As promised, we keep with the “200 Sales Stories” …..
And for the Top 2, we have selected a quite usual situation in all projects we have been involved in over the past 25+ five years.
When it comes to review with the Salespeople (and whatever will be your sales frontline) the prices and conditions provided to customers.
We all know that some “outliers” will pop-up …. Customers with too good conditions and customers with too bad ones…. And both configurations are a problem: In one case I am losing profit, in the other, I usually risk losing volume (customer churn).
And don’t get me wrong … exceptions are good … with clear rules, metrics, accountabilities, level of authorization and impact measurement. Yes, when they are “best practices”, they are good.
What it is not so recommended, is to understand exceptions as “full freedom” for having customers with very different prices and conditions with any rational behind … no consistency across segments … no efficiency on the conditions that are offered …
If you have 500 hundred customers and you manage them as 500 exceptions, is the first evidence that you are missing a clear Commercial & Pricing Strategy …. And of course, a structured Pricing Policy …
Would you agree?