Stop Leading With Price

Sometimes we sell price without meaning to. We are prospecting and ask the client what they’re paying their present supplier. Or we find out that the prospect placed an order with someone instead of us, and so we ask what they paid for that particular order. Who is making the price the issue?

Without coming out and saying that we want to compete on price–or even that we’re willing to compete on price–we can be the ones to draw our customer or prospective customer’s attention to price. Who then can blame them when the next time they speak with us they ask us about a better price?

The price your dream client is paying doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t even matter if you can beat their existing price. By leading with price, you can lead the customer to price. And for the most price-driven buyers, all you are doing is giving them the leverage they need to go back to their existing supplier and negotiate a lower price.

If you don’t want to compete on price, don’t lead with price. Don’t lead with price during prospecting. And don’t lead with price through the sales process. To compete on value, lead with value.