Sometimes Your Strategy Will Fail

Sometimes your strategy will fail. And it doesn’t matter which strategy your business has chosen.

Lowest Price Loses

You may not want to believe me, but it is very easy to lose on price. I see this happening more and more all the time. The sales organization believes the lowest price will win the deal, so they focus there instead of value. And then they are shocked to discover they’ve lost.

You can have a price point far lower than any of your competitors and still lose. Sometimes, your prospective client wants greater value, in which case price isn’t their dominating concern. Instead, “value” is what your prospect wants to buy. Lowest price can also look like the highest risk. Prospects run from risk. If they perceive that you can’t execute, they look elsewhere.

Price is always going to be a consideration, but it doesn’t mean that is it always weighted as heavy as we think it is.

Total Solution Loses

It’s easy to lose with the best total solution.

There are some prospects who have a tough time understanding the greater value that you create, even when you do everything in your power to help them understand the investment you are asking them to make. These prospects often underinvest in the outcomes they need because they struggle to understand the difference between price and cost. I have personally struggled with prospects who didn’t understand this even when provided with a straightforward, detailed analysis.

There are some prospects who weigh price so heavily in their consideration, even after being presented irrefutable proof that their costs will be higher, that they refuse a solution that would cost less.

The Best Product, Not

You can lose with the best product the world has ever known.

Some people don’t believe they need the very best product available. Instead, they want what is “good enough.” Other people don’t believe they deserve the very best product. They think that spending more than the minimum necessary would make them a spendthrift, or arrogant, or decadent. And there are some prospects who will never believe your product is the best, simply because a salesperson is the one extolling its virtues.

Some people won’t want the greater value your better product offers them. Some people won’t need it. Many people will believe that some other product is the “best product” for them, and they will purchase those products instead.

You can sell people and help change their perception. Often, a changed perception of value is what it takes to help your prospects produce better results than they are currently. But it is easier to go with the grain and sell to people who already value what it is you do—and how you do it. It’s easier to sell with your strategy than it is to sell against it.