"Your Price is Too High"

Your price is too high.  Many of us are hearing these five dreaded words more frequently in this challenging economy.  In some cases, we're lucky if we hear them at all as many unsuccessful bidders get lost forever in voice mail oblivion.

What are you doing to overcome this challenge?  

What's really behind those five dreaded words.

When a buyer's decision making criteria is reduced to price, you have become a commodity in the buyer's mind.  Your prospective buyer views all competitors equally and uses price to simplify the decision. 

What do you do when you hear; "Your price is too high"? 

 Offer a discount? 

Argue your case with the decision maker?

Move on to the next transaction with either reduced prices, confidence or both?

Is there a smarter, more strategic approach to avoid hearing "your price is too high"?

• How well have you communicated your value proposition?

• Does everyone in your organization truly understand your value proposition to clearly communicate it to others?

• Can you justify your higher price by demonstrating the return on the additional investment. (ROAI)

• Do you continuously work to improve communication of value with both your marketing and your sales people?

• Has your sales force been trained to effectively avoid being viewed as an undifferentiated commodity?

• Is your sales force supported by effective marketing efforts?

• Do you have processes in place to continuously improve your value proposition in your marketplace? 

If you answered yes to all of these questions, you are not the low price provider, and you're still hearing those five dreaded words, one question remains...

Do you have an effective strategic planning process? 

What are ineffective strategy and sales skills costing your business in terms of misspent marketing programs, price cuts, discounts, lost sales opportunities, unused capacity, reduced profit and frustrated, ineffective sales people?