TheCommissionAssassion

Account Executive

How to handle “cut to the chase” type of people?

I’m an AE, not an account manager. So I usually deal with new clients.

I got assigned a lead that is looking to upgrade, but when I join the call to do some basic discovery and maybe a demo the VP cut me off.

She said “let’s just get the price, no need for anything else.”

How do you deal with these folks?

I’m obsessed with getting better, and was just trying to apply a sales methodology but she wasn’t having it.

Any insights would be awesome.

🧠 Advice

🎯 Career Development

💼 Office Life

37 comments

Sort by:

Red5

Praised Answer

Head of sales

At that point, the appearance of a process will only irritate. Best strat I have is to get very direct as well. If you still want to get value on the table first then, for instance, ask the question: ‘sounds like you know exactly the part of this that you want - what’s the key thing you’re looking for and then I’ll let you know the specific price’ - at least get them to state what they see as the value. Then you can react to that with either the price, or with setting the stage that they only see part of the value. Either way, probably best to get to the price quite quickly from there

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

^^this. Validate that what she thinks she is looking for is really what she's looking for.

But yeah, cut the demo. If she doesn't want it, she doesn't want it.

ChumpChange

Politicker

Channel Manager

Great feedback! Especially, since it reinforces the value of your product. I'm sure the people asking for the price are being defensive because some vendors have absolutely batshit numbers of what they're trying to sell. That buyer probably knows already what the approved budget would be to buy a new solution. Anything above that price point is going to be an exponential amount of work and time. Those two things are deal killers more often than you think. These types of buyers would instead prefer not to get into the deal specifics if the numbers are already not making sense. For example, I meet a customer who openly admitted that another vendor was starting at 7X our negotiated price. They ended the pitch meeting right then and there.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

I would look up DiSC profiles and selling to D's.

It all about working with people who are very direct. You can't just show a price without any value, but you can cut out a lot of the fluff in a disco.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

IF she is a D, then give her the D back.

TheCommissionAssassion

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Thanks 🙏🏼

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Ask "Is price your ONLY consideration for everything, not just this?"

I get her cause I'm very similar. I generally do my research prior to engaging and just need to pricing to finalize my priorities.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

True ask questions to know her familiarity with the offering, if she knows more than what you would tell her in a disco, might need to do some pricing in the disco

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

I am just scared, what if they get offended with this question and the conversation spirals ? 👀

EscoChico

Catalyst

Sales Representative

You can't lose what you don't have .

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

I would tell them the price.

then I would ask them how they feel about that price.

then if they say its ok, offer to send a contract right away. if they think its too high, then ask if you can ask a few questions and if they want to better understand the product.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Keep asking questions to show her why the price matters. No extra fluff.

BourbonKing

Valued Contributor

VP of Sales

I don't know what you sell, but if possible: give a broad range. Say, "Between $5,000-15,000 depending on how it's configured. After a better discussion about what you're trying to solve and what you're looking for, I'll be able to give you more precise numbers, but I'm confident it will be within that range. Is that what you had in mind?"

SaaSguy

Tycoon

Account Executive

Cut to the chase

DPRM

Politicker

Ms Sales :)

Yes, for my this work too

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Was a demo important as it was an upgrade so I assume they already know the product ?

StalledDeal

Contributor

Enterprise Account Executive

Provide the (List) price, ideally refer to website. Add comment that this is list price and once you understand the use case and business you can “right price” by aligning to exactly what they need.

StalledDeal

Contributor

Enterprise Account Executive

Reasoning behind it is; don’t put too much time in it, let them know if they want a fast
Price they can get it e.g. look at website, but if they are seriously interested you can help them but need time with them to understand what they exactly need.

White

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

I guess some flinch test style transparency might help, but also explain why it's not a good idea to discuss the pricing right away.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Cut to the chase

Fenderbaum

Politicker

Retired Choirboy🪕

Just give her what she wants and move on. 😎👍

heatmiser

Good Citizen

Key Account Manager

This is always a difficult situation as you don’t really know the intent. Are they looking to see if the can afford it as they may not really know what the market demands in price? Are they trying to compare your product to a competitor and don’t have all the information? Are they trying to budget or plan?

Something sales reps will often forget. The sales process is owned and controlled by the customer not us. How much time is spent evaluating products. How much money is spent. How long the process takes and how much evaluation is given. And finally when the decision is made and what the decision is all are decided by the customer. Our job is to educate, lead and help form those decisions better in our favor. There is no set process even if we try to assign one. This customer will prove that.

So what I would do is to provide what she is looking for in the price. She has chosen to go down that path quickly. Holding her back for my interests shows I am trying to take the control away from her and do not share in her interests in her mind. Not good when you are trying win someone’s favor and business. But I also would seek to understand what that means in terms of decisions, timeframes and again clarify how our she sees our product helping her. I probably would also ask if she had evaluated any other products. What considerations would she be giving in making her decision. Would she allow for continued evaluation and highlights of some other benefits of our product. Lots of clarifying questions to understand the situation and moving towards refocusing on how we best align to her needs/wants providing the best benefits.

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

I’m in the Midwest- and around here I deal with this by saying upfront “I’m a meat and potatoes kinda gal, I’m gonna go fast and cover only the pertinent info. If you want a deep dive on ANYTHING I touch on, let me know”

And proceed with a pretty-much full demo that they feel is abbreviated for their sake. Works like a charm.

Mobi85

Politicker

Regional Sales Manager

One that I was told many moons ago is:

If someone asks you the time, don't build them a watch. Tell them the time and then move into the next portion of the conversation.

How I could relate that back is what everyone else has said. Tell them the price and then restart the conversation with that out of the way and do your discovery with them with the understanding they have an idea of what the costs may be and now it is time to find out how your solution can solve their problems.

ade

Contributor

AE (Account Executive)

I usually say something to the effect of “I need a little more information first bec pricing varies, but if you absolutely love our product, I’m confident we can find a way to wotk within your current budget”.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

and what do you usually hear back?@ade

ade

Contributor

AE (Account Executive)

Almost always they say okay and let me continue with discovery.

VFG

Good Citizen

SDR

In my experience, a customer who is unwilling to discuss their problem with you is a wild goose chase waiting to happen… typically resulting in closed lost or an early churn / clawback. You’re being treated as a commodity, and the market for commodity always goes to the lowest cost producer.

On the other hand, dysfunctional buying practices have arisen to combat dysfunctional selling practices. The way to combat this long term is to differentiate yourself from other sellers, who in many ways have earned the skepticism of their prospects. Two book recommendations I would make:

- Let’s Get Real or Let’s Not Play: Mahan Khalsa
- The Speed of Trust: Stephen Covey

activity

Politicker

VP, Business Development

Sometimes a deal just won't work. Cut your losses and move onto the next one. You can always circle back at a later date, sometimes all people need is time and a better situation. You never know exactly what is going on behind the scenes.

IntrovertedSelling

Personal Narrative

Self Employed Sales & Marketing Coaching

I tell them I'm never the lowest price, nor do I want to be. But I'll give it to you. 'The price to (outcomes 1 2- 3... squeeze three outcomes in before you give the price so you have had at least some chance to insert value or differentiation... and show your bloody confident in what you do for people)... So, the price for me to help you establish value quickly, show you're not out of touch and move new prospects through the pipeline quicker than usual... is X$ over Y time.' HeHe. Sometimes it's good to match people when they're being tough.

WhoDey

Opinionated

VP of Sales

If it's a product that has a set price (isn't configurable or doesn't have options), give her the price. If it is

configurable, ask her how she wants it priced. If there are options, ask her which option she wants (since she likely doesn't know what options are available, it will get your discovery back on track).

UncleBob

Executive

Client Growth Manager

Have you established "value" yet? If not, no point in giving a price as it will always be "too expensive"!

amc

Personal Narrative

lhliyf

I echo most of the advice here - cut to the chase. If you don't already, I would recommend following Josh Braun on any social platform you can find him on (he is hugely active on LinkedIn). His philosophy relates to the "ZOR' or Zone of Resistance'. You want to avoid you prospect getting there at all costs, and one of his main points of advice is respect where they are at in the sales process. This is not a new client - They are already sold on the platform and now it is just a pricing decision on whether or not they want MORE, not if they want to buy in. Respect where they are at in the buying process and give them what they want.

displayguy

Trusted Advisor

You can cut to the chase but before you do, you will want to confirm their need and ask if after-sale service is important. I compete against a lot of offshore products that offer no service and price is their only feature. Who are you going to call if something goes wrong?

TheEnglishMajor

Opinionated

Account Executive

Give and get. Cut to the chase, give them what they want. Once you've done that, you have earned the right to ask for something next before providing them with more. Tell them price at a high level, if they want details, you can start asking more questions about scope and such.

Example: they're asking price. You tell them. They say you're more expensive than competitior.

You can come back with yeah but it's more but we also provide different services such as XYZ. so tell me, how important are those things for you?

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Sure I can get to the price. How much did you want to pay?

Yeah I can definitely do that. Curious, how long have you been selling? VP sales is a sweet achievement.

I can get to the price just as soon as I actually know what you need and wether we can actually provide it for you.

I am happy to discuss price. Can you discuss your budget?

I don’t quote and go. If you need to know how much, well, I don’t know anyone that knows us to be cheap. Is price really all that matters to you? This solution on average aids in an ROI of xxxxx. No way that happens with the Walmart crowd.

There’s literally so many ways to answer. Really just depends on my mood at that immediate moment.

lawb402

Senior Strategic Enterprise Account Executive

Tell them the price and say here’s why that’s the cost.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.