Impact Pricing

This one is the 4 of Diamonds from the Selling Value card deck.

Wow, walk away from a negotiation, ouch! We're essentially saying, "No, we're not going to negotiate anymore. Take the deal that we've given you or not. Totally up to you." And what happens when we do this?

First off, we're at risk of losing the deal, and that's painful. Especially, if you're in sales and you're paid to get revenue. You've got to meet a quota, your commission comes from that. But it turns out, from a company perspective, oftentimes that's a really smart thing to do.

First off, maybe it's the wrong customer for you. Maybe they need a deep, deep discount because they really don't get the value from your product that they should be getting. Or maybe that they're just negotiating and if you walk away, they come back and say, "Okay, we'll take it." And so, now you've made the sale.

Or, what if you even lose the deal? But because you lost that deal, word gets out, especially to channel partners, other salespeople, we're not willing to accept a deal below this specific price. And now everybody's working harder to sell value and make sure that we get the prices that we actually deserve.

This is hard. But if you end up losing deals because you walk away, my recommendation is track the profitability of the deals if you would've won them at this lower price and compare that to the profitability of the deals you win because you didn't lower the price. And even if you win more deals with lower prices, you probably make less margin and less profit.

We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, and then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, [email protected].

Now, go make an impact.

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

Carole Mahoney is an author, speaker, coach, and trainer taking a cognitive approach to sales success.

In this episode, Carole shares how salespeople should initiate a pricing conversation that should be 'Not Be About Me' and quantify the cost of not doing something. That way, buyers make a decision for fear of negative business impact.

What you will learn from this episode:

• Discover a powerful pricing conversation technique that focuses on addressing potential objections and inspires people to take action by tapping into their fears of negative outcomes
• Find out how salespeople add value and uncover urgency for people to make a decision
• Understand why salespeople need to create a 'dirty laundry list' and include them in their conversation

"The biggest piece of advice for finding value in a conversation and talking about pricing is to make it a collaborative conversation."

- Carole Mahoney

Topics Covered:

01:30 - How she found a career in pricing

02:20 - Salespeople find it uncomfortable talking about money and pricing matters

03:46 - Pricing conversation that's more about contrasting and quantifying the cost of doing nothing

06:36 - Not articulating enough the fear of loss

07:49 - Letting buyers articulate the real problem [and getting them to ask these important questions]

08:36 - The Seinfeld-comedy-series inspired technique of pricing conversation

10:16 - Adding value and uncovering urgency

11:30 - Creating a dirty laundry list

14:17 - What makes it advantageous for salespeople to share their laundry list amongst themselves

15:48 - Providing measurable business value while addressing potential negative outcomes

16:59 - Creating a constant reminder to salespeople with a t-shirt that reads: Not About Me

20:43 - Pricing advice that can have the biggest impact in one's business

Key Takeaways:

"If selling is an exchange of value, then the pricing conversation is the proof of value actually exists." - Carole Mahoney

"Ask questions that address why they might say no, not why they might say yes, you need both. You need to be able to draw the contrast." - Carole Mahoney

"It's not necessarily the salesperson's job to make it painful to the buyer. It's the salesperson's job to ask the questions to uncover if the pain to the buyer is great enough to take action, to make a decision and then to implement a solution." - Carole Mahoney

People / Resources Mentioned:

• Buyer First: Grow Your Business with Collaborative Selling by Carole Mahoney: www.unboundgrowth.com/buyer-first-book

Connect with Carole Mahoney:

• LinkedIn: https://www.unboundgrowth.com/
• Website: https://www.unboundgrowth.com/

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: [email protected]

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 25, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go.

Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/quick-and-dirty-pricing-research/

If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].

Now, go make an impact.

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

This one is the 4 of Clubs from the Selling Value card deck.

It turns out that procurement people often lie to us. And it's their job, not necessarily to lie, but it's their job to get a better price.

And what often happens is they'll say to you, "Hey, you're up against these other two or three competitors. In this situation, you have to lower your price if you expect to win this deal." And it turns out oftentimes that's not true. Oftentimes, you're not up against two or three different competitors.

Back many, many years ago when I was in sales, I recall procurement people actually saying, "You're up against this other competitor." And it turns out the competitive product they were looking at wasn't even similar to the product that I was offering. And so, it was obvious to me that they were just lying.

And in fact, I experienced this extremely clearly when I was on the buying situation. I was part of a committee and we'd chosen a software application that we wanted to purchase. And I was in the meeting when procurement said to the company that we were going to buy from, "You're up against these other two competitors, you better sharpen your pencil." And I knew for a fact that wasn't a true statement.

So, please be careful and the way you know is, go back to the committee. Find out if the committee selected you or selected you as one of several different possible alternatives.

We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, and talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, [email protected].

Now, go make an impact.

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

John Ray is a Pricing and Business Development Coach for Professional Services Firms, and a Podcast Host and Producer.

In this episode, John shares optimal strategies for positioning your value proposition to attract the best fit clients for your business.

What you will learn from this episode:

• Discover how to craft a compelling value proposition by identifying the unique value that your clients perceive in your offerings
• Learn about the importance of continuing value conversation
• Overcome the fear of pricing the value you provide to your clients

"Develop your options around that client and let them choose. And you'll find out your pricing suddenly improves."

- John Ray

Topics Covered:

01:15 - How he got himself into pricing

02:10 - Who is his ideal client?

03:59 - Insights on solopreneurs making their business work even if they don't necessarily plan on being a business owner

05:28 - The feeling of fear and inadequacy in pricing in a lot of solopreneurs

06:11 - It's not all about expertise but the value you deliver

08:13 - Suggested value proposition to this case: Roger [the client] loves the fact that I calm him down when he gets notice in the mail, I'm trying to win some new business

09:01 - The importance of continuing value conversation

11:10 - One way to lead a value conversation and for people to dig deep with you

11:47 - Optimal win rate or rejection rate and the significance of having a value conversation

15:25 - Benefits of accepting all clients when you're just starting out [and advantages of niching]

18:42 - Turning the intangible value you have into a tangible range of values for the client

20:47 - Price effectively or end up costing your business

24:10 - John's thoughts on this: If I'm bidding and there's no competition or there is competition

26:11 - John's pricing advice

Key Takeaways:

"By definition you'll be getting better clients by that measure [35% win rate]." - John Ray

"The great thing about a value conversation, it's a net that allows the great clients in that fits you well, and keeps out the ones that are not great fits." - John Ray

"You don't lean on what you think you're worth, you lean on what the value that you've been able to uncover in that conversation." - John Ray

People / Resources Mentioned:

• Ron Baker: https://impactpricing.com/?s=Ron+BAker
• Allan Weiss: https://alanweiss.com/shop/books/hardcover/value-based-fees-3rd-edition/

Connect with John Ray:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnray1/

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/
• Email: [email protected]

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 18, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go.

Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/what-if-they-find-out/

If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].

Now, go make an impact.

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

This one is the 4 of Hearts from the Selling Value card deck.

This concept of asking for something anytime we're going to give a discount, we simply refer to it as gives and gets. We don't give anything without getting something. And so, what should we be getting when we're giving something? Well, surely we could get almost anything. What we really want to do is get the things that protect the profit of the company. And what are those things?

If you think about all of the different items that you might be able to claw back from a customer. For example, it might be who pays for delivery. It might be how long the delivery takes. It might be when we schedule it. There's many, many different things we might be able to claw back. What we want to do is, think about how much does it cost us to deliver that thing to the customer so that if we claw it back, if we take that back from our customer, we're actually saving us costs on our side.

Now, a couple quick thoughts. You know that, first off, I'm a pricing person, but in truth, we're thinking about how do we get the best margin for the company. And secondly, you've heard me say over and over again that costs don't matter to pricing, but costs do matter to profit. And if we're talking about a one-on-one situation and we have to give up some kind of discount, then let's try to get something in exchange that lowers our costs.

We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, [email protected].

Now, go make an impact.

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

Michael Hammersley co-founded and invented a payment system designed to locate the market price of any consumer good. He authored the utility patent that protects the invention.

In this episode, Michael discusses the platform he co-founded, a dual-sided marketplace of buyers and sellers that helps businesses reach a pricing competitive advantage.

Why you've got to check out this podcast:

• Discover what Drop Pilot platform is
• Find out how it can benefit both sellers and buyers in determining the best price possible
• Learn to figure out the best pricing your customers are willing to pay

"Find out what your customer is willing to pay before you sell them the product."

- Michael Hammersley

Topics Covered:

01:34 - How he started his career in pricing

02:21 - What's so interesting about analyzing pricing potential as a distressed fund

02:55 - Getting to know what Drop Pilot is and what dual-sided marketplace mean

04:00 - Is Drop Pilot a marketplace or research area and what benefit does this platform have for the sellers?

05:26 - What kinds of businesses work with them and what it means to have multi-unit transactions?

06:18 - Buyer's benefit in using Drop Pilot and explaining the research aspect of the platform

08:34 - Proprietary payment system's role in the marketplace and where his coaching focuses on in regard to the platform

11:01 - How to get people to bid with B2B businesses

12:56 - What is a Drop Day?

18:17 - Is the platform representing the real market?

19:11 - How the whole idea about Drop Pilot started and dealing with scalping issues

20:36 - Michael's best pricing advice that impact's one's business

Key Takeaways:

"We have a lot of repeat droppers who each time they come up with a new product, they'll come back, release it with us, figure out how to price it, and then sell it on their own website." - Michael Hammersley

"If you want to figure out customer willingness to pay for a pricing tool, you really have to generate those numbers on your own based on estimations." - Michael Hammersley

"If you want to look at the pricing analytics and you want to find out what your customers are willing to pay, it actually makes more sense to operate in a pressurized environment because you get the highest and best price." - Michael Hammersley

"What you would want to do is take a look at the analytics and find the clusters of where the most bids came in like what the most common bid was, and then use that as a reference point to set your retail price." - Michael Hammersley

"One thing that our algorithm or our platform actually does is it completely prevents the use of scalping bots." - Michael Hammersley

Connect with Michael Hammersley:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-r-hammersley-77285225b/

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 11, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go.

Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/price-segmentation-in-tioli-markets/

If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at [email protected].

Now, go make an impact.

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

This one is the 4 of Spades from the Selling Value card deck.

Every time a salesperson gets in front of a procurement officer, a purchasing agent, however they're called, the purchasing agent will act price sensitive. Their job is to get a better price for their company.

And so, they will always tell you that your price is too high, they need a discount. And you have to decide as a salesperson, do you want to give it to them? And here's the trick, does the purchasing agent actually have any power or authority to influence the decision process?

If you're selling a commodity, and they could go to three, or four, or 10 different sources to get essentially the exact same thing, and those are all approved sources for the manufacturing capability, procurement has a lot of power. You need to do a great job at making sure procurement stays happy and figure out what it really takes to close that deal.

On the other hand, if you're selling a piece of capital equipment and you've had a long sales cycle selling to a relatively large committee of people who've been debating, what's the best solution for us? And then they take that to procurement so the purchasing can go buy it. It turns out, procurement has almost no power.

They'll pretend to have a lot of power, but they really don't. The decision was made by the committee. And so, we don't have to give big discounts to procurement in situations like that. Here's the problem, it takes guts.

So, do you have the guts?

We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, and then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, [email protected].

Now, go make an impact.

Connect with Mark Stiving:

• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/