As we’ve been saying for a very long time, Sales Operations groups should be paying attention to both revenue AND profit. Simply put, bad things happen…usually by surprise…when everyone is focused on the top line and the bottom line is ignored.
Now, when it comes to profits there are very few things with as much leverage as pricing. Small moves in realized price produce magnified impacts to the bottom line…positive or negative. For example, depending on your margin levels and operating costs, a seemingly small 10% discount can slash the profit contribution of a deal by over 50%.
But here’s the thing…
While the logic of holding the line on discounts and pricing pressure may be unassailable, the emotions are what often get in the way. In the heat of the moment, a salesperson’s heightened fear of losing a deal can lead them to throw rationality out the window, forget all of their training, ignore the realities on the other side of the table, and fall for every trick in the book.
That said, Sales Ops is in a unique position to help by providing a more rational “backstop” to these emotional dynamics. Here are three ways Sales Ops can help reinforce a salesperson’s spine when pricing a deal:
- Reference the differential value cases. Sales Ops should know the various value props and differential value cases inside and out; and be able to remind salespeople as to what the buyers are really getting for their money.
- Show where similar deals are ending up. Showing the prices a salesperson’s peers have been able to achieve for similar deals in similar situations can help assuage their fears and bolster their confidence.
- Call out negotiation tricks and tactics. When you’re able to identify buyers’ behaviors as being nothing more than negotiation tricks or procurement strategies, those tricks will very often lose their power.
These are just a few of the many strategies and tactics outlined in the on-demand webinar, The Fundamentals of Effective Pricing for Sales Operations. If you want to be more than just a bystander or pair of hands when it comes to pricing and quoting (and you should), please check it out—it’s a solid primer on one of the most powerful, yet least understood, drivers of financial performance.
The Fundamentals of Effective Pricing for Sales Operations
Most Sales Ops teams are unable to contribute to pricing and discounting in a meaningful way because they lack pricing knowledge. In this on-demand webinar, we cover the fundamental pricing concepts that Sales Ops teams need to understand.
Building a Better Bid Desk
Large bids and quotes can have huge impacts on everything from revenue and profit to capacity utilization and strategic positioning. In this on-demand training session, learn strategies and tactics for improving the effectiveness of your bid desk.
