and margins needed, SaaS I know what the margin is so I tend to add value around existing price rather than straight up discount on the annual.
exec
Acclaimed Answer
0
Account Executive
it's funny, during the 3 years I've been with the same startup I've watched as price has become less and less firm. we used to never discount and have prospects walk away which of course made my blood boil 

we then shifted to more of a "wild west" type approval process where sometimes management would give the thumbs up, other times thumbs down. I'd part ways with a prospect over a few dollars per user and a few weeks later someone else would book at the lower price I needed. 

nowadays we have a pricing matrix to standardize discounts, but of course nothing's set in stone. typically there's some pushback when getting a cheaper price approved but when all is said and done we're not letting prospects walk as much as we used to 
CaneWolf
Politicker
0
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
In services. We minimally discount our rates. The max variance is $30 an hour.

On the software side, 30-90% (seriously) was pretty standard at my stops. To be fair, two of the companies basically made up pricing.
CastleIsland
Tycoon
0
Associate Account Director
I've never lost an "internal negotiation" with management over price. I've also never asked for anything ridiculous. (more than 40% discount)
courtchella
Praised Answer
0
SDR Manager
Give some, get some.  I will give a discount if you agree to do a case study/be a reference. If a discount is required to win, make sure you're in an apples-to-apples comparison with the competition.  Showing ROI is a given to justifying value.
Scannon
Good Citizen
0
Sr. AE
Since Covid, we don't need the approval to hit the bottom line price but it also is a weak move to drop that low. 
WenWest15
Valued Contributor
0
Principal Business Development Manager
I can discount and make those decisions without permission. Trusted to make the right decision for long term, bulk order clients
SaSSySales
Executive
0
Account Executive- Mid Market
We go off of volume based selling- so it's important to start out with a high price point because if the customer's volume takes off there's not a lot of room to leverage with incentives. 
salesninja
Opinionated
0
VP
in my space, we build websites, mobile apps, etc
if it's something new, then it's always list price
on the other hand, if it's a SaaS platform that we've already built, we'll go wild west as to not lose the sale
GeckobrandsSalesGuy
0
Regional Sales Manager
Depends. We offer free shipping and fixtures so don’t really offer discounts. Just because those two are a great discount as it is. 

HOWEVER I created a referral program for 10% off. If they refer another business that places order, I give them 10% off their next order. With 1 new customer I’ll make 10x than the what the 10% will cost me. 
AnchorPoint
Politicker
0
Business Coach
Not a price list... focus is on margins and risk.
GetAHobby
Arsonist
0
RVP Sales
I love how List Price as 0%...we've all built a culture that nobody will buy if they actually think they are paying list price. 60% discount is almost a norm
IzzyWinning
Tycoon
0
Enterprise Account Executive
I've worked for a couple of very large companies that were diametrically opposed to one another. One didn't do any discretional discounting whatsoever - price breaks were dependent on contract length and license count and that's it. I was forced to straight up walk away from a number of really awesome deals because of this policy and because of procurement hard-asses. The other company - a colleague gave a 90% discount to one of his prospects in my first week on the job. Generally, however, I'd say the smaller the company, the more likely there's flexibility. 
sales101
WR Officer
0
Head of Channel & Alliances
Unfortunately we’re only list price- with the exception being 20% for an annual contract (which is pretty standard).
The VPs believe discounting devalues the product but it’s very hard as reps when you’re coming up against competitors who are willing to discount 30-50%.
If we are reallt struggling to get a big name on board I’ve seen management agree to throw in free functions but that’s about it. Honestly makes things really hard...
AboutThatSalesLife
Praised Answer
0
Director of Sales
Up to a certain margin you’re free and clear. Below a certain threshold you need Director approval. Below another threshold you need VP approval. Beyond that...you’re a crappy salesperson go find a new job. 
5

Does your company change its pricing constantly?

Question
10
6

Pricing

Advice
10