Why can’t sales be simpler? Why do purchasing managers always have to hammer you on price? You know you’ve got what they need; why is cost always number one on their list? Because that’s their job. And yours is to lead them in a more fruitful direction.<P.“Everyone begins with money – we’ve all grown up looking for the best price and the best deals,” says Alan Myers, a sales representative for the Minnesota-based Ameripride Linen and Apparel Services, a commercial launderer and provider of uniforms, linen and apparel. “We are programmed to look at price, but as a general rule, people are looking for more than just price.”

It’s your job to find out what that customer is looking for, says Myers. He advises asking open-ended questions to get at the customer’s true needs or problems. “A simple question I will ask is ‘How’s the quality of your product?’ If they answer, ‘Good,’ I ask, ‘Can you define good for me?’ This lets me find out exactly what they are looking for. Then, I can key in on what they really want, build up the value of my services and minimize the price issue,” he says.

If, for example, prospects are trying to get Myers to lower his price, but Myers knows that color selection is important to them, he focuses on the fact that his company offers more color selection than his competitors do. “Having 21 colors to offer will throw the price issue right out the door,” says Myers, “especially if the competitor only offers six color choices.”

Myers admits that there are times when a person is what he calls a “bottom-liner – a price buyer.”

“These are instances in which you have to take a look at what you’re going to get in return,” he says. “If I’m giving away price, I need to get something in return. Maybe I’ll get two or three referrals that will make it worthwhile. Ask yourself, ‘What’s the risk?’”

Price-chiseling situations arise all the time in Gil Strader’s business. “In today’s selling environment, you should expect it,” says Strader, a district manager for Syngenta, a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and marketing of crop protection products. “Most often, customers think they are doing their job by chiseling down the price or asking for add-ons from salespeople. I advise my team to plan for it. A salesperson will find few clients to call on who do not try to chisel you down or ask for add-ons beyond limits. Don’t feel threatened or take it personally. Even my best customers, who know me very well, will try to chisel me or force ‘wraparounds’ on a sales call. They are just doing their job and keeping me on my toes. My objective is for this to happen occasionally, not occur as a standard practice in meeting with our customers.”

Strader, whose sales team covers New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia, adds, “Sometimes it’s a shock – this art of negotiation. When your customer’s an expert negotiator, it can throw you into a tailspin, leading to unsuccessful results. You have to realize that this tactic is part of purchasers’ responsibility to their companies. Thinking of it this way always helps take the emotion of out it.”

Strader also advises his sales reps to list what they anticipate the customer will ask for and be creative when they think about it. “I tell them to think of every legal and ethical thing that the customer would ask for and have an answer for each,” he says. ”Figure out how much, (if any) flexibility in pricing, discounts and add-ons you will have in your proposal. Also, write down where and why you can’t go further. If you have a logical business explanation of why you can’t go lower, it will be accepted and understood.

“Build your reputation on value to the customer,” adds Strader. ”This is not done by playing some give-and-take negotiation game. You can accomplish this by knowing what you can do and need to do based on what your customer needs. When you build it in up front, you reinforce to your customer that you know him and his business, and you have already taken care of him to the highest level. When you can get across to the customer that he doesn’t have to ‘play the role of a customer,’ then you have won a big battle. Make it known that you will always plan and present the greatest value to him during your calls and that his time is too valuable to waste with chiseling down tactics. You need to let your customers know that they have won – or at least make them feel that way.”

Strader also lets customers know up front what decisions his sales reps can and can’t make. “Our salespeople do not have the authority to change price, terms and discounts associated with our brands,” he says. ”However, they can help develop and execute sales plans and strategies to capitalize on market opportunities. Promotional activities, training meetings and minor equipment assistance are all examples of what we can build into our customers’ plans.”

Finally, says Strader, “I have been working with some customers for more than 12 years. They are the same people with the same name on the business, in the same location, but customers constantly change. Their market environment changes, their bottom line changes, the people that they work around and report to change, and their customers change. So, before we leave every customer, we do a ‘mini search’ for change. If we find a change, it is something that we will need to build into our next call or proposal. This is a must.

“You want to build a solid, long-term relationship with your customers,” Strader concludes. “What better way to do this than to build the greatest value into your proposal up front. Don’t wait for the customer to ask or beat it out of you. Go in with options.”