How to Avoid Discounting Services in Consulting Proposals

Last minute discounting has become so prevalent among professional services firms that many have come to depend on it as their default sales strategy. Employing a go-to-market strategy of being the lowest cost provider is one thing, but dramatic, tactical discounting on every deal will erode your company's margins and leave you digging a deeper and deeper hole in which your firm will ultimately bury itself.

I don't want to give you the impression that discounting is never appropriate. I can think of three scenarios where it is required:

• When a firm has mis-priced their offering. Let's face it. Times have changed. Competition is fierce. And yes, as much as we don't like to admit it, prices and fees have been forced down in some markets. If everyone else is now selling what you sell for $100 an hour and you're still selling it, just as you always have, for $200 and you can't prove you can deliver a dollar's worth of additional value for the client, your pricing is too high--way too high. Call it a discount, or call it a price adjustment, in this situation you've got face reality and sell your products at a price the market will bear, or you won't sell very much at all.
• As a token concession to close the deal. I don't see a problem with "rewarding" a buyer for signing an order within your timeframe, for example. Understand, I would much rather provide other concessions that don't cost my firm money and don't educate my client that whenever I am going to ask them for an order, I am going to give up part of my margin and commission. But I do live in the real world and understand that for my clients, pricing concessions are sometimes required to get the deal signed.
• When you haven't done an adequate job of selling the unique business value your product or service will provide the client. My clients will tell you I am never happy in a situation like this, but if you've not done the best selling job, and there is some room for a discount, and you need the deal, discounting may be better than losing the deal on principal.

How do you avoid discounting?

I talk a lot in my book, How Winners Sell, about the fact that to succeed in business to business sales today, you must sell business improvement, not products or services. That means differentiating yourself from your competition in the unique value you, your products and services, and your company can provide toward your client achieving their corporate, divisional, business unit, department, or government agency goals.

Have you transitioned into the mode of creating client demand by targeting accounts--getting in before they know they have a need, and establishing yourself as a knowledgeable, trusted, and patient advisor? If not, you'll continue to be on the receiving end of all sorts of one-sided client demands, mostly taking the form of answering requests for information, doing presentations, demonstrations, fighting the constant battle against having your offering commoditized by the client, and being on the receiving end of strong demands for discounts.

We've been taught over the years to bundle our products and services where possible to provide the client with a single investment number. That way, we were told, they can't nickel and dime you, and can't slice up your offering, able to say no to pieces they don't want or need. But now times have changed and when you think about it, that's exactly what you want to do.
If you sell products or services that can be componentized, sold in pieces or modules, or in phases, you're potentially in good shape.

Scenario

You know your competition is going to come in with a substantial discount, as they have before. Your sales effort must include:

• Assuring yourself that the client is not making a decision solely or primarily on price. This question must be asked again and again of key decision makers.
• Getting agreement from the real buyer that you understand their business objectives and that your offering can help them achieve those objectives. This method does not work unless you are dealing with the real buyer.
• Finding unique areas of additional value (on top of their existing requirements) that you can provide through the capabilities of your product or service offering.
• Management support for potentially selling part of your offering now, and the rest later on rather than selling the whole thing at a discounted price.

In cases where you know your competitors will be discounting, you'll need to offer several investment options to your client. Alan Weiss, the consultant's consultant, suggests providing three opportunities for them to say yes.

If you offer your prospect three options to buy--let's say for the sake of labels, Platinum, Gold, and Silver--and you've done a good job of selling the business value of your offering--you can avoid having to concede more than a nominal discount.

Your plan here should be not to discount, but rather to back value out of your proposal to meet the prospect's desired investment level. Presenting three options lets you do exactly that. The client gets to determine how much they want to invest and will enjoy the resulting ROI associated with that level of investment.

Here are the three options:

The Platinum Option
- Gets the client what they need (and want)
- Highest level of investment. You might ask for a 10-30% premium over the Gold level for this option, depending on the value you believe you can deliver to the client.
- All the features, modules, components, capabilities available
- Your best resources
- Quickest time to value
- Priority service -- A special 800 number, top of the queue, 24 x 7 x 365
- The highest ROI
- Other perks, such as quarterly meetings with your CEO, special invitation events, input into your product development plans;

The Gold Option
- Gets the client all of what they need (and a few wants)
- Budgeted level of investment. This is aimed right at the prospect's budget level.
- Most/many of the features, modules, components, capabilities
- Proven, talented and dependable resources
- Quick time to value
- An attractive ROI
- Other perks, such as quarterly meetings with your VP of Service, special invitation events

When your prospect tells you your competition has come in with a very low price, you discuss calmly with them the fact that you have an option (the Silver option) that will provide them with what they need at a competitive price. You will already have differentiated yourself from the competition in a number of areas: understanding the client's business, industry, opportunities, challenges, competitive and client pressures, and built rapport with the real buyer. In addition, you've professionally educated your prospect on the risks that befall companies who depend on tactical discounting to win.

The Silver Option
- Gets the client most of what they need now, and the rest in "phase two," next quarter or next year
- The lowest level of investment, aimed 10-30% below the Gold level, depending on how severe a discount the competition is going to offer
- Some of your total array of features, modules, components, capabilities. The rest can be purchased later.
- Talented and dependable resources
- Reasonable time to value
- An ROI that meets their corporate requirements

What will the client do? The may tell you they want your Platinum option at the Silver price. If you've done an effective job selling the business value of your product or service and built a relationship with the real buyer based upon trust, you can look them in they eye and tell them it just isn't possible. What will they do then? My clients tell me that more often than not, they'll go for the Gold or Platinum option