Bidding
J: What is wrong with my price?
G: $130K is still a lot of money for training! We have never paid anyone so much!
J: I do not argue, it’s a lot of money. Additionally, 10 days of training is too long. Like, one day is enough for others, but two whole weeks, full time, is too much! Or, as we usually suggest, 20 days, 4 hours a day. Did I get you right?
G: Well, in general, yes, but isn’t that so?
J: It seems so. Well, let's start with how justified our timelines and prices are. The fact is that our terms have objective confirmation. We worked with specialists in pedagogy and psychology, and they confirmed that such a program requires at least 80 hours of lectures and practical classes. After all, we are not just talking about technology, but also forming and consolidating the skills. Solidifying the skills takes a lot more time than just lectures on how to do everything right. According to experts, 80 hours is the minimum. That’s why we added to this training three months of coaching. We reveal and correct the mistakes of sellers and further refine their skills. So, here we have the “either – or” situation. If you reduce time, you can simply get a zero result.
Now, the prices. The average price for two-day sales training is $20K. We believe that the quality of our training is adequate. We, as you see, set a reasonable price. The price for one-day training for managers, marketing and engineers is $5K.
The typical price of coaching is $800 a month per person. We charge $10K a month, as you can see, even at the lowest price, this is one session per month for one seller, although we work with each seller at least once a week. Our prices are very, very modest.
As you see, the timing and price are reasonable. But this is not going to convince you or your leadership. Let’s look at this issue from a different standpoint. You said your company has never paid so much for training. And what could happen to a company if it does pay this amount?
G: I don’t even know... I need to find out what budget we have allocated for training this year.
J: Can you call HR and find out?
G: Yes of course. [After the call]: I found out. This year we planned to train 12 salespeople, at $1.9K per person, but only two-day training was planned. That is, only $23K. Alas, our budget does not allow such costs.
J: Well, half of the price for training and coaching the sellers is already there. This is good news, right? We will talk separately how to train your management, marketing and engineers. In the meantime, focus on the most important thing: the training and coaching of sellers. So, what will happen to a company if it pays more than budgeted for?
G: Nothing special. Just pay from the reserve or transfer from another budget. The amount is not so big. All one needs to do is convince management to make a decision.
J: It’s quite reasonable. Now, what does the manager who exceeds the allocated budget risk?
G: If he fails to substantiate his decision, then he will be punished. Will not receive a bonus or, if the excess is substantial, may be demoted.
J: Well, let’s see how this trouble can be avoided. There are three components to any punishment: violation of the rule, justification and degree of revealed misconduct. In your case, if the misconduct is substantial, the justification is zero, and the misconduct is fully revealed, then this is followed by a serious disciplinary punishment. Correct?
G: Yes, exactly.
J: How can one prevent budget overruns for training becoming a violation of company rules?
G: I do not understand your question. Budget overruns are always a violation of financial discipline.
J: Well, let me state the question differently: how can we prevent the full payment of tuition from becoming a violation of financial discipline?
G: I see two options: ask the boss for the overrun or convince colleagues to join the project and combine several budgets.
J: Good. Second question: how to avoid the lack of justification?
G: Make the rationale obvious to management.
J: One more: how to avoid detection of “misconduct”?
G: Pay for tuition as another budget item.
J: Good. Four ways to avoid punishment were found. Contact the boss for the extra funds. Convince colleagues to join the project. Make the rationale clear. And pay for training as another budget item. Now let’s try to figure out how to do this using the features of win-win sales technology. So, how can we use the win-win sales technology to get the extra funds from boss?
G: Talk with my boss the way you did with me and convince him that the company will benefit from this training. Then he might allocate the necessary amount.
J: How use win-win sales technology to convince colleagues to join the project?
G: Show the marketing and engineering managers how they can achieve better results with this approach. Then they will help collect the necessary budget for training.
J: How to apply win-win sales technology to make the rationale obvious?
G: Within the existing budget, conduct partial training, for example, on revealing the real needs of customer, then conduct a project and demonstrate the results. This will be quite obvious justification.
J: And the last question: how to use win-win sales technology to pay for training under another budget item?
G: We need to see what budget we have allocated for innovations. I think you can find the right amount there.
J: You can try all these options together. Then each individual task will be simplified. A quarter of the missing amount can be obtained from each source, right?
Handling the Objection | 13 Dialogues on Win-Win Sales | Dealing with Debts