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By agreeing with the objections. "It's too expensive." It is. "The price is ridiculous." It might be. "Why so expensive?" That's the price. "But it's SO simple." You're right. It's not your job to convince anyone —or to talk anyone into buying. Your job is to qualify early and bring those objections yourself at the beginning. The best way to defend your price is by making peace with your price. If you think it's too expensive, they will too.
Don't get invested into what you want to get. The moment you do that, you're too invested in the sale and giving your power away. You'll take the zero as a lose. You'll take the zero as non-appreciation. You'll confuse the zero with your self-worth. Start the other way around What could you give away for zero and help? Examples of Giving away for zero: deep knowledge in a general setting your insights and POV on a subject a recommendation to somebody else a recommendation to a competitor...
When you find a budget protector (one who sees costs as the core, efficiencies in the systems, how to spend less in order to gain more), no matter what you do, you won't make a case of how you're creating value for them and their organization —and pay accordingly. It'll be a battle for how to pay the least possible. Their driver is reducing costs. Everything that involves getting money out of the pocket is a expenditure. When you find them, look for the one in charge of value creation to be...
Business model. New business model. Revenue model. 3 different things that might overlap, and are not the same. Business model: how your business operates and the results it makes. New business model: how you get new deals. Revenue model: how you make money and where to find it. Missing the point and clarity on how they all work (together and intertwined) guarantees that your business will be out. It's not rocket science.
When you and your prospect are about to talk price, just drop the grenade —and shut up. The one who breaks the silence is the one who will give more concessions. Let them struggle with the price and give them space to ask for guidance.
First, willful ignorance. It's the avoidance of the facts and what's the situation. It's choosing to ignore all the red flags and moving away from making a decision. Why? Because it might feel uncomfortable. Or hard to make. Or the consequences are not the desired ones. Choosing not to see and know will not make the problem go away. It'll make the next phase of the situation inevitable. Choosing not to know so that it doesn't exist is magical thinking. It's wanting to have a sense of control...
"From a cost center to a profit center" What a nonsense. That implies that your profit is based on your costs control. That, magically, when you know your costs (or audit or improve them or whatever), you'll turn into profit. It implies that costs is the basis for profit per default. It also implies that to get to that profit, you need to be the most cost efficient and cost effective. That you rip off anything that is a cost. It implies that you follow best-practices. Bull.Shit. That also...
Getting too close to what the rules/views/templates/best-practices are can make you miss important details. Paper can hold anything. Reality doesn’t.
In a negotiation, the first thing you need to be comfortable with is zero. As in No Money, can't pay, won't pay, don't see the point on it. Having that figure clear in your head is the thing that will let you move forward. Right now, you have zero. If the deal doesn't happen, you'll still have zero. You didn't lose something that you didn't have in the first place. Zero means you're also free. You can say no when it's not a fit, when it doesn't make sense to you, or when you feel like it....
Anyone with money. Anyone who is willing to pay. Anyone that needs our thing. How do you reach to this specific anyone? If you can’t come up with a very clear specific description of who this “anyone” is, it’ll be hard for them to know you’re talking about them. For them to know of you. For them to recommend you to more like them. At the end of the day, anyone is no-one.