THIS BLOG ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE YULOFF CREATIVE WEBSITE

From the very beginning of this article, we would like to explain that it is our overriding belief that as an entrepreneur, you absolutely deserve to earn a fair profit for the excellence you bring to the table for your clients. Even though you are the best at what you do, it’s bound to happen at some point: a prospect asks you to lower your rates or provide a discount of some kind.

If you have been to our Small Business Breakthrough Bootcamp you have heard my story about the two brothers who own an auto parts rebuilding company that were a promotional product client. They were nice guys, but made it impossible for me to make a profit because each time I brought them a promotional product marketing idea, their comment was “Yes, but what is OUR price?” They were also a client that I had to chase for payment, which lowered my profit even more. I finally gave them the business card of a competitor and stopped calling on them. The time spent, plus the discounts required, taught me that there is some kinds of business we should not go after. You cannot be everything to every client, if you want to stay in business.

Still, as many companies tighten their budgets fearing lean times, you may begin to receive discount requests more often. Whether you choose to work with a customer’s pricing requests or you stand firm on your pricing, you should always have a few responses ready. Inspired by Michael Pici, we share information gathering replies to use when you hear the words “It costs too much.”

1. “Good question. Do you see price being your major obstacle to our deal?”

Sometimes, prospects just want to know whether you will consider reducing your prices. If they can’t get a lower price, they will move on. Other times, they may be okay paying your rate, but interested in receiving a discount if they can. By asking this question, you help determine their motivation.

2. “We can definitely have a conversation about specific numbers, but let’s make sure we’re on the same page about this solution being a good fit for your needs.”

With this response, you don’t take a discount off the table, but you remind the prospect that it’s not relevant until you’re both sure it’s a good fit. If you grant their request too soon, you will seem overly eager to close, which will work against you during the actual negotiation.

3. “Why?”

Buyers sometimes haggle just for the sake of it. Oftentimes, those who say they are “just wondering” will pay your full price. It’s important to understand where your prospect is coming from and customize the value exchange.

4. “I can offer you a discount if you [extend your contract, pay in full up front, buy a higher quantity].”

Both parties should be prepared to compromise in a negotiation. If your customer or prospect asks for a discount, consider non-monetary requests that allow you to open the negotiating possibilities beyond price. Have you noticed that your cell phone companies offer you specials, but you must extend the term of your contract, usually by two more years?

5. “What would you consider a reasonable discount?”

This question allows you to discern whether your customer or prospect can afford your product, or they’re not sold on the full value. They might even be looking for a nice way to say “NO” to your offerings, so this acts as a reality test.

6. “Perhaps a different product might fit your needs better.”

If they don’t have the budget for your solution, offer a less expensive or less comprehensive option. We have four different coaching programs, so that a prospect can choose their own discount but understand that it comes with a lower level of service. The service you will offer is still incredible, it is just with less time, or features.

7. “What would need to happen to make our offering worth the investment you were quoted?”

This is a smart way to uncover gaps in your conversation and identify objections that may still exist. It’s a chance to add or reinforce the value your solution provides and to earn full price if you meet the prospect’s needs.

8. “What if we connect next quarter? Do you think you’d have more budget open up then?”

If your prospect is truly enthusiastic about working with you but simply doesn’t have the budget, consider leaving them in your sales funnel, and continue to follow up with them in the future. We have found that this can sometimes be the best option for our business and the prospect. You may want to do what we have done: add into your offerings that you do not want them to buy if it is financial hardship. It makes for a stronger long-term relationship, which, after all is what you are after. I remember using this tactic when I sold direct mail advertising for a weekly publication. If a small business owner did not have the budget to run ads the entire year, I helped them focus on one or two times a year when it would be the most beneficial for them to run ads with us.

9. Help your prospect find a way to pay for your services:

When asked for a discount, we remind our prospects that we have a referral program and that they could easily cover the investment of their coaching program by “not keeping us a secret.” You can check out how we run our program (and sign up!) at YuloffCreative.com/affiliate.

10. Offer a variety of products in your presentation.

When selling a product that has a wide variety of options, are you showing some of those variations when you sell? When a client asked me for a pen with their logo, I ask a few questions to narrow down what to share with them. You may have questions that help you, too. I ask: “Are they for mass distribution or to impress?” By finding out how the client is going to use the pen, I can narrow the range down.

Another example happened recently. We were shopping for a new microwave oven and the saleswoman asked ‘what is most important, price, power or other features?’ After I told her how good at sales she was, I was able to tell her that I wanted the least expensive microwave in this power range but it had to have a turntable.’ I was VERY happy with the 3 options she showed me and it was very easy to say “I’ll take that one” instead of “I have to shop around a bit.”

BONUS ANSWER:

Your bonus tip for this article was found at the beginning of this paragraph. Value added bonuses are a much better way to satisfy a prospect that is intent on slashing your bottom line. Your challenge will be to find the thing you can offer as a value-added bonus rather than succumb to discounting. We can show you how to do that using content you already have, or can easily create.

Everybody wants a deal. In a tight market, you may be tempted to give in to the discount request from prospects. The smarter move is to have your responses ready when your customers ask for a deal. This is how you position yourself as a true value provider instead of selling yourself short.

There will be times when you may decide to walk away from a sale. Your peace of mind and your balance sheet deserve to both be positive. When that is a challenge you are facing, remember this article and that you were given permission to move on to the next prospect who will respect what you do and appreciate what you do for them. If you want help finding your line, your point of no return, connect with us at FreeMarketingConsultation.com and we will talk about how to properly set your sales parameters to ensure you

THIS BLOG ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON THE YULOFF CREATIVE WEBSITE

We have all read The Statistic. The one that quotes that it costs between five and ten times more to get a new client than it does to retain a current one. That is still true.

Here is an example: When we have a client re-order 250 t-shirts with their logo on the front and the back, the acquisition cost was zero, because the client reached out to us. When one of our Private Business Coaching clients renews their yearly agreement, the acquisition cost was zero, so we are able to lower the cost of their business coaching investment.

Like you, before we had that client, we had to get them to know who we are. You had to get your clients to know who you are too, right? In the drawing of an average sales funnel (on the left), you lead your prospect through steps to have them to get to be aware of you. They have to get to know you and have an interest and desire to work with you. There are costs involved. It could be your time and an entry fee to go to a Chamber event. Or it could be an e-mail marketing campaign which also takes your time and money to place the ads. It could also be a direct mail marketing campaign which takes your time to design the piece (or hire a graphic artist) plus printing, preparing and postage.

Let’s talk about your Client Retention Plan.

What are you doing to make sure they are motivated to keep buying from you and your company? Another way to ask this is: “Do your clients still Know, Love, and Trust you?” All of our clients, and yours too, have lots of options in the world. How are you making yourself incredibly important, vital, to your customer’s success?

In our Small Business Breakthrough Bootcamps, we discuss the concept of Becoming a Category of One, which I believe was created by legendary E-marketer Dan Kennedy. When broken down, Category of One means that you are able to niche down your potential clients so much that you are always the obvious choice. Even when they meet someone who is similar to you, offering services that might, on the surface, seem similar, they would stick with you because of what you do for them.

An important point to add here is that “I Give Them Great Service” is definitely NOT what we are talking about here. When we speak to audiences of business owners, we have had every one of them close their eyes while we ask them to do one thing: If you give great service raise your hand and keep it up. We always get 100% of the hands. Great Service, and while we are at it, Great Pricing, is something that every business, says they do, so it is not a Difference Creator.

Here are 6 strategies to retain your current clients:

The first strategy is a rather easy one. Connecting on Social Media messaging. This is partnered with your text messaging, phone chats and email. It is basically connecting with your clients the way they want to connect. Add to this your promotion of your clients on social media profiles and you will move this ahead greatly.

The second tactic in your Client Retention Plan goes along with the first. It is referring your clients to other clients or anyone you meet that you think would be a solid connection for your client. We try all the time to send our clients business. It will be a very definite way for your clients to see the tangible value of working with you.

This is a very easy thing to do, when you keep it foremost in your mind to be a referral machine!

Every month (pre-COVID), we held Monthly Marketing Mondays for a couple of different Chambers of Commerce. In those 90-minute workshops we make a lot of new contacts with business owners. In that situation, we want to make a positive impression, so using this second tactic is important. We listen to those business owner’s need, wants, and desires and our antenna goes up for when we can refer them to someone in our network that will help them.

Recently, we met an allergy expert in the morning, and by the end of that afternoon, we had two referrals for her: an acupuncturist that they were later able to pass leads back and forth and another business owner that happened to mention “sorry I am late, I’ve been sneezing all day – must be my allergies.” When you are open to the Business Universe, you are rewarded. The bottom line is that one of them is now a private business coaching client.

Your third strategy is to use Business Education

Help your clients develop their business by giving away some of your brilliance. We always invite our clients to come to our live 2-hour workshops that we do for various chambers and to our Small Business Breakthrough Bootcamps. When they are there, we are able to talk about them and refer other attendees to them (Remember #2 above? This is an easy place for us to promote you). We also give business education through our blog which goes out to our email list. You may be reading this because you are on that list. We use our podcasts and The Marketing Checklist View Cast as Business Educational opportunities as well. We always ask our audiences who learned something new or remembered something that they used to know. The response here is also always 100%.

If you have ideas for other Business Education, please send us an email to Info@YuloffCreative.com and let us know what you would like us to write or speak about.

The fourth method you can use in your Client Retention Plan is harder than you would think.

It’s called “Just Showing Up.” It could be in the form of an “I was thinking of you. Thank you!” text. You could send them a personalized card or appropriate gift. Making it personal is important. We use an online greeting card and gifting program for this. If you’d like to try it for free, email us at info@YuloffCreative.com

We have a private coaching client that was expanding her quite successful sports merchandise company to add promotional products. How did we coach her to start from scratch? Show up in front of the local business owners. “Wow,” you may be thinking, “she paid for you to tell her that?” Yes. Along with ideas on improving the sales in her first business, we had to remind her how she got her FIRST business off the ground. Show up,+Show Your Products=Make Sales. It is the same formula, but a different industry. With our holding her accountable, she is off to a great start. And I got a new Red Sox jacket that is WAY cool.

Here is another idea that we witnessed this past Thanksgiving. It is so good, we are thinking of utilizing it for ourselves and our clients. There is a realtor in our area named Karen Piet. She sends this email card to her clients offering a free pie for Thanksgiving. The kicker is that they have to come to her office in order to get it. This gives her a chance to get her clients into her world, and make them think about real estate. She gets a few quality minutes alone with them.

This leads us to the next marketing tactic for your Client Retention Plan. Similar to number four: Actual Human Interaction.

If you are giving them that gift mentioned above, you might want to consider delivering it in person. You might want to pick up the phone and thank them from buying from you. Can you imagine getting a call from a restaurant that you went to for the very first time and it is the owner thanking you for coming and asking how everything was? How about getting that call from your dry cleaner? Or your dentist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, tow truck company or podiatrist asking how you are two days later? YES, this is time consuming, but it is helping guarantee a return visit to your company, for a repeat purchase. You can also share tips on how to get the most out of your product or your service.

My optometrist does not make a personal call, but I DO get a survey email each time I am there, asking how I enjoyed their service. They also, by the way, send a series of text messages confirming my appointments.

Last is to remember that at the beginning of this blog, we talked about being able to niche down your clientele. That does not mean you have only one demographic or psychographic type of customer. You could have several avatars, or Harriets as we call one of our specific client types (aka target market). You may want to split each of your segments into different Harriets so that you can connect with them on a more personal basis. Creating messages that are very personal to each of your Harriets will let them know you care about them and their business.

There is an old jazz version of the Simon and Garfunkel song called Keep the Customer Satisfied. The first time I heard it was in high school. It has always reminded me that our clients, YOUR clients, are our entire reason for our businesses to exist. Let them know how much you care and are grateful.

We would like to help you and your business get larger, faster.

If you would like some personalized ways you create your Client Retention Plan, head to www.FreeMarketingConsultation.com. After you answer a few easy questions, you will get an invitation to choose a time for your free 30-minute success phone call with us. We will know more about you and can help you create