We’re in the process of putting together a one-day seminar based on the book, How to Sell at Prices Higher Than Your Competitors, so we’ve been talking a lot around here about why price selling is so stubborn – why even those who sell complex, high-ticket products are willing to haggle like they’re selling produce at a farmer’s market.

So I took notice of Warren Greshes’ blog post about beating price:

Could it be that you like selling price because it’s easy? And that maybe what it takes to duplicate great customers is just too hard to standardize? And instead of admitting that you don’t want to do the hard work and effort it takes to duplicate these great customers, it’s just easier to convince yourself that price is the way to go?

That’s exactly it. Long-term relationships – both professional and personal – are harder to build. They take more work, more sacrifice, better planning and far more commitment. But, the payoff is far greater. Most salespeople simply don’t realize that the choice is theirs – they can either put in the hard work that it takes to build a relationship or they can keep going out and pounding on doors looking for new customers.

Consider these statistics from Peter Drucker:

Your chances of selling to someone you’ve never done business with are 1 in 14.
Your chances of selling to someone you’ve done business with in the past are 1 in 4.
Your chances of selling to someone who’s a current customer are 1 in 2.

Sure, you can keep going out and finding new prospects…you can make sure you offer them a lower price than anyone else…and many of them will buy from you. But what happens the next time that customer makes a purchase?

Take a look at this clip from a recent training program on value-selling:

So many salespeople just don’t realize how much easier selling could be if they stopped focusing on price and started building value – if they stopped pushing so hard for the next sale and started focusing on their long-term relationships with their customers.

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