Never Confuse Your Prospects About Your Pricing

Never Confuse Your Prospects About Your Pricing:
Sometimes you're not always as clear as you can be. That's what Barbara Weaver Smith, author of Whale Hunting & CEO of The Whale Hunters, discovered when she was pursuing a big opportunity. Even though it cost her the deal, she learned her lesson.

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My team and the prospect's team were sitting in their conference room. Enthusiasm was high and conversation was coming fast from every corner. They wanted to know what outcomes they could expect and how we would work with them.
We talked about our standard implementation for a company like them, and we talked about some additional modules in which they expressed interest. We discussed price. By the end of the meeting, we were setting dates to get started.
Next day, we had a formal proposal to them. Here's what the standard implementation includes, and here is its price. Here's what the additional module includes, and here is its price.
Problem was, they heard us name the price for the standard implementation and did not hear that the "extra" module was not included in that price.
I received a follow-up phone call inquiring about that, and a few days later we received notice that the company was "too busy" right now to implement our solution and wanted to postpone their start date.
Unfortunately, I failed to communicate accurately the pricing that they could expect to see in the proposal. In fact, I didn't even think there was a discrepancy until they called.
What seemed quite apparent to me was a shock to them, and I'm sure in their eyes it looked like a bait-and-switch.
So how can you avoid that kind of fatal failure? A variety of ways would be an improvement:

• Think like the buyers. What are they hearing?
• Pay close attention to all the details if you are discussing price.
• Write it down while you are talking, and use your notes in your proposal.
• Don't give numbers in conversation, only in writing.

Just make sure you don't ever confuse your prospects about your pricing!
Click here to learn more about how Barbara's company can help you land whale-sized accounts.

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YOUR TURN: What have you done to ensure that you effectively communicate your price to your prospects? Share your strategies in the comments section of my blog.