Maybe I’m wrong
Maybe you’re wrong. And we got all this mixed up. The prices in the market are not as high as you think —or as I think. Maybe you’re product/service/offering is not THE best in the market —and that’s ok. And even with all of that, if you focus on how your customer can best be helped, you’ll be steps ahead. And you’ll come up with something uncommon. To get uncommon prices. And your customers and you will both be happy.
Revenue is not your friend
Or “sales”, if you’d like to put it that way. Not even cashflow is your friend. You can have millions in revenue. Millions in cashflow. And still on the verge of killing the business. You need to focus on your profit and your margins. And this comes from the value you help create to your customers. Because those (profit + margins) are the ones that make your business sustainable. They are the things that fund your mission. Without that fund, you’ll run dry or burn out. It’s that time when you…
Say what you think
Whenever you’re in a (sales) conversation and there’s something you find not making sense, or doubtful, seems to you like a red flag, or your gut tells you “hold on, check that”, you need to say what you think. Frame. Make the question. And embrace silence. … This will give you a chance to check your gut feeling, probe your counterparty, and see how far or close you are on your reading of the context. This will give you an advantage: to make a more conscious decision to move forward, or to…
What remains unsaid
What you don’t say with your words, but tolerate or reinforce, is culture. What remains unsaid is equally or more important than what you actually say. To yourself, your team, or your customers. What kind of culture you wanna shape?
Stop caring
Stop caring too much for closing the deal. When you approach your customers to try to close them, you get overinvested. You feel you have more at stake. The fear of missing out on this opportunity kicks in. While, yes, they’re qualifying you, you’re also qualifying them. The more you care, the less power in the negotiation you have. Approach it and stop your convince-mode. Go, evaluate if it makes sense for both of you to work together, qualify. If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, great,…
Market prices are important
They can give you a context. That’s all. To be the same as them. To go lower than them. Or break the rules and rise above them. And it’s got nothing to do with your product/service; but about your offering. It’s about your customer’s desired next phase.
The representation of your promise
Price. It represents your promise. When your price is higher, it’s implicit that your delivery will be higher. If it’s low, that the other is better at something —but not knowing necessarily where. If your price is low and your promise is THE ultimate, your customer bears the question: “Is there a catch?” “Is this a scam?” Our brains go into Error 406 (Not Acceptable). And we either discard it by default, or we consider it as the riskier option. And when big bucks are at stake, they won’t go…
Would you like fries with it?
Doing what your customers say they need you to do without a proper diagnosis from your side is asking that question. It’s leaning into taking orders and leave all the responsibility (and risk) on them. So when things go south “they got what they asked for”. And to get those things done (what they say they need), you’ll compete with LLMs and AI, amongst other who “do” the same. Start with a diagnosis. That’s one of the first indicators you’re the expert.
Which one is better?
A bunch of responses about yesterday’s message —where offer A is priced at 3,3X and offer B is priced at 0,9X— said that A was better than B. For a few reasons… (and all of these assumptions are with the only context of price.) Offer A… Would help for longer Would be custom. Is premium Feels premium Has more bells and whistles Has better performance Gives more guarantees Is more reliable Has a clear position in the market Is not desperate for a sale Has to be the expert Has more…
Yield and Concede
A school of thought on sales has this principle: “For you to win in a negotiation, you need to be ready to yield and concede”. Bullshit. You don’t. You can always walk away. The only thing customers have: money. The thing that only you and your business have: your expertise. Money is fungible / exchangeable. Your expertise and what you bring to the table, isn’t.