When asked what Carol needed to help increase sales of corporate sponsorships for her company’s conferences, her manager said, “Confidence.” He attributed her disappointing results to poor sales skills and would I help her get up that learning curve as quickly as possible? One meeting with Carol and I realized that a lack of sales skills was not the real problem at all. It was much deeper than that. Could this be a problem in your business as well?
Price Choke
Carol wasn’t confident because deep, deep down, she believed that the $50-100,000 price tag she was asking for these sponsorships was way too high. 
“After all, they’re only meetings. Yes, sponsors get listed, they speak on panels, and they get others benefits, but at the end of the day, it is just a meeting.”
Carol was in classic price choke mode. Her problem: She didn’t understand what she was really selling. She didn’t see that she was actually providing sponsors with
- Priceless Access to desired prospects that, on their own, the sponsors would not be able to reach in a year
- Publicity & Visibility worth multiples of $50,000 to be seen and heard by their best prospects
- Credibility as a leader in their field by appearing at such a prestigious event
- Opportunities to socialize with best prospects in a lovely venue conducive to building long term profitable relationships
Once Carol internalized the true value of these meetings to her clients, she had a much easier time of confidently closing business.
No One Just Buys Nails
There is an old saying that people don’t buy nails. They buy the holes those nails make. A rewarding exercise, even for old sales pros, is to list all the “things” you sell (products, services, ideas) and then alongside each item, describe the ultimate value of each of those items to clients.
The more true value you can list, the easier it becomes to state your fees with confidence. Indeed, you often come to see that the value clients are getting is worth twice the price you are asking!
Anne Miller
Words Matter – Make What You Say Pay!
Avoid Presentation Choke!
- Do you get nervous before presentations?
- Do you shrivel up before a group?
- Do you lose people with your content?
If you answered “YES” to any of these questions, give me a call and let’s turn you from a ho-hum presenter into a wow communicator who gets results!
212-876-1875 amiller@annemiller.com