Most price negotiations aren’t started by the customer. They’re started by your rep, in one sentence.
Coaching salespeople on price starts with the language, not the willpower. In most deals the negotiation doesn’t begin when the buyer pushes back; it begins with a sentence your rep says right after quoting the number. Learn the five sentences, replace them with two, rehearse until the reflex changes, and inspect discount percentage by rep every week the same way you inspect pipeline.
If you manage salespeople, you already know which of your people cut price and which don’t. What’s harder to see is the moment it happens, because it usually happens before the customer says a word about price.
The five sentences that start the negotiation
I was role-playing with a rep at a client a while back. Good salesperson, one I respect. I played the customer and asked the price. He quoted it. And then, without thinking, he said, “How does that compare?”
The interesting part was his face. He knew it was wrong while the words were still coming out of his mouth. He said it anyway, because that’s what salespeople have said for forty years.
Here’s the list to listen for:
“How does that compare?” Any invitation for feedback on your price is an invitation to cut it.
“I want the last shot at the price.” This tells the buyer the number on your proposal is provisional. It also guarantees you can’t close today, so it’s a double loss.
“This is the best deal I can get you.” The word deal implies there are others, and that a better one is one phone call away.
“I want to earn your business.” Sales words. Nobody but a salesperson talks this way, and buyers hear the car lot.
“How does that price work for you?” Want feedback on your price? Ask for the business instead.
Every one of these says the same thing to a buyer: the number isn’t real yet. Once your rep has said that, the negotiation is already running, and your rep started it.
What to replace them with
Two things. “Here’s my price.” Period. Then ask for the business.
That’s the whole replacement. The silence after a price is uncomfortable for about three seconds, and teaching your people to sit through it is worth more than any negotiation seminar you could buy.
Why your reps say them anyway
Fear of losing the deal, which is almost always fear of an empty pipeline.
A rep with three deals and a quota will negotiate against himself every time, because he can’t afford not to. A rep with fifteen can say “that’s my price” and mean it. Strength on price comes from the ability to walk away, and nobody can walk away from the only deal they have.
So when your team’s discounting gets worse, look at prospecting activity two quarters back. That’s usually where it started, and it’s why the fix isn’t only in the pricing conversation.
What to run in your weekly meeting
Pick one live deal and have the rep quote the price out loud, then stop. Everyone in the room listens for what comes after the number. That’s the whole drill, and it takes four minutes.
Run the five sentences as a naming exercise until your people can catch themselves mid-sentence, which is the only place it can be caught.
Rehearse the give-get out loud: “I can do that at five percent if we move to a three-year term.” Say it twenty times in a room and it will come out naturally in a truck.
Then debrief a lost deal where price got the blame. Ask when price first came up and who raised it. The answer is usually earlier than anyone remembers, and it’s usually your side.
What to inspect, not just discuss
Discount percentage and gross margin by rep, every week, right next to revenue. Whether every discount above your threshold has a documented give. When price first enters the conversation in a typical deal, because early means value hasn’t been built yet. And prospecting activity, since it’s the leading indicator of next quarter’s pricing discipline.
If steep discounts cluster around one or two people, you have a coaching problem and you know exactly who. If they’re spread evenly across everybody, the problem is upstream of your reps: pricing, comp, or a value story nobody on the team can tell. Take that one to the owner.
You aren’t trying to make discounting impossible. You’re trying to make it deliberate, and to make sure your rep isn’t the one who opened the door.
If you want an outside read on where your team is losing margin, and whether it’s language, comp, process, or pipeline, that’s what the Navigator’s Sales Diagnostic is for: a free 45-minute conversation, no pitch. Learn more and schedule yours here!
Questions sales managers ask about this
What if the customer starts the negotiation?
Sometimes they do, and then you trade rather than concede. The point is to stop donating the first move, which is what happens in most deals.
What do I do with a rep who’s at the floor on every deal?
Work backward through his pipeline. Chronic floor pricing is almost always a volume problem wearing a pricing costume.
How often should we practice this?
Ten minutes a week beats a full day once a year. You’re changing a reflex, and reflexes change with repetition, not information.
Isn’t some discounting fine?
Yes, when you decided on it in advance, got something for it, and the margin still works. That’s a trade. Everything else is a leak.
