Cheap Prospects Equal Cheap Customers

Have you ever stopped to wonder why some salespeople never seem to have to cut their price to close a deal and other salespeople offer discounts all the time?
Yes, there are a lot of reasons why this can be the case, but one problem that gets overlooked too often is the source of the sales prospects.
Doesn’t it make sense that cheap prospects would naturally become cheap customers?
Sure it does.
If that’s the case, then our challenge is to make sure we’re not dealing with cheap prospects.   (Obviously, I don’t recommend being blunt and asking the prospect right away if they’re cheap. Not a good idea.)

A better approach is to ask the prospect questions early in the process to determine if they’re even in the range of somebody you would want to work with.
You can’t let your own preconceived notions overpower fact.  In my own business, I’ve had many clients who on the surface you would think would have little potential to hire me, but have not hesitated to do so.
And of course the opposite is true too. There have been more than a few clients who clearly have the financials to hire me, but have not done so due to one reason or another.
Over the years in working with thousands of salespeople, I’ll share with you the two ways to remove the cheap customer from the process.  First is by asking them questions about how they’ve made similar decisions in the past.  
A question like this alone won’t give you solid facts to base a decision on, but you can use it as a leading indicator of how they will lean.
Another way to determine if they’re cheap is by presenting to the customer your plan by way of a trial close.  How they respond to your trial close will tell you a lot.  If the prospect responds negatively exclusively to the price, then you have a strong indicator.
Now if this same person has given you indications in other ways about how cheap they are, then you can now rest assured you’re 95% accurate in assuming they’re cheap.
Yes, you could go ahead and continue to try to close them — that’s certainly an option, but here’s my view:
A customer who fights you on price early on in the process and through the close is most likely going to be a customer who will fight you on everything else.
In the end, you might wind up with a sale, but at a very low level of profit. Your profit will get sucked out because of the work you have to do supporting them and keeping them happy.


Mark Hunter
http://thecustomercollective.com