I guess we are all guilty of having done it – that is, unnecessarily granting a sales discount to a customer. Hands up all who have done it! Yup, I’m certainly guilty as charged!
Why did I do it? Well, I felt a prick of conscience at the time, because I knew that I was making more margin on the sale than normal. So I just threw it in.
Stupid!
The crazy thing is, the customer had actually been very happy with the deal up until that point. By offering a discount, without him even asking, only served to alert him to dwell on price – and this, after the great job I had done in providing a solution to his problem, which was actually going to save him thousands of Rand. Clever me brought the conversation all the way back to the dreaded price thing!
Bad habit
Truth is, if you feel compelled to give a discount, you haven’t done a great job in convincing the prospect of your unique selling point (USP). The sales professional eases a customer into a buying mode through selling the benefits of their proposition to the buyer.
Discounting often becomes a habit – and once on the slippery slide to being known as a discount king, it is a very hard habit to break. All you’re doing is selling your own value short.
The sales professional helps the customer see the value in their offering.
Sure, situations do arise where you get backed into a corner & dropping a price can become the deal clincher.
Know your worth
At times like this, you may have to concede and offer a discount, but it must ALWAYS be a two way concession. I’ll give to you, if you’ll give to me”.
By this, I mean in return for the discount you have been forced to bleed, always expect something back from the customer. It may be in the form of the exclusion of a deliverable or shortening a warranty, or perhaps upselling him into taking two items instead of one.
Discounting will brand you as a give-away artist, rather than a respected sales professional of integrity. As that kind of salesperson you are worth very little to your company.
Next time you feel the urge to give a discount, first ask yourself, “How much am I worth?”