8 Questions to Ask If You’re Thinking About Discounting Your Price

8 Questions to Ask If You’re Thinking About Discounting Your Price:from Sales Motivation and Sales Training by TheSalesHunter
People have been posing this situation for years and here is my perspective:  Lowering your price and expecting to close more sales is a strategy that should only be used under extreme circumstances.
Below are questions that will get you thinking about whether it is right for you:
1. Am I taking a discount to match a competitor’s price?  What leads me to believe the competitor with a lower price will not simply lower their price even more?
2. If this is a new customer, how do I expect to ever get the price up to the full amount if I’ve now sold it to them at a discount?
3. If this is an existing customer and I offer a discount, will they think I’ve been overcharging them up to now? If so, will that damage our level of trust?
4. Is the customer who is asking for a lower price simply one who will buy from anyone as long as their the cheapest?
5. Is the customer I’m going to give a discount to been one who has been difficult to sell to up to now?  If so, then what makes me believe they’re not always going to be a high-maintenance customer?
6. How will other customers respond when they find out this customer received a lower price?  Will I wind up having to give a discount to a number of customers?
7. Why is the customer asking for a lower price?  What did I not do properly in the sales process to get them to understand the benefits and outcomes of what I’m selling?
8. How do I know the customer won’t buy from me even if I refuse to give them a discount?
Taking a discount to close a sale is anything but a quick decision.  The questions above are designed to do one thing — get you to slow down and think carefully before even entertaining the idea of offering a price reduction.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.