When to Discuss Price in Your Sales Calls

BY Jessica Helinski
Featured image for “When to Discuss Price in Your Sales Calls”

Some new data sheds light on how top salespeople discuss price during sales calls. These findings can help you make your own calls more profitable. Chris Orlob, senior director of product marketing at Gong​.io, reports on the results in a recent post for CloserIQ. He also discusses the the value of data in the sales industry. “Sales has been one of the few professions that has gotten by without being totally data-​driven,” he writes. “Many sales professionals almost take pride in the fact that sales is an art, not a science. But technology is starting to turn the tide, transforming sales into a more scientific discipline.” Analysis of sales conversations can reveal what is effective and what isn’t.

Interested in how data can help you? Orlob shares great insight from the study, which is based on 25,000 B2B sales calls using natural language processing and machine learning algorithms. One such insight involves when to bring up costs. Orlob reports that the top-​performing reps discussed price in the 40–49-minute window of their calls. In contrast, average-​performing reps discussed price at various points throughout the conversations.

Orlob notes that the key takeaway from this bit of data is that it’s vital to build value before talking price. “One of the keys to ensuring this happens is architecting your sales conversations in a way that pricing naturally comes up at the end of the call, rather than somewhere in the middle or beginning,” he explains. “That way, you have the opportunity to establish value before your prospect prematurely asks about price.”

Thinking about your own sales calls, where does talk of price generally pop up? If you discuss it intermittently, you should consider adjusting your strategy. While data-​driven sales is still an emerging concept, you can get a step ahead of the competition with these insights!


Share: