When to share rates and some form of document in a complex B2B technology consulting sale

Our normal process is to:

  1. Understand the problem
  2. Quantify the problem
  3. Write a light-weight document (call it a mini proposal) where we share the problem, why it is worth solving, our recommended (high-level) solution and our team rates.


Note that at this point it is unclear how long it would take and how big of a team is necessary to provide the solution.


We don't want to spend all the effort of scoping, defining and estimating if the timeframe to come up with a price until we have some form of commitment.


In any case, we have seen clients go cold after having shared the light weight document, in essence avoiding future meetings.


Is this the right time to share rates or this kind of information?

What have you found work well here?

๐Ÿ‘‘ Sales Strategy
โ˜๏ธ Software Tech
8
Abika
Executive
2
Head of Sales
Personally, I do not share rates via email before having a meeting about it.

My process:

Understand the problems

Identify the top 3 existing problems and quantify them.

Deepdive in those problems and gather more financial intel about these.

Write a lightweight resume where we share the problem, why it is worth solving, and our recommended solution with a CTA for a meeting if this wasn't booked yet during step 3.

During this meeting, we'll dive deeper into the numbers and try to include relevant 'similar' implementations or cases.

Summary via email with numbers, ballparks, ...

HVACexpert
Politicker
1
sales engineer
So team rates in the from of a $/hour? So basically youโ€™re sending a budget out before you can define your scope and nail down pricing?

This fine if that is what they are asking for. Otherwise youโ€™re just sharing your rates that they can take elsewhere.

Also you ask for commitment before sending a real price? Commitment in the form of what? It is hard to commit without an accurate scope and price.
braintank
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
Share rates early to make sure they're serious and have budget. Or else you're wasting everyone's time.
jefe
Arsonist
1
๐Ÿ
I used to do this on discovery as what I was selling had inexpensive alternatives that didn't do anything close to what we did, or in the same way, but still fit the needs of many.

I always did it during a call though, never email.
pirate
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
I just share pricing right away when asked so they can figure out whether they have the budget overall or not
AnchorPoint
Politicker
0
Business Coach
Discovery conversation is the key to ANY sales process. It is one thing for you to understand and quantify the problem... and totally something different for your prospect to do so! No selling (or any talk of you) until the prospect fully understands the depth of the problem.
28

Justifying the steep rate increase in software engineering resources

Question
10
42
Members only

How would you explain the features of a complex piece of software to a prospect who is not as well-versed in technology?

Question
41
9

To people who are in telco sales - I feel lost in learning business processes through the products in the telco world, it's too complex. Can this be simplified?

Question
12