Sales Training Why I Kept Getting Hit With Price Objections

I've learned a lot of lessons training salespeople and helping companies maximise their sales. I know, everyone wants a good deal but it frustrated me so much when I was there to help someone solve their problems and before I had a chance to explain how they'd ask "How much is this going to cost me?" or "What's the price?"

You probably don't often encounter this one but it used to happen to me a lot.

I'd thank them for their time, they'd say "Show me what you've got!" and off I'd go. I might be able to ask some questions about their needs and tailor my presentation slightly, but by and large, as I look back, wasn't I really just shooting in the dark most of the time? I think so.

Let me illustrate it with an example. I met with 3 of the partners at one of the Big 5 to discuss recruitment for their Euro programme back in the late 90's. Now recruitment was a major issue, I'd established that. So we discussed where they wanted to secure new candidates from (i.e. their target companies) and I told them about our dedicated and expert full-time research team. I explained how recruitment process worked. Targeted research followed by preselection (phone screening, CV and questionnaire, phone interview, needs analysis, face to face interview followed full suitability report and "hot button" reveals, client interview set up, offer and acceptance management, reference checking etc.

Were they impressed? Of course they were. They even asked to see a copy of the questionnaire I'd use to prescreen the candidates, so I explained in detail the type of questions and promised to send them a draft for approval before the project kicked off. This and about 40 more questions later and we were there for nearly 3 hours. I was so chuffed - 9 man hours of people who were biling out at £3500 a day- they must be serious. One question kept coming back up though, about money. I started out at 32% of first year guaranteed earnings plus benefits (a little below Hiedrich & Struggles fees at the time), but as the conversation progressed, (I didn't realise it at the time- doh!) I was giving away my trade secrets and my margin to people who hadn't committed anything in return.

In the end we agreed that if they did go ahead, we deliver 40 people for 24% of base salary + £1000 per head over 12 placements if we could complete the project in 8 weeks. I was confident that we could do this .... but not authorised to sign off the deal. So I agreed a series of next steps I would take and agreed a second meeting date for them to meet my MD.

I went back to my office, reported in and there was much excitement. This was a prize account, notoriously difficult to win over and had their own internal recruitment team [ALARM BELLS should have been ringing here]. I wrote up my draft questionnaire - frankly a great piece of work that would have separated the gone fishin' crowd from the serious candidates. (Notice the tense of that sentence). I prepared a proposal, again another good piece of work, well thought out, detailed, thorough with full pricing and a full map of our recruitment process.

Then I phoned to make sure they'd got the information and to confirm our meeting. But I kept getting secretaries and voicemail. You probably never get this but it used to happen to me a lot.

Now why was this pattern the stock of my selling life? Great meeting, great follow up, strong proof and references from clients and candidates coupled with fair pricing was met with objections and haggling over price, followed by stalls, smoke screens and hiding from me via voicemail jail.

Well, the conlcusion I now reach is this:

1. They could smell my eagerness (aka neediness!) and exploited it 2. I gave away so much value up front that they didn't need me as they had a better brief for their preferred supplier after meeting me than before and they stuck with the devil they knew 3. This is a killer: I hit them with feature and benefits and this made them think "this sounds expensive, how much is it going to cost me?" instead of "Oh God! I need this badly. How much can I get away with paying for Marcus and his company to help me?" See the difference?

4. I never told them what they couldn't do to me and agreed this upfront 5. The next steps were clear in my mind but I never got them to tell me what they thought they were - this thinking at crossed purposes I call mutual mystification 6. I forgot rule 1 of sales. If a buyers lips are moving .... they're LYING! All buyers lie ... all of the time. I know, it's harsh but live by that maxim and you can never be disappointed.

7. I tried to close way too late, I should have closed at the beginning not at the end in the upfront contract I didn't make with them !

8. Again and again I failed to learn this lesson. Never do anything without them doing something of equal of greater value in return. Don't lift a finger unless you've done that or else you will spend your time delivering free consulting. FRUSTRATING and damnably costly.

This one story is part of a series of stories that marked my selling career. Year in year out I followed the normal patterns of behaviour salespeople follow.

a. Qualify (gently just in case they say no before I have a chance to wow them with my brilliance and the quality of my product or service b. Present (hit them with the facts, the benefits and all the reaosns that "we're the best" and watch them get their cheque books out in awe - have you ever done a £million presentation and done the work for pennies? - you are reading the words of a master at this)

c. Close (I used to close hard and often - ABC stood for always be closing. It was the maxim I'd been raised on. Prospective buyers saw this as pushy and overselling but you've probably never done that)

d. F/Up stands for ... follow up. I chased, they hid. I got voicemail, they deleted it. I got through to PAs and they said he was in a meeting or not available. But they never said "no" directly ...... in case they wanted to steal more information from me. And I was too blind, stupid or needy to notice.

Life is so much easier now I know how to be in control and not be controlled or at least recognise it when it's happening so I can judge if I want to stay in the game. My sales cycles are rarely more than 2 meetings. My clients write proposals to me. My close rate is in the high 90% mark and my fees are strong and non-negotiable. In short, these lessons cost me a fortune. Like I said at the start, you porbably don't experience these problems but if you do I hope you can begin to recognise what's happening to you from this story and begin to make changes to recover control.

Happy selling!

(C) Copyright Sandler Systems Inc. 2006 Regards Marcus Cauchi Managing Director S.A.L.T. (Europe) Ltd Sandler Sales Institute, 180◦ From Traditional Sales Training©

Sandler Sales Institute® - Licensed Franchisee Guerrilla Marketing® - Licensed Master Practitioners Mob +44 (0) 7876 616 983 Tel 0845 458 1237 London1.Sandler.com

Sales Training Why I Kept Getting Hit With Price Objections - To learn more about this author, visit Marcus Cauchi's Website.

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