Why Discounting Your Price is a Bad Idea

The customer is not refusing your price because it's too high. They're refusing it because the value is too low.

The real reason you had to cut your price is because you failed to match the value you offer to the outcome the customer was desiring.

I just bought a new suitcase and I paid 5 times more than a similar suitcase. Go ahead and say I paid too much, because I know that's what you're thinking. Truth be told, I would have paid even more. Now you're thinking I’m stupid.

I paid more because of what I expect out of a suitcase and the demands I place on it due the number of flights I take.

You see, to me the price was not the issue, but the outcome I was looking for. Too many times we can be far too quick to assume the only reason the sale has not closed is due to our price being too high. We think it's too high because either we fail to believe what we can deliver or we think it's too high because the customer said so. Either way, it comes down to a lack of knowledge.

We cannot become fixated on what we sell, because what we sell is irrelevant. We need to focus our time on the outcome or the benefit the customer will receive. All of our conversations with the customer need to be focused on understanding the outcome.

Many times this is difficult because the customer has not even thought through the outcome they want. When the customer hasn't thought through what they need, they will nearly 100% of the time focus on price.

Your job is not to communicate price, as the customer who buys on price will leave you on price. Low price is not a sustainable competitive advantage! When the customer is making their decision on price, you must accept that as a failure on your part to communicate properly with the customer to allow the expected outcomes to become clear.

Ask yourself, "How many questions do I ask that get the customer talking about their outcomes?" How do you position value? Make it your goal to never communicate price until you understand fully the needs of the customer and the outcomes they're looking for.

If you can’t articulate your value package in a manner that addresses their outcomes, you'll never be able to sell without a discount.

FURTHER READING: Is Bad Prospecting Causing You to Discount Your Price to Close a Sale?

Discounting your price is nothing more than giving away your profit. See how long your business lasts once you get in the mode of discounting. You may generate volume short-term, but once the discounting has begun there is little way to stop the slide from becoming an avalanche.

Copyright 2017, Mark Hunter "The Sales Hunter." Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Prospecting: Powerful Strategies to Find the Best Leads and Drive Breakthrough Sales Results.

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