How to Prevent the Price Objection (2)

My previous Blog on Objection Prevention talked about positioning: setting the landscape so your price is viewed in perspective.

Here’s a magic question to ask that complements that approach perfectly, that enables you to turn the tables on the buyer, make them feel awkward about price for once.

During the probe, look the prospect in the eyes and ask: “so….er…do you mind sharing your budget with me in round figures ?” You’ll get one of three reactions:

“Yes, it’s £x”. One in a million will be telling you the truth, the rest are lying: undercutting to give you a hard time. Whatever they say, it’s nowhere near enough. Look thoughtful, perhaps even a little shocked: “Mmmmm, that’s not really enough to really achieve what you want…” or “that’s right at the bottom end of what’s needed, you won’t get x, or y, for that amount”

“I don’t have a budget.” Yep, lying again. “OK, wouldn’t expect you have a detailed budget at this stage, but broadly speaking, what would be reasonable given the problem, and it’s likely impact on the business ?”

“I’m not telling you !” “OK, I understand, but I don’t want to waste either of our time….so broadly speaking, what would be a reasonable amount to consider, given the problem, and it’s real impact on the business ?”

You need to be careful not to be too confrontational with this one, keep the tone of voice gentle, but when it works it raises the discussion onto business levels, and away from your price in isolation.

How to Prevent the Price Objection

All buyers do it. In front of the mirror every morning, they practice saying “So….how much ?” and then knotting their brows, saying “How much ?!!!”. And you know when that happens to you, it’s all about price from then on, whatever you’re selling, they’ve got you on the run.

There are hundreds of sales techniques for handling objections, but they all make you sound evasive when it comes to price. It’s far better to prevent the price Objection, and drop in one or both of my all-purpose Price Objection Preventers. Let’s say you’re selling IT Consulting or Support…...

Preventer #1: Set the bar really high

In the middle of describing what your company does, and what the benefits are, just drop in the phrase “…..now to achieve that, you might well have to pay two grand a day with IBM or Accenture….” and don’t stop, just carry on with the benefits. They’ll invariably say “….so what do you charge then ?” and you can honestly say, “….ooooh, a lot less than that, and the benefits are proven in organisations just like yours. Let me give you an example….”

Preventer #2: Ensure they’re comparing your cost with the real cost of doing it themselves.

Again, while you’re describing what you do and the benefits, just drop in “…..now to achieve that using just your people alone would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds…” and carry on fast with the benefits of you doing it. Yes, they’ll break in with “no it won’t my people are free, they’re already employed….” and then you can have an intelligent discussion about the real costs (and the opportunity costs) of them doing it themselves.

Both these preventers show you’re not afraid to talk money….but they give you the chance to talk about it in the way you want to, comparing it with other approaches to the problem, not just an absolute amount.

How to make all your Meetings really effective

We’ve all been in meetings that never seemed to get going, meetings that drivelled into existence, where everyone was instantly bored and passive.

So here’s a foolproof method for getting any meeting off to a good start and keeping it on track. Take control by asking and agreeing the answers to four key questions …..

• Where have we got to now ? …unite everyone by recalling the outcome of previous meetings, and previous group involvement
• What was the purpose of that work ? remind everyone of what we’re supposed to be doing. It helps here to recall specific fun moments. Don’t forget the misery moments too: where you don’t want to go again !
• What are we doing now ? …specific purpose of today
• How are we going to achieve it and how long are we going to take over it ? …the possible methods to be used (brainstorming, workshops, etc) – but beware of letting the meeting start until you’ve completed the opening with…..
• Where will this leave us ? What’s our desired end state ?

Only then can the meeting start. But for a meeting to be really successful, you need to close it with two more questions…..

• Who’s going to do what ? Write down the action items, owners and delivery dates
• When shall we meet again ? Agree follow up date

Sounds like management to me !

How to inspire a positive mood – in yourself and others !

It’s hard to be on top form every day. But as a Leader it's your job to get yourself – and everyone around you – to that 10/10 feeling that'is essential for top performance.

So if you feel your mood needs a lift, here's what to do.....actively, consciously break the pattern: don’t just sit there ! Do something different to pro-actively lift your mood …

Ideas to get yourself to a 10….
Rewrite your ToDo List, put the kettle on, have a fag, eat some chocolate, tell a joke, get momentum by doing an easy thing first, get momentum by doing a hard thing, go for a short walk, ask “What would the best manager in the world do right now ?”

Ideas to get others to a 10….
Compliment them (“….been meaning to mention how well you….” Then “How’s project X going ?”), involve them in problem definition, break the pattern (go outside, move to the canteen), introduce a game or competition (“who can define the most options ? and buy the winner lunch), ask people to run five minute courses on their specialist topics.

Whatever you do, sieze the moment !

How to run the Perfect User Group/Reseller Meeting

It’s always great to get resellers, or users, together to review and discuss issues. And as long as it's in an interesting/comfortabled venue providing decent food and drink, and you put on some entertainment and fun, they’re a a captive audience for your latest sales pitch.

But what to present ? Rather than the usual boring old list of product features delivered by each Product Manager, how’s about….?
· The Marketplace: analysis of current market needs, the competition and your positioning
· Peek into the Future from R&D
· Product Strategy - the big industry and business trends and how you satisfy them
· User stories (preferably given by the users themselves)
· The Ideal Prospect: a workshop to define the perfect user (you can use it to define questions to identify them !)

When you’re preparing, remember to:
· Poll all attendees asking them what they’d like to see, or vote on possible topics
· Create special interest groups and workshops to break things up
· Run parallel tracks for sale and technical: cross-train each group (but don’t tell the techs you’re giving them sales techniques, they’ll tell you their integrity will be compromised: tell them SPIN is a consultative approach used by doctors and therapists).

During the meeting:
· have a Twitter feed on a large projector screen in everyone’s view so a proper many-to-many dialogue can take place
· old-fashioned flip charts are also still essential for recording actions/key concerns that arise, so the meeting leader can refer to them in their closing speech.

Make sure the Closing Address is impressive. Recut your last Company Kick Off presentations (see previous Blog) into a suitable form for this more specialised audience: call it a company update to disguise the selling :-)

How to run the Perfect Kick Off Meeting

They just come round too often: quarterly and yearly Kick Off meetings. What to say this time ? In 30 years I’ve been to many hundreds of KOs. Here’s a long list of possible topics: keep roughly to this order and you won’t go wrong….

· Our market:
o definitions of technologies and markets and why we exist
o vision of industry and wide perspective
o market research/industry trends

· Last Year:
o How did we start ? issues/Critical Success factors/plans
o What was our product fit and strategy ?
o What were the expectations ? up/downsides ?
o What was our approach ? what we did/who did it
o Numbers/highlights
o Prizes – recognition for top performers/contributors and jokes/wooden spoons for idiots
o Conclusions on last year/period

· This Year
o Where are we now ? Any new factors/issues/technologies/opportunities
o New products and services overview
o New strategy ? What’s the big story ?
o What do we have to do ?
o What’s the new Plan: who/what/when, activities and performance expected

· Reaffirm Mission of company
o Critical Success Factors
o Why this is a good business to be in
o We are part of the future of the industry (link back to the start)

And the best Kick Off line of all……the bar is now open!

How to give bad news - and be thanked for it !

It’s unavoidable, there are times in business when things aren’t going well, when we need to deliver not-so-good feedback, or full-on bad news to people about what they’re doing, or how they do it. The subject may be difficult enough, but in some cases the people aren’t easy communicators either.

So here’s a simple formula for delivering negative feedback in a way that never causes offence. You say:

“What’s working for me right now is…..”
then
“What’s not working for me right now is….”
then
“What’s missing for me right now is….”

It’s critically important that you include the words “for me…”: if you don’t, you’re just saying What’s not working, which is invites discussion and argument about your judgement. But saying “…for me…” isn’t something they can argue with. And saying “What’s missing for me right now….” is the most positive possible way to invite them to suggest improvements.