Holden Advisors Blog

Holden Advisors has the privilege of working with some of the top global sales organizations which affords us visibility into challenges that leaders in those organizations face on a daily basis. We're frequently asked about these common challenges because they might be applicable to issues encountered by other companies. The following represent the top three themes that we see across our sales performance engagements that Holden Advisors has encountered over the past 10 years.

Not every company has a pricing department. Here we explain why they are incredibly important players in the price, cost, revenue equation. 

Big or small, almost all B2B companies have to sell to large, powerful companies because they believe that the "big win" keeps the plant running or resources at capacity. Those negotiations are often tough and focus on price. “Tough” isn't quite the right word – how about brutal? Those big companies, or gorillas, control a lot of revenue, and like it or not, we have to sell to them. As a result of those brutal negotiations, the oftentimes smaller seller will lose money or barely break even. 

Too often, sales teams rely too heavily on discounts or service giveaways to close deals. This leads to a host of issues including leaving money on the table, teaching customers to negotiate hard for discounts and freebies, and eroding the customer's perception of your value.  

When it comes to negotiation, very few sellers spend enough time planning. I encourage you to carve out time to get centered and think about some of the upcoming negotiations you have. There’s a lot to consider, but let's start by thinking differently about your customers and the ways you engage with them.

Pricing strategies are often the last thing entrepreneurs tackle before launching new businesses. It’s a tricky problem to get right. Price too high and you lose potential customers. Too low, and you lose money. To point you in the right direction, here’s a quick step-by-step product pricing strategy to help entrepreneurs get it right. 

You can’t have confidence in your price unless you have confidence in the value you deliver to your customer’s business. Your products and services provide financial value to your customers by increasing their revenue, reducing their costs, or helping them to mitigate risks. It’s really that simple. How do you build that value understanding? By going out and talking to your customers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us many lessons, not the least of which is the value of a reliable supply chain.

Why is pricing so difficult? And why do so many companies get it wrong?

Imagine if you could banish “no-decision” from your sales funnel. More deals that travel all the way to the win/loss finish line, less wasted sales time, more essential customer needs resolved, and a higher share of wallet. What’s standing in your way? Is it the wrong solution, an inadequate business case, inability to get budget, or something else? In our experience, the real problem boils down to one thing—the inability to create and build a business vision that propels your customer’s organization to embrace change.

Top-performing strategic account managers get this. They sell potential. They build a shared vision around the ability to address a compelling business need or market opportunity and build the scaffolding of commitment to make this vision a reality.

Top performers exhibit three essential characteristics, and they know how to deploy each trait based on the sales situation:

            1. Divergent Thinking vs. Convergent Thinking
            2. Learning vs. Teaching
            3. Curiosity Quotient (CQ) vs. Intelligence Quotient (IQ)