At some point, every salesman has been in a bidding war. Inevitably there will be a company advertising a large project, and will have salesmen from several companies come in. There is an unspoken understanding of a high reward at stake, but the lowest bid will usually get the money. In these situations, it is not uncommon for a company to bring a quote from one company as an attempt to lowball a competitor so they can have the best price and the best product and service.
What is the problem here? Having your cake and eating it too hurts the competitive landscape and the companies being pitted against the other. It can be easy for prevailed information to be shared and used by other companies.
How can this be overcome? A salesman has to give some unique information to distinguish themselves from competitors, and a quote is needed for evaluation. These two pieces cannot be excluded from a proposal, so what should they do?
Mattson discusses this in his 45th concept of The Sandler Rules Of Selling. He first tells salesmen to go with their gut. The sales industry is based on relationships and reading people. A good salesmen should be able to ask enough questions to get the sense of what kind of person he is dealing with. From there, the use of third-party stories can help initiate a connection and bridge of trust between parties.
For example; “Thanks for taking the time to meet with me today, I am happy to address those concerns you brought up. I understand we are on the higher end of your range, but here’s my problem; last month I had a prospect who told me they wanted to work with us, and I stuck my neck out for him to get a lower rate. He took that quote and leveraged it against his first choice. If I can get my manager to approve this, and I send this over to you, am I going to regret it?”
Often calling out the behavior and asking pointed questions like this can get the prospect to open up and be more honest. Trust your gut and don’t be afraid to use stories like these to protect yourself and your company while trying to gain business from new clients.
BoweryJE22
It is extremely difficult for a salesperson to navigate how to avoid getting stuck in a bidding war. Your solution of asking lots of questions and using third-party stories is a great solution to many of these potential situations! I especially appreciated word-for-word the response example you gave.