Gyro25

Account Executive

Notorious Answer

Acclaimed Answer

I messed up(Closed/Won deal overview)

Got assigned an account that I could have upsold and blown past my quota, but instead, my director asked me to quote them a 1/3rd of what I possibly could have charged them.

They agreed to sign and are super happy with the service and experience, but I'm kicking myself for not anchoring at a higher price. I essentially discounted by over half to "Maintain the relationship" for a one-off client.

Is there scope for renewal/subscription or referral down the line? Possibly, but I can't help but feel I fucked up or made a mistake here.

Hindsight is 20/20 so I'm looking at this signed order form that could have been substantially higher and secured my quota for the quarter, but massively undersold instead. Rookie mistake I guess for my first self sourced upsell/close deal.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what were your reasons for doing so?

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👓 Deal Reviews

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

7

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

What could have been done differently would have been to ask the director why the discount was offered, and at that level. And then challenge the response with "I believe we can get more, and the customer will still get value and be satisfied with x offer".

I bet you do that in the future, but it's really hard to ask "why are we doing this?" when a manager or director is telling you. As sales people themselves, they should appreciate a willingness to get more when possible (and within reason, of course).

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

2

Account Executive

Good point. Everyone's trying to close things out before the holidays and I think that may have been a part of it.

Likely it was due to the fact that it's a big logo and a rather large foundation. Which would have been my point as to why we could have charged more.

I had to wrangle with my director just to even get approval to charge the client, which I frankly find absurd since I'm trying to bring in more revenue and blow past my quota.

The client obviously had no qualms based on the heavy discount that was offered and basically signed for the upcharge the day of. I think I could have done a much better job of slowing down and talking to my director and saying we're leaving massive $ on the table based on the client portfolio and scheduled events roster, but he didn't seem to particularly care.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This doesn't sound like something you were going to win. You did ask to charge at least something, and had to fight to even get that. Honestly, you did all you could do in this situation. The money left on the table was out of your control.

Wellss

Tycoon

3

Channel sales

Ahh I feel ya! I agree maintaining the relationship is important, but you do have to weigh out the pros and cons of it. I have done this in the past, but only if there's going to be some form of ROI on the discount. For example, if they agree to purchase more or agree to make x amount of referrals in the next year

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

2

Account Executive

Exactly. I was in Partnerships/Channel sales before and explicitly mentioned it as a "good faith" sort of discount based on their future needs and keeping us in mind. After their use, I'll be following up with them on that for Q1.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

Sales Rep

Was their current discount pretty massive? Thats sometimes the tricky part with current clients

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

2

Account Executive

Yup, there was, of which I wasn't a part. I did what I did based on the information I had to close the deal and upsell, but knowing what I know now, left a ton on the table.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

You learn everywhere so take it at a lesson - I am sure you would get more deals that will help you achieve your quota.

Just out of curiosity - any reason why your director asked to reduce it so much — did he have any conversation with the prospect where commercials was discussed or it was random?

jefe

Arsonist

2

🍁

Never been there, but I feel you.

@Sunbunny31offered some wise words.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

1

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Oh man! I guess it's a lesson that we all have to overcome. What was the potential payout for you vs what you got?

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

2

Account Executive

15% on all renewals/upsells. Looking back, my Director wanted to maintain the relationship and not rock the boat, but I felt like I left so much on the table.

I plan to ask for a referral from the client and hope there's some scope for renewals, upsell, or referrals based on their positive experience and heavy discount.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Your director had to have a reason...other than to just rush and get a deal signed. Right? 👀🤔

Arzola

Valued Contributor

1

Business administration

Totally understandable, there is actually a psychological term for that, I recommend you look up it, it's called if I remember correctly, the winner's paradox, basically it's when something goes well you have the feeling that it didn't go as well as it could.
Now, I recommend that more than hammering your head, ask your boss the reason for that decision, perhaps he has some information that you do not know and that would make you understand the reason for the discount.
If the answer does not seem somewhat logical to you, ask what you would have done to obtain his answer and in the end, for better or for worse, you closed the deal and it is a victory, rejoice and you learn from victories and defeats the same.

activity

Politicker

1

VP, Business Development

I would have pushed back on the director. Leadership is there to assist in the sales process but a lot of times they do not have the full picture. Selling your ideas within your own org is an underrated skill. You will have more of these opps in the future and I would keep in mind that managers like to be challenged in these circumstances where a rep feels they can drive more revenue.

WhoDey

Opinionated

1

VP of Sales

I would never ask one of my sellers to lower the price. That's absurd.

TennisandSales

Politicker

0

Head Of Sales

ughhh i hate this. normally managers are PUMPED to not discount. why did they think giving a massive discount would "maintain the relationship"?

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

0

Rolling 20's all day

From a very basic standpoint it makes me feel that your director doesn't believe strongly in your packaging or pricing.
It should still feel like a win-win when you get the deal done, but this might indicate your pricing isn't anchored to data.

Mendizo

Opinionated

0

Sr. Director

Great comments so far, and it's a tough spot indeed. I definitely agree with folks articulating that you should politely challenge the Director. Even if, as you mention, they have a huge discount today, your solution should over time be providing more value, which gives you the right in a fair exchange of value, to charge more.

The fact that the customer was super happy is a signal that they would've paid more, frankly.

To make this actionable, here's maybe a couple of thoughts on how you might approach this (I'm a second line Sr. Director and while I wouldn't put my sellers in this position in the first place, here's my thoughts on how I'd want them to approach me):

-Start with a good foundation on the ROI the customer will achieve. I don't know what you sell, so I'll use my business and my customers from my most recent company. I know for certainty that for every 10 people my software helps the customer to not have to hire, it's about $500k in OpEx saved at least. We estimate that we can help them save the labor of at least 150 people, so $7.5M of cost avoidance.

-If we are saving them $7.5M, that is a large area for us to maneuver in for deal size. We can sell for list price at $1M and still have a 7.5x ROI to point to, without even counting other soft benefits. Your numbers will vary of course, but the point is to ground in the ROI.

-In your case, the customer might have a large discount today (and I can only guess what that is), and personally my goal would be to not bring that up at all and instead focus on the ROI number. "Look, we are, year after year, advancing our solution to get you more ROI. This year, we project X ROI, which is market-leading. This for you is an investment of Y, which gives you a big ROI."

-This same conversation should go with your Director. Something along the lines of "I absolutely agree with you that this is a valued customer and that we want to keep them. With their history with us, we also know that they appreciate our solution and that they understand the value (because I as an AE have done my work). My fear here is that if we are not capturing the right level of value in turn from them, that will in the end dilute the value they perceive of us. Cheap is very often not good in the long run, and sets us up for a bad habit with the customer. Additionally, I'm sure at some point above both of us, they're looking at the margins (which any sane company will scrutinize), and we have room to maneuver here which will still give the customer the value they need, with a deal size that is meaningful for our team, keeping the margin at a healthy place and make you look good."

Obviously, I'm heavily role-playing here and you know your org the best, but these are the arguments I'd ground on. At the end of the day, your Director might still overrule you, but any competent sales leader will at least appreciate this kind of input as it demonstrates the commitment you have to both your company and the customer, and yourself as well. If you get put down, then your sales leadership may not be one you want to stick around for.

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