🔊Audio version of this article, available at the bottom🔊
There is a dangerous moment in almost every sales process.
You send an email. “Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review my quote.”
Nothing.
You try again.
Still nothing.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the customer resurfaces.
“Great news! We’re ready to move forward. Can we have it by next Friday?” Seriously?
The project that apparently had no urgency for the past three weeks has suddenly become a five-alarm fire.
Or perhaps the customer finally responds with another familiar sentence:
“Your price is too high.”
As I consult with distributors and salespeople around the country, these two issues are coming up more frequently: long periods of silence between quoting and getting a decision, followed by sudden urgency, and increasing resistance around price.
I don’t believe these are completely separate problems. In many cases, they are symptoms of the same issue.
We are sending quotes when we should be managing decisions.
That distinction matters.
A Quote Should Never Create a Waiting Period
One of the biggest mistakes salespeople make is treating the delivery of the quote as the end of their responsibility.
“I sent the quote. Now the ball is in their court.”
I disagree. The ball should never completely leave your court; before you send the quote, you should understand what happens next.
Who needs to review it?
Is anyone else involved in the decision?
Is there an approved budget?
Are they comparing other options?
When do they expect to make a decision?
And here's one of the most important questions:
When do we need to make a decision to comfortably meet your required delivery date?
Notice I didn’t ask, “When do you need it?” Those are two very different questions.
If the customer needs 1,500 pieces for an event on October 15, that doesn’t mean October 15 is the date that matters most to you. The important date might be September 12 because production, proofing, shipping, kitting, inventory, or decoration all require time.
The salesperson's responsibility is to make that “decision window” visible.
Otherwise, September 12 comes and goes. Then September 19. Then September 26. Suddenly the customer calls and says, “We’re ready!”, and now everybody is scrambling to solve a crisis that didn’t need to exist.
Stop “Just Checking In”
This may be one of the most overused phrases in sales:
“Just checking in…” Checking in with what?
If your only reason for contacting the customer is to ask whether they’ve made a decision, you aren't bringing much value to the conversation.
Professional persistence is different from pestering. Every follow-up should have a reason.
Maybe inventory has changed.
Perhaps you found another product that could accomplish the same objective.
There could be a production deadline approaching.
You may have discovered a packaging idea that would make the program stronger.
Maybe you want to clarify something from the original conversation.
Or perhaps you simply need to remind them of the decision date you mutually established.
There should be something behind the contact besides, “Have you decided yet?”
That changes the tone of the follow-up completely. You’re not chasing an order. You’re helping manage a project. That is what a professional salesperson does.
The Rush Order That Wasn’t Really a Rush
When customers suddenly need something immediately, salespeople understandably get frustrated; but there is a lesson hiding inside that frustration.
Ask yourself:
Was this really a rush order, or did it become a rush order because nobody managed the decision timeline?
Sometimes there truly is an unexpected need. Things happen; but many times, the event, meeting, employee recognition program, product launch, conference, or promotion has been on somebody’s calendar for months.
The urgency wasn't created by the event; it was created by the delay.
That is why good salespeople talk about the consequences of waiting before waiting becomes a problem. Not artificial consequences. Not manufactured pressure.
Real ones.
Inventory can disappear.
Production schedules fill.
Freight costs increase.
Decoration options become limited.
Rush charges can appear.
Product choices narrow.
Quality can potentially be compromised when everybody is forced to move too quickly.
Customers need to understand something that salespeople sometimes fail to communicate:
“Doing nothing is still a decision, and sometimes doing nothing has a price.”
Then Come the Five Famous Words
“Your price is too high.” What does that actually mean?
That question is far more important than whatever response immediately pops into your head.
Because “too high” could mean:
Your competitor is 12% less.
The customer only has $8,000 budgeted and your proposal is $9,500.
They weren’t expecting the project to cost this much.
Their boss rejected the expenditure.
They don't understand the difference between what you proposed and the cheaper alternative.
Or they may simply be negotiating because they have learned that if they say, “Your price is too high,” salespeople frequently lower it.
And unfortunately, many do.
The customer says the price is too high, and before understanding the objection, the salesperson begins negotiating against themselves.
“Well, let me see what I can do.”
Why? You don't even know what the problem is yet.
Diagnose Before You Discount
When someone says your price is too high, resist the urge to defend it.
Get curious. “Can you help me understand what you mean by too high.”
Those questions give you information.
Imagine you've proposed a $10,000 program and the customer says you're too expensive. If the competing proposal is $9,700, you have one conversation.
If their budget is $7,000, you have an entirely different conversation.
Until you understand the gap, there is nothing meaningful to negotiate; and this brings me to a principle I believe more salespeople need to adopt:
Never give something away without getting something in return.
Discounting should not be a reflex. It should be a trade.
If the Price Comes Down, Something Else Changes
Suppose the customer tells you: “We really need to get this down to $8,500.”
Your immediate response should not be: “Okay, let me see if I can get you a better price.”
Try this instead:
“Okay. Let's look at the proposal together and determine what we can change or remove to get closer to $8,500.”
Now something very important has happened. You have acknowledged their budget without immediately sacrificing your margin.
Maybe the quantity changes.
Maybe the packaging changes.
Maybe you substitute a different product.
Perhaps one component disappears.
Maybe the delivery method changes.
Maybe the scope of the program is reduced.
Whatever the solution, there is a corresponding give-and-take. If the customer wants you to give something, they need to be willing to give something as well.
That isn't being difficult. That's business.
If you simply take $1,000 off the price while delivering exactly the same program, what have you communicated? That the original price wasn't real. Once you teach a customer that your first price is negotiable simply because they asked, guess what happens on the next project? They ask again.
Make Your Value Visible Before Price Becomes the Conversation
There is another problem we need to own.
We frequently talk about all the value we provide: creativity, experience, service, quality control, responsiveness, sourcing expertise, logistics, problem-solving, accountability, fulfillment, packaging, inventory management and the ability to rescue a project when something goes sideways.
Wonderful. Where was all of that on the quote?
If the customer receives a proposal that essentially says:
Product.
Quantity.
Decoration.
Freight.
Price.
Then we shouldn’t be surprised when they compare it against another proposal based primarily on price. YOU created the comparison.
Customers cannot place a value on something we never made visible.
This is one of the fundamental differences between transactional selling and strategic selling.
Transactional salespeople quote products. Strategic salespeople build solutions, explain decisions, manage timelines, establish expectations and demonstrate why the recommended approach makes sense.
Price still matters. Of course it does. But price should exist inside a larger conversation about outcomes, risk, service, creativity and execution.
Take Back Control of the Quote
The next time you prepare a proposal, don't think of it as the end of your sales process.
Think of it as the beginning of the next stage.
Establish the decision timeline before sending it.
Schedule the next conversation whenever possible.
Make the consequences of delay clear without manufacturing urgency.
Follow up with purpose instead of “just checking in.”
When someone says your price is too high, diagnose before defending.
And if the customer needs the number to come down, don't automatically give away margin. Change the conversation from:
“How much can I discount?”
to: “What can we change?”
There is an enormous difference. The quote is not the sale.
The conversation surrounding the quote is the sale.
And if all we're doing is sending numbers, waiting for customers to make decisions, scrambling when those decisions come too late, and cutting our margins when someone pushes back on price, we aren't really managing the sales process.
We're reacting to it. Your customers deserve better than that.
And so does your business.
Until Next month, continued Good Selling - CQ
Cliff Quicksell, CSP, MAS+, MASI, has been a driving force in the promotional products
industry for over four decades. As President of Cliff Quicksell Associates &
QuicksellSpeaks, he is internationally recognized for his dynamic work as a speaker,
coach, trainer, and consultant—empowering businesses and associations to market
smarter, engage deeper, and grow stronger.
Cliff's long list of accolades includes his 2021 induction into the PPAI Hall of Fame and
the prestigious CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) designation in 2023—an honor
held by fewer than 7% of speakers worldwide and the only active professional in the
promotional products industry to achieve it.
A true creative innovator, Cliff has earned more than 40 PPAI Pyramid Awards,5 PSDA
Peak Awards, and 13 CPPA PEAKE Awards. He’s a six-time winner of PPAI’s
Ambassador Speaker of the Year and was the first-ever recipient of the PPAI
Distinguished Service Award. Recognized in PPAI at 100 and named one of Counselor
Magazine’s Top 50 Most Influential People in the industry, Cliff is celebrated for his
passionate contributions to industry education and thought leadership.
His award-winning blog, 30 Seconds to Greatness, was honored with the 8LMedia
Award for Most Passed Around Content. Stay connected with Cliff on LinkedIn or email
him at cliff@QuicksellSpeaks.com. Visit www.QuicksellSpeaks.com for upcoming
events and podcast updates. Cliff is also preparing to launch a new venture dedicated
to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs thrive utilizing a custom AI designed
specifically for Promo World, called MerchPilot™.