Challenges of price negotiation
Every salesperson knows them: the typical objections of the buyer during price negotiations. They range from a blanket “You are far too expensive!” to a provocative “Wake up, these are crazy prices!”. Objections that suggest an alternative offer (for example, “We have an offer from your competitor that is 30 percent below your price.”) are among the sharpest weapons of purchasing. Certainly, the list could go on.
The consequences of the negotiation phrases
All of these “killer phrases of purchasing” have one thing in common: they are difficult to counter and often lead to the seller caving in during price negotiations and making further price concessions.
Measure against the right competitor
Presumably, there is often a competitor in your market that offers a comparable service at a lower price than you do. But the question arises: Do you really want to go after the companies that are cheaper than you? Shouldn’t competitors who enforce higher prices rather be the benchmark for price negotiation?
Good price enforcement is no coincidence
Sales staff should be motivated and empowered to enforce these prices. Among other things, this means setting clear rules for the allocation of discounts. In addition, R&P brings sales to a new level in price enforcement through its training and tools.
Roll & Pastuch sales trainings
In our sales training courses, we focus on three aspects:
1. R&P Boot Camp – Prepared information as a basis for price negotiation
Price negotiations require precise preparation and the acquisition of well-founded information. Even skilled salespeople should not leave the success of negotiations to their experience and gut feeling alone but should systematically gather and prepare information. Few things are worse than situations in which the buyer is better informed about conditions that the bidding company has negotiated in the past than the seller.
Together with our client we use tools (checklists, templates, KPIs etc.) to collect all relevant internal and external information in a structured way to better assess the starting position and negotiating power.
Only if the information is clearly prepared and consolidated can it actually be used in a targeted manner in acute negotiations.
2. R&P Sales and Negotiation Tools
Roll & Pastuch has a broad toolbox of different sales tools that support sales in every phase of the negotiation process. It is important to us that we adapt the tools and methods to the needs and the negotiation situation of our customers. These tools support the sales force in achieving measurable improvements in results. The R&P toolbox for negotiations includes:
The Benefit Calculator
A Benefit Calculator is a tool for the quantitative presentation of a financial product benefit. For sales, it is a powerful tool for value-added argumentation. In particular, it compares the company's own total costs of ownership with those of the competition.
The Bid/No-Bid Decision Matrix
The Bid/No-Bid Decision Matrix is a Big Management tool for structuring bid/no-bid decisions in cases of low complexity. It categorizes tenders on the basis of customer segments and the company's own position in the market and derives a standard strategy for the bid/no-bid decision from this.
The Big Deal Domination Map
The Big Deal Domination Map is a tried-and-tested model that understands the Big Deal as a continuous process and accompanies it along its entire lifecycle. This holistic approach makes it possible to systematically identify opportunities, develop potential and bring them to a conclusion over time.
The Customer Buying Center Assessment
The Customer Buying Center Assessment evaluates the people included in the Customer Buying Center based on their role in the buying process and their attitude towards the company. The aim is to create an overview of the most important decision-makers and advisors in the customer's buying process.
The Price Sensitivity Assessment
Price sensitivity assessment is designed to systematically evaluate the customer's price sensitivity. Accordingly, it aims to operationalize and record the customer's willingness to pay. In conjunction with historical project data, this can later be used to derive target margins or target price bands in particular.
3. With the right price and negotiation tactics to negotiation success
As is often the case in life, professional preparation is half the battle – this also applies to negotiation situations. If you know the possible negotiation tactics of your counterpart, you can better adapt to them and develop and train targeted counterstrategies.
Value selling as the key
Value selling is of particular importance in negotiations: A product is adapted to the individual needs of the buyer and they receive the performance benefits that are suitable for them. The price is also aligned with the customer’s benefit. In this way, it is possible to successfully achieve the targeted prices.
Project examples
- Price enforcement of internationally positioned companies in the market (read a project example here)
- Value argumentation based on special performance
- Negotiation toolkit for the European sales force
- Negotiation training with behavioral pricing aspects
R&P sales training – successful negotiations, price enforcement and value selling
In our sales training courses, we train and simulate a wide variety of negotiation situations with the sales team. The negotiations are supported, documented and individually analyzed by a professional buyer. We would be happy to provide you with more information in a personal meeting.
