#027: End of Quarter Sales Negotiations

Read time: 4 minutes

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You've probably all heard that people make decisions based on emotions. If that's the case, why do we historically sell with rational arguments?

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Brian Schneider has used sales stories throughout his career to help him be a top-ranking sales rep at numerous startups and helped him climb the career ladder to CCO of Rosa & Co.

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The end of every quarter is full of anxiety. You’re trying to bring every deal possible to exceed your quota while your personal sanity is on the line. To make matters worse, even with a bulletproof business case, these buyers rarely have the same timelines or urgency that you do.

So what happens?

You cave in the name of quota pressure and offer a discount (or other significant concession) if they agree to send the PO by the last day of the quarter.

Every single rep has been in this situation before and given in to the pressure.

But if you want to maximize revenue, sanity, and integrity during these highly stressful moments, here are 5 tips to help you.

1: Get deals done sooner

Most discounts happen in the last 2 weeks of the quarter. Reps are typically the ones offering discounts in hopes of bringing in the deal to hit their quota. Remember, buyers don’t have the same pressure or urgency that you do at the end of the quarter.

Their timelines are often much different. They need to hit a grant submission date, generate data for an upcoming meeting, or any number of other critical events. These dates don’t typically align with your end-of-quarter.

If you’ve aligned to their critical event and worked backward to an agreed-upon close data, you can limit the need for end-of-quarter heroics.

2: Ask if it’s a deal breaker

Everything a customer asks for is not critical. But in the heat of a negotiation, sales reps consistently fall for the trap. They assume every ask is a deal breaker and run back to their managers for approval. Not only are these concessions not necessary, they send a message to your manager that you don’t know how to negotiate.

If you’ve already proven the value of your solution and your buyer has agreed to that value, it’s ok to push back. Here is a simple question you can ask that will work more often then you think.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to get approval for something like that. Is it a deal breaker?”

It’s an effective way to learn what really matters. Give it a try on your next call.

3: Is it even possible?

Before you consider giving a discount for an end-of-quarter agreement, find out if it’s even possible to get it done in time. I’ve seen this play out numerous times. A rep asks for and is approved for a discount. On the last day of the quarter, they are scrambling to get the PO and it turns out, everyone is out of the office, or there is an extra approval step needed that wasn’t considered. Now you’ve given away a valuable concession and still the deal wasn’t closed.

You need to understand every step of the purchasing process before throwing out discounts.

“What are all the steps that need to happen on your side to get this approved?”

“Who all is involved in the process?”

“Do you know if they are around in the coming days to get this done?”

Sometimes there is a limited budget available to spend. You should know this already from your discovery and sales process. But sometimes things change. If you’ve gone through all the steps listed above cost is the ONLY barrier to moving forward. Here’s a simple question to ask.

“I’m still not sure that I can get that approved, but if I can, there will likely be stipulations that we need the PO by the end of the quarter. Before we go down that road, can you help me understand the steps on your end to get this approved?”

If you want a checklist to guide you through all the steps a deal could take, get the closing process checklist.

4: Be creative (think beyond discounts)

Not everything will come down to price. Sometimes there are other items that a customer cares more about. The things that are most valuable to you may not be what your customers value the most.

The customer may say that price is most important, but they may actually prefer flexible payment terms, a different contract length, add-ons, free delivery, additional services or support.

Considering all angles can maximize the value to your customer and make them feel like they’re getting a great deal, all while protecting your key deal metrics.

5: Conserve your discount percentage

Most reps think of discounts in round percentages. 10%, 20%, 30% etc… If you are going to discount, here are a few techniques to conserve those percentage points.

If your average order size is $20K and you discount 10% on 50 deals throughout the year, that’s $100,000 in discounts. If you cut that discount in half to 5%, that’s the equivalent of more than full 2 deals. Which could be the difference between you hitting or missing your quota.

Most people just want to feel like they're getting a win. If you start all discounts at 10%, you never can win deals at 5%. Start higher and only concede when necessary. And if someone pushes back at 5%, go to 7% instead of 10%. Customers will rarely push back on multiple concessions. Here is a great phrase you can use when conceding on a discount.

“If I can get approval for a 7% discount, which will take some effort on my end, does that seem fair to you?”

People want to be perceived as “fair” and this phrasing is a simple way to show that you are trying to be fair and they should reciprocate in kind.

TL;DR

1. Align to your customer’s timeline

2. Last-minute asks aren’t always deal breakers

3. Make sure the deal can actually get done in time

4. Think creatively outside of pricing

5. Discount in smaller percentages

Apple Podcast | Spotify | YouTube

Episode 10: [Science] How to increase your credibility as a sales rep with Johnnie Walker

• Takeaways

  • Early-stage vs late-stage buying requirements

  • How to present data to a scientist

  • Are sales reps credible?

  • Good cop bad cop when buying products and services

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