(This is the third lesson in 5 part series. Read them on FrogPond.com.)
How To Respond To The, “How Much Does It Cost?” Question.
Don't you just hate hearing this question? I know I used to but now I almost enjoy hearing it because I'm prepared to deal with it. And after reading and digesting this lesson so will you.
· Rule Number One
Unless you have asked all of your questions and given your presentation I would encourage you to deflect this question until later.
· Rule Number Two
Remember it's QPP, which refers to Questions, Presentation, and Pricing. If you don't stick to this sequence you are headed for heavy discounting and severe erosion of your profitability.
The next time somebody asks you, “How much does it cost?” respond with these two words: “It depends!”
And then be totally silent.
Within a very short period of time your prospect/customer will ask, “It depends on what?”
Let's use my business as an example. I receive a call from a Vice President of Sales. He’s planning a National Sales meeting in February. He has forty salespeople and he wants to give them professional sales training. I ask and get answers to 12 open-ended questions. I go on to describe my capabilities based solely on his responses to these 12 questions.
He comments, "
I respond with, "It depends."
He responds, "It depends on what?"
"It depends on whether you want to include pre-meeting reading assignments featuring one of my books, it also depends on the length of the training program, and it depends on how you're planning to reinforce the sales training after your National Sales Meeting."
"It also depends on your interest level in establishing a Learning Library for your sales team and it also depends on how you feel about specialized training (field coaching) for your sales managers."
OK. Do you see what I just did here? This is negotiating 101. Never give anything without getting something in return. In essence, what I've done here is to say the price of the sales training depends on a bundle of other choices. Literally it says the price depends on the size of the bundle you buy. The bigger your bundle, the better your price.
Doesn't that make a world of sense? Don't offer one price for one product. The more choices you offer, the higher your probability of achieving success.
