Paul Reilly writes from a field sales perspective, but his discussion applies to veterinary teams, retailers, telesales teams and field sales forces. Losing a customer or sale is normal. Frequently, salespeople will lose business and later justify that price was the cause. Blaming a loss on price is easy, less personal and lets the salesperson off the hook. But the fundamental question is, “Were we outsold by a competitor?”
Source: Industrial Distribution, June 8, 2017.
Too often salespeople use price as an excuse. Salespeople say “The price was too high,” but what if your value was too low? Salespeople will say, “The competition sold on price,” but what if they just outsold you? Until you admit you were outsold by the competition, you risk being outsold again.