Still Doing Price Quotes - Are you Crazy Or What?
Monday, September 24, 2007 - By: Jim Meisenheimer
Why in the world would you ever do a price quote for a customer?
Please don’t tell me it’s because a customer asked you.
If your customer asked you to lower your price by 75%, you wouldn’t do that would you? Of course not - you’d be out of business within a week.
Are you tired of having to beat your competitor’s price? Would you like to win more quotes at a higher price? There’s a big reason why you should avoid sending price quotes to your customers.
The reason is simple, the first and only thing your customers will look at is your bottom line price. They will compare your price with your competitor’s price. Best price usually wins.
You need to change the rules of the game. Here are five ways to tip the outcome in your favor.
Forget quotes and do proposals. Consider this - what do you want your proposal to do after you leave the sales call? If you want your proposal to represent you after you leave, you have to put more than a price on a piece of paper.
Ideally, your proposal should represent you professionally, long after you leave. Here’s how to do it.
- Personalize your proposal by putting the customer’s name, in large type, on the front page and if it’s appropriate use the words "especially prepared for William H. Anderson." people enjoy seeing man name up on the marquee - so make sure you put it there. If you’re dealing with a committee - make sure everyone gets a personalized copy with their name on it.
- When you prepare proposals for products and services that represent significant dollar amounts, include a creative organizational chart. In each box include the name, the title, Phone number, fax number, e-mail address, and a small photograph if possible. It screams accessibility and that’s what you wanted to scream.
- If you really want to be creative scan the customer’s logo or facility photograph next to your own logo or company photograph. Insert a plus sign (+) between photographs. It’s a great way to say and show a "partnership."
- Include your own photograph somewhere in the proposal to personalize the package. Remember, the best way to align yourself with potential customers, is by being out-of-step with your primary competitor and in step with the decision-makers you’re working with. Dare to be different. If you want to be remembered, do something memorable - hello!
- To justify your price, always include a benefit’s page. Your benefits page should include high impact factual statements about your company, products, and even you. List at least eight to ten factual statements followed by and reinforced with benefit statements.
Benefit statements should be included on the next line. Benefit statements should be indented on the next line. To really emphasize the value, increase the type size slightly, and bold face the entire benefits line. Print the benefit line in red ink if you have a color printer or use a yellow highlighter to make the benefits really standout and jump off the page.
The key is to show your benefits before you give your pricing. This approach emphasizes your benefits before it shows your price.
Quotes are usually about price. The best price normally wins the sale. Proposals should spell out your benefits and show your value by differentiating you, your products, and your company.
Here’s a big sales tip for you. Put your benefits page before your pricing page, to make sure they see your benefits before they see your price.
Here’s another sales tip for you. Avoid using words like cost and price too often in your sales proposal. Use the word investment, wherever practical and possible.
When you take extra time to prepare your proposal, your customers will take notice. Your extra effort can turn ordinary quotes into an extra-ordinary sales proposal, loaded with value, for your customers.
Quotes seldom justify price; proposals loaded with benefits and value always do.
You don’t always have to beat your competitor’s price to win the sale.
If your price is going to be higher, your proposal has to be much better.
And remember, the more you talk about price - the lower it gets.
Copyright©, 2006, Jim Meisenheimer. All rights reserved. For information about Jim’s Keynote presentations and consulting services, contact the FrogPond at 800.704.FROG(3764) or email ; http://www.FrogPond.com
