Differentiating a Pricing Strategy from a Sales Strategy

Do you subscribe to Verne’s Insights – 10 Minutes with the Growth Guy – Verne Harnish?  You should.  It’s the best newsletter I get – one I actually read each week!  In today’s issue Verne wrote that his favorite quote from last week’s Sales & Marketing Summit was Mark Burton’s, “Discounting is the crack cocaine for business today”.  He also shared that “instead, Burton says companies can use a ‘good, better, best’ strategy to provide various pricing levels without simply giving away margin.”

Wait a minute!!!

Let’s differentiate between this very sound pricing strategy yet unsound selling strategy.  From a pricing perspective, this strategy allows you to effectively position your company, brand, products and services wherever you need them to be, based on markets, competition, reputation, quality and business strategy.

However, from a selling perspective, never provide your prospect with even two, let alone three options.  It’s difficult enough to close business in a timely manner today and you certainly don’t want to be the cause of a decision making delay.

Let’s assume that your salespeople have identified the compelling reasons why their prospect would buy, and buy from you, rather than your competition.  Let’s assume they have also positioned themselves as experts, established value, and learned how much their prospect will spend to solve their problem.  It is only then that your salespeople will present both a needs and cost appropriate solution.  If they have effectively met each of the above criteria, then in their expert opinion, there can only be a single ideal solution that is both needs and cost appropriate.  More than one and they didn’t listen effectively.  More than one and they may appear uncertain.  More than one and they have provided their prospect a reason to think it over.  Less isn’t more, one is more.

Price with options, sell with certainty.