{"id":1078,"date":"2007-07-19T15:14:38","date_gmt":"2007-07-19T20:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/two-weaknesses-that-lead-to-discounting\/"},"modified":"2007-07-19T15:14:39","modified_gmt":"2007-07-19T20:14:39","slug":"two-weaknesses-that-lead-to-discounting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/two-weaknesses-that-lead-to-discounting\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Weaknesses That Lead To Discounting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SellingPower.com offers an excellent article titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sellingpower.com\/html_newsletter\/article.asp?NLid=1&amp;Layout_ID=659&amp;ARTid=3006&amp;nDate=July+17%2C+2007\" target=\"_blank\">End Those Last-Minute Negotiations<\/a>.&nbsp; The article quotes one of our favorite trainer\/authors &#8211; Jeff Thull.&nbsp; Thull rightly ties together two critical pieces of closing a sale &#8211; value proposition and money.<\/p>\n<p>Many salespeople are clumsy with putting the right value proposition in play.&nbsp; If the salesperson is not asking the right questions, he or she will not know whether the value they offer through their solution is valuable to the prospect.&nbsp; To make matters worse, many salespeople struggle with the need to discuss budgets (money) with the prospect.&nbsp; Combine these two weaknesses and you have trouble.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Thull\u20ac\u2122s team conducted informal research of about 10,000 sales and found <strong>buyers consistently paid a premium when the rep selling the product provided a clear definition of the problem and its cost, and provided a very clear plan for success<\/strong>. In these situations, says Thull, buyers had no motivation or desire to negotiate down the price because the value they were receiving was so crystal clear. The only way to get to this point is to shift your selling emphasis to diagnosing problems rather than presenting solutions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Exactly.&nbsp; Salespeople who are able to diagnose first are able then to present the right value.&nbsp; One aspect of this approach that isn&#8217;t addressed in this article is the fact that you may not have a viable, valuable solution.&nbsp; Every salesperson must be willing to walk away from the &#8220;bad&#8221; deals &#8211; especially if uncontrolled discounting is the end result. <\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>As Thull puts it, \u20ac\u0153Always be leaving.\u20ac\u009d Always be ready to walk away from a deal. When that\u20ac\u2122s your mindset and the customer says, \u20ac\u0153If we can\u20ac\u2122t get another 5 percent we may not be able to go forward with this,\u20ac\u009d you\u20ac\u2122ll be ready to calmly reply, \u20ac\u0153Well, that would be disappointing. But if that\u20ac\u2122s the decision you need to make, let me know.\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SellingPower.com offers an excellent article titled End Those Last-Minute Negotiations.&nbsp; The article quotes one of our favorite trainer\/authors &#8211; Jeff Thull.&nbsp; Thull rightly ties together two critical pieces of closing a sale &#8211; value proposition and money. Many salespeople are clumsy with putting the right value proposition in play.&nbsp; If the salesperson is not asking the right questions, he or she will not know whether the value they offer through their solution is valuable to the prospect.&nbsp; To make matters worse, many salespeople struggle with the need to discuss budgets (money) with the prospect.&nbsp; Combine these two weaknesses and you have trouble. Thull\u20ac\u2122s team conducted informal research of about 10,000&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/07\/two-weaknesses-that-lead-to-discounting\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-communication","category-sales-techniques"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-ho","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":680,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/mastering-the-complex-sale\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":0},"title":"Mastering The Complex Sale","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"If you haven't bookmarked Salesopedia.com, I suggest you do so now. It is a relatively new site but is full of excellent sales advice. Clayton authors a great sales blog over there that I highly recommend reading. His latest entry discusses an article by one of our favorite sales authors\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1953,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/03\/the-downward-spiral-to-commoditization\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":1},"title":"The Downward Spiral To Commoditization","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"March 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019re fans of Jeff Thull here at The Hire Sense and his latest article on the Salesopedia.com only supports our belief.\u00a0 Anyone who has been in sales longer than a day has seen a sea change in the customer relationship over the past couple of years.\u00a0 Rapid commoditization is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1400,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/the-pain-of-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":2},"title":"The Pain Of Change","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We're big fans of Jeff Thull here at The Hire Sense and we always try to keep up with his articles.\u00a0 This one from Inc.com - Three Keys to a Successful New Year - is well worth the read.\u00a0 Ok, we might be a bit late getting to this one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Marketing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":639,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/selling-credibility\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":3},"title":"Selling Credibility","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Marketingprofs.com offers up an insightful article from Jeff Thull that deals with one of the most important aspects of selling - credibility. Here is the setup (emphasis mine): Now the sobering question, \"How different are your two best competitors' credibility stories from your own company's credibility story?\" Unfortunately, other than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":175,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/07\/selling-the-complex\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":4},"title":"Selling the Complex","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Jeff Thull is a successful sales trainer in the Twin Cities who works extensively with companies that have a complex sale. I just read this article - How to Prevent \"Unpaid Consulting\" - and found it full of tactical advice for salespeople. A few gems from the piece (emphasis mine):\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Management","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1608,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/06\/presentations-are-security-blankets\/","url_meta":{"origin":1078,"position":5},"title":"Presentations Are Security Blankets","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Salesopedia.com offers an article from Jeff Thull discussing sales presentations.\u00a0 This topic is a tricky one for salespeople and managers - most view presentations as a good thing...a chance to discuss your offering with a prospective customer.\u00a0 But here is the \"trap\" that can occur in an ill-timed presentation: Look\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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