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Should you negotiate pricing with customers? I share my strong opinion on this. This video is specifically for my retail roofing companies. Do you agree or disagree?
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- Started in D2D roofing sales in 2011
- Former Roofing Company COO (multi-state)
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So she didn't negotiate.
This comes up a lot.
And I had someone by the way, comment
on a recent video, what did I think of
drop calls, meaning dropping the price
of the home and dropping the price one
more time and having those price tiers.
And, you know, it's crazy as
those tiers that I hear about.
And I hope by the way,
let me take a step back.
I might offend some people
and I just want to say.
It's not my way or the highway
and I'm not always right.
And what works for me doesn't
necessarily need to work for you.
So, as I share my own opinion on this,
if it's working for you, don't change it.
If it aligns with your values
and it's fine, that's all good.
I'm just sharing my view of things.
And the way that I teach sales is how
I personally like to be treated in a
sales experience and how I like to buy.
So back to this whole drop
call thing, what the comment
was is that you come in at X.
And that you immediately have a
price to drop by XML, which was a
significant percentage, 10 to 15%.
If I remember right.
And then ending at about a 25%
discount, which was rock bottom.
And to me, the first thing that comes
to mind when I'm in that experience.
This is a gimmick.
You're just trying to
take me for what I can.
And it reminds me of the horrendous
taste that I had in my mouth.
When I went to go get a gym membership
years ago, well, over a decade and
I sit down and there's no priceless.
The guys sitting across the table
from me and he puts out his little
legal pad and he writes down a
number and slides it over the desk.
And I look at it and I'm like $89 a month.
That's where it started.
$89.
We go back and forth, drops to 60 drops
to 40 through further negotiation,
into deciding to prepay for the year.
Got it down to $21 a month,
$21 from $89 a month.
Now, do you think that I
walked out of there feeling.
For a minute.
I said, Hey, I got a deal.
And then, you know what?
I thought, every time I went to
that gym, I said, these folks
are a bunch of sleazeballs.
Cause this is a gimmick, no
displayed pricing, trying to
literally take me for what they can
and looking for the easiest sale.
And I'll be the first to tell
you this stuff works, but there's
a difference between what.
In what feels right.
And there's a balance, it's a,
it's a delicate balancing act.
And I want to give you just one more
example, and this is a true story.
This last weekend, I was calling different
companies to purchase one of the.
Pager type systems for elderly,
for my grandmother, that
she could wear on her neck.
And if anything happens,
she can push the button.
And I had no idea how aggressive
these companies are from a
sales organization standpoint.
And one of them, this is homework.
It's a delicate time.
It's not a fun thing to work to shop for.
And if you've ever been through something
like this, you know, like you only begin
shopping for this, not in a great spot.
And this guy on the phone is
hard selling me and pushing them.
Like, you know, I got
to talk with the family.
I got to see if someone's out there
that can help get this thing set up.
And he's like, yeah, well, if you do
this today and today's price, and then
if you do it now, and if you upgrade
for the year, Hey, can I call you back?
What's a good number.
No, you know what?
I'm on commission.
And you won't get me.
So let's just close the deal
right now and we'll do this.
And I'm like, listen, I
got to think about it.
Well, if I can give you a free
shipping, would you know how about if
I dropped the price even more and it
just keeps going down, down, down and
down and it like, it was relentless.
And then not only did I choose a different
company, which by the way I chose.
Because the salesperson had
empathy, they didn't negotiate.
There was a fixed price and she was
focused on answering my questions.
And I literally picked up the phone
for the first company that had robot.
Like, I shouldn't say robot.
It felt like that because the guy
was actually leaving me messages.
I am not joking.
I got four calls within 10
minutes, two voicemails within
three minutes apart, a piece.
And I picked up the phone and I
said, Matt, take me off your list.
I don't like the way
you guys are doing this.
Because it's not.
So you can tell, I get a
little passionate about this.
So I want to answer this question right
now, because even though I've been
very passionate about this negotiation
thing, there is a time and a place
that I do think it's appropriate.
And I want to talk about
those pros and cons.
So let's get to it.
Should you negotiate first,
welcome or welcome back.
My name is Adam Benjamin.
The.
Everything that I do here is designed
to give you and your team, the
tools and resources that I wish
I had when I was getting going in
order to fast track my success.
So thanks for being here.
And my mission is to help you and
your team smash your income goal
and give every customer an amazing.
And that amazing experience by
the way, is a memorable one.
I call it the sales aftertaste.
And that's the experience at that
sales per excuse me, that the customer
has with you, the salesperson and
how they remember that experience.
And it's either great or not great
whether they buy from you or not.
And again, it's a balance to blend
what works in an, in a sales way while
also treating people like humans.
So let's get to it.
Should you negotiate?
There are going to be arguments
for saying yes, there are going
to be arguments for saying no.
And they're going to be
arguments for saying maybe.
And I would like to begin that right
now, by the way, spoiler alert.
I fall into the maybes meaning sometimes
or conditionally, and I'm going to
quantify what that means in a minute.
So the arguments for, yes.
Should you negotiate?
Some companies know that customer.
Don't always ask to negotiate.
You'll get people to say
yes at a higher amount.
That means higher ticket prices,
more profit, more commission.
Again, I'm about treating
people equally in my company.
I don't negotiate.
I have purposely structured our
investments at the lowest possible.
They can competitively where we
can stand behind it and offer the
best value and offer a transparent
experience for all of our new customers.
You also see, so I'd fallen
into the no category.
Meanwhile, you go in, you buy a Mercedes,
you buy a BMW, you buy a truck, a Ford, a
Chevy, a Dodge, can you negotiate there?
The answer is, yes.
You walk into a Toyota Scion dealership.
Can you negotiate now?
I don't know if they've
updated their policy.
So if they have, you can drop
a comment and share that with
me, but their whole entire brand
positioning the beginning was no.
And again, it, because it
provides a transparent pricing.
I work with companies
by the way that do both.
So if you're one of my
companies that's doing.
That's cool.
You'll see the conditionally,
maybe you'll you'll swap your
approach room in the no camp.
I work with one of the region's top
retail companies and they don't negotiate.
They have one price that
they come in in the Homeland.
That's it.
And again, it provides transparency
because what we don't want is for
that customer to always think,
well, what more would that.
And this might date me, which
I get isn't that difficult?
I'm 35.
The book, uh, when I was growing up
was give a mouse, a cookie, and the
whole story was he given us a cookie.
He asks for a glass of milk.
You give him a glass of milk.
He asks for chair, you give him a chair.
He wants a table.
You give him a table.
He wants.
And again, it's that whole
thing take, take, take.
When we start negotiating people
see no end, you get taken advantage
of, or they think that you're
trying to take them for too much.
It's just how it goes.
And again, I sell the way that
I experienced it in the way that
I want to buy my position is
generally no, no negotiation.
If you must, I want to get into the
maybe or the conditional side right now.
Right?
Quick disclaimer, if it
ain't broke, don't fix it.
If you disagree with me, I invite a
healthy conversation in the comments
and I invite you to drop it again.
I learn as we go, I learned from others
and my mission isn't to say, hello.
I am the say all end all.
That's not it at all.
I'd be a total arrogant moron to
tell you I have all the answers.
But my reason in sharing these
conflicting viewpoints is to foster a
rich discussion in that comment section.
So we can learn from each other
because what works for this person
might not work for this person,
or it might be required because
everyone in your market negotiates.
So you just got to roll with it.
So if you have, uh, something
to add, drop it in the comments.
Now let's talk on the conditional side.
I'm going to change that word.
Maybe to conditionally.
I just didn't have room for it before.
What do I mean by conditionally,
meaning on certain conditions.
So when you give something, the customer
also has to give something the way I don't
like negotiation is you're a customer.
I want a thousand dollars off.
Okay.
Done.
No, if you are negotiate.
You are going to give something in
return for something that in return
can be a commitment, a commitment by
a certain date, uh, giving a deposit,
uh, a number of referrals, anything
that they're giving in exchange.
Okay.
Now disclaimer, hail claims, wind claims.
Hurricane claims St.
Luke's.
Pay deductibles.
They need to pay their deductible.
You're not paying their deductible period.
You're not negotiating on deductibles.
I just need to get that
out of the way we clear.
All right, no deductible negotiation.
If you need help on that click
right here, I've done lots
of videos on the deductible.
And I'm going to click to this
one because this is about beating
deductible eaters and showcasing the
scary truth behind what that means.
All right.
Disclaimer, aside, let's get back to it.
So you give, they give.
Okay.
Now next, what I want to do is
start negotiating on items that
have a high perceived value.
And a low cost.
Now, what do I mean by this?
Give you an example.
High perceived value and low costs
could mean certain upgrades, whether
that's Ridge vent, whether that's
ice and water shield, whether that's
upgraded shingles, upgraded colors, and
specifically things like warranties that
we might be able to provide it at home.
Like a warranty, for example, the
sticker price in that warranties,
whatever you put it as your cost as a
company is usually fixed either a fixed
amount or a small amount per square.
So you can say, Hey, if we can condition.
Negotiate where this item I'm
going to include, which has a
high perceived value and say, Hey,
well, I'll include this $4,000
warranty, $3,000 warranty at no cost.
If you decided to move forward today.
And again, that warranty may cost
you X dollar amount, depending
on, and I'm not quoting prices.
You guys know the prices on
warranties, depending on the
manufacturers that you're selling.
All right.
The final area that we're
going to do this on is price.
So I am always going to
go through in this order.
First, if I give they give next, I'm
going to go on high perceived value items.
Or items that are low cost is an
add-on versus giving hard money away.
Final piece is price, and
this is my least favorite.
And for the reasons I showcased before.
So there you have it.
Those are my thoughts
on, should you negotiate?
And I'd love to hear yours.
So drop a comment in the comment
section below, and I'm really looking
forward to hearing from, you know,
if you want to continue your time
with me, just because our time here.
Is that doesn't mean you're in my time
has to be, uh, click right here to
watch that video on deductible eating
and why and how to overcome that.
So you get your customers to willingly
pay their deductible and believe me when
you get those down it's game changing.
And if you haven't done it, I
want to get you a free copy.
And my pitch, like a pro
roofing sales training video
library, 100% free right here.
And I'll see you on the next one.