It is not uncommon for people to feel that they can get more sales if they would just lower their prices. Well, guess what? IT DOESN’T WORK!
7 Comments
Debbie C
Posted
November 2, 2010 at
5:43 pm
I love it Neil! I did my best to educate an associate in this regard awhile back, but some people have to learn the hard way. Yes, he did manage to pick up a couple of orders, by lowering his fees to (would you believe) 8%, but the damage that was done by blasting that information out to all of his clients may never be undone.
For those of you out there that don’t believe that this is true, don’t put it to the test!!!
Jacob Conway
Posted
July 28, 2009 at
6:25 pm
Very sound advice, this is a confidence problem for most sales people, very important topic!
Michelle Robey
Posted
April 16, 2009 at
11:01 am
The truth is – when we drop our fees, we are cannibalizing our industry and hurting each other in the short AS WELL as the long term – because by doing so, we are basically conceding that our services are not valuable. I understand the competitive nature of our business during this economy, we all need to survive – but there are other ways. With new clients, one of the strategies I have used (only when all of the “traditional” objection handling fails) is to offer a “one time flat fee” on a specific position. This gives me the opportunity to work the order and prove my value. I position myself as an expert, demonstrate my points of difference through my ACTIONS (as opposed to my words!) and this helps to be seen as a value added partner (as opposed to a vendor) which helps to justify my higher fee in the future. The most important thing about this strategy is that I do NOT set a precedent of working at a lower PERCENTAGE RATE. Even if the total fee amounts to 15% for example, that’s not the way the agreement is written up – it is written up as a “one time flat fee”.
Of course, at the end of the day, if you don’t prove your value, you will have a tough time justifying the higher fee in the future….but that’s up to you!
Richard A Piske III
Posted
April 13, 2009 at
3:59 pm
Neal, see if you can get this concept across to the larger players as lowering prices seems to be their only strategy for growing market share. Richard Piske, The Staffing Cooperative
Adriana Estrada
Posted
April 13, 2009 at
3:45 pm
Hey Neil! It’s nice to be reminded that some of the best concepts related to the staffing business originated from my time at AOC. I just watched the “Lowering Your Prices” video and absolutely love your style…I can’t wait to share it with my colleagues who’ve heard me preach the same thing over and over again!
One comment I wanted to make was that I found the background music a little distracting. I like the idea of having music so I don’t know how much you’ve played around with different types of music and I thought it may be helpful to share my thoughts on that with you.
Thanks for the opportunity to be part of your training!!
Neil Lebovits
Posted
April 13, 2009 at
4:00 pm
Well, the great news is that I CAN! While an executive in the industry, I was prohibited from addressing publicly, as it could have been construed as collusion for price fixing. That said, it is nuts! so many reasons that aren’t even mentioned really on the video, including the inability to ever get it back up once you discount and also the fact that study after study after study has shown that people buy more when they perceive the value to be higher and that the price point actually impacts the perception! very counter-intuitive, but true!
7 Comments
Debbie C
I love it Neil! I did my best to educate an associate in this regard awhile back, but some people have to learn the hard way. Yes, he did manage to pick up a couple of orders, by lowering his fees to (would you believe) 8%, but the damage that was done by blasting that information out to all of his clients may never be undone.
For those of you out there that don’t believe that this is true, don’t put it to the test!!!
Jacob Conway
Very sound advice, this is a confidence problem for most sales people, very important topic!
Michelle Robey
The truth is – when we drop our fees, we are cannibalizing our industry and hurting each other in the short AS WELL as the long term – because by doing so, we are basically conceding that our services are not valuable. I understand the competitive nature of our business during this economy, we all need to survive – but there are other ways. With new clients, one of the strategies I have used (only when all of the “traditional” objection handling fails) is to offer a “one time flat fee” on a specific position. This gives me the opportunity to work the order and prove my value. I position myself as an expert, demonstrate my points of difference through my ACTIONS (as opposed to my words!) and this helps to be seen as a value added partner (as opposed to a vendor) which helps to justify my higher fee in the future. The most important thing about this strategy is that I do NOT set a precedent of working at a lower PERCENTAGE RATE. Even if the total fee amounts to 15% for example, that’s not the way the agreement is written up – it is written up as a “one time flat fee”.
Of course, at the end of the day, if you don’t prove your value, you will have a tough time justifying the higher fee in the future….but that’s up to you!
Richard A Piske III
Neal, see if you can get this concept across to the larger players as lowering prices seems to be their only strategy for growing market share. Richard Piske, The Staffing Cooperative
Adriana Estrada
Hey Neil! It’s nice to be reminded that some of the best concepts related to the staffing business originated from my time at AOC. I just watched the “Lowering Your Prices” video and absolutely love your style…I can’t wait to share it with my colleagues who’ve heard me preach the same thing over and over again!
One comment I wanted to make was that I found the background music a little distracting. I like the idea of having music so I don’t know how much you’ve played around with different types of music and I thought it may be helpful to share my thoughts on that with you.
Thanks for the opportunity to be part of your training!!
Neil Lebovits
Well, the great news is that I CAN! While an executive in the industry, I was prohibited from addressing publicly, as it could have been construed as collusion for price fixing. That said, it is nuts! so many reasons that aren’t even mentioned really on the video, including the inability to ever get it back up once you discount and also the fact that study after study after study has shown that people buy more when they perceive the value to be higher and that the price point actually impacts the perception! very counter-intuitive, but true!