You anchor or you’re anchored
In any negotiation, somebody is anchoring (and at least trying to anchor), whether as a buyer or as a seller. Consciously or unconsciously. Anchoring.- The cognitive bias where you stick to the first piece of information received. Said piece of info will serve as an “anchor” to the next one. Money talking, how you get a “better” or “worse” deal. As a buyer, you’re (usually) trying to go on the most economically efficient way. You want to get a better deal and spend the most reasonable to what…
Dis-positioned
Dis-positioned. The lost battle driven by price. It’s an interesting thing that keeps showing up in many shapes, shades and forms: how businesses lose themselves into the weeds, and go into the gentle battle for control already losing. They show up as order-takers. They show up saying “Yes” to every request. They show up in fear (of losing the sale). They show up giving all the power (and price decisions) to the customer. They show up angry (that they’re taken advantage of). There’s a bright…
No marketing needed
An actual conversation: – When your product is so good, you don’t need marketing. – Ok. And what is marketing? – Well… social media, ads, PR… – Sure that’s A PART OF marketing. What about product development, innovation, pricing, distribution? – Ah, no. [product dev] That’s for product. [innovation] For R&D. [pricing] For Finance (or Sales). [distribution] For Sales. As if your business works in siloes (it doesn’t). Quoting Peter Drucker, “[…] the business enterprise has two — and only…
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?
Raising prices
“Do it little by little. Incrementally. Otherwise they’ll run for the hills.” That’s great advice on pricing. NOT. Doing this actually brings you to have slow, incremental increases. It’ll make it easy for your customers to push back for a discount (which will get you closer to the original low price). And it’s all still focused around you. And customers care for themselves. So, shift the focus on to them. Find out what they want, and how you can help them. And price accordingly to what they…
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.
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.
Help me out?
Your input in this is going to be quite interesting and helpful. All you need is to have an open mind and let go of certainty. You have 2 offerings in a market: A and B. They’re quite similar. The price for A is 3,3 X The price for B is 0,9 X Without context, and just taking the price as the only factor to consider… What are your assumptions on A and/or B? What do you believe A (or B) represents? What would you say makes one have this gap in the price?
Can’t / Won’t
When you’re thinking of how to stand out from your competition and gain a better position of advantage, you can use this simple tool: can’t / won’t. And that’s about your competition. What are things that you’d be really good to do and they could not? What are things that you’d be really good to do and they will not do? The reasons behind why they can’t/won’t are within a wide range. The kicker here is, the more it would disturb how they do business is the thing that will give you this…
Push back
When you’re in a sales conversation, you can always push back —and do the big thinking in behalf of your customer. To help them see the bigger picture, you need to take them off the small frame. They’re too close to it, and you have the advantage of distance. Try “Can I have your permission to push back on this [thing you said]?” If they say Yes, great green flag. If they say No, it might be a hint of a red flag… or for you to dig deeper into why not. Maybe all they want is something very…
