Holding the Line on Price

Practice Scenario

This one develops holding price in the seconds when a discount is the easiest thing to say. Late in a deal, a VP of Finance tells you a rival quote is about twenty percent cheaper and your number is over the figure she committed to her board — and asks you to come down. You answer out loud, then read a play-by-play. Nothing to bring — the guide checks your mic and asks when you're ready.

In this scenario you'll hold your price with a VP of Finance who has a cheaper quote on her desk and is asking you to come down.

You'll practice:

ask what is actually behind her number before you defend yours
move the conversation from price to what the outcome is worth
stay composed rather than defending with a feature list
if the price moves at all, trade for scope, term or timing

The skillHolding Price

Holding price is keeping the conversation on what the outcome is worth while a buyer pushes on the number. It is not refusing to move: a concession traded for scope, term or timing is part of it — one given away to end an uncomfortable moment is what it guards against. Most of it is decided in the few seconds before you answer.

It is a call every seller has made. She names the gap, you hear yourself say you'll see what you can do on the number, and the tension goes out of it — then you hang up without ever finding out what she was actually balking at. It comes back at the renewal from the lower start, and she now knows the first number was soft.

Diane closes off the easy exits. Discount early and she anchors on it and asks for the rest of the gap. Answer with features and she tells you she has read the spec sheet. Take a swipe at the rival quote and she defends her own procurement's diligence. Invent a return figure and she asks whether you will put it in writing. What she is really worried about sits behind the number, and she does not put it on the table until someone has made the case without it. She can be warmer and still be working the number.

The situation

You're late in a deal you've worked hard for. The buyer — Diane Chen, the VP of Finance at a mid-market contract manufacturer, the person who personally committed this year's capital number to her board — likes what you've shown her. But she has a rival quote on her desk that's about twenty percent cheaper, it's over the budget she's on the hook for, and she's asking you to come down.

You've got a few seconds. Hold the value. Don't flinch to a discount, don't get defensive, and don't trash the other quote. Acknowledge the pressure honestly, get curious about what's really driving the number, and reframe the conversation from sticker price to what the outcome is worth — and what the cheap option would actually cost her the day a line goes down and orders ship late to her own customers.

How it opens

a sharp VP of Finance, late in the deal, saysI'll be straight with you — I like what you've shown me, but you're coming in about twenty percent over the other quote on my desk, and it's over the number I've committed to my board. I need you to do better on price.

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