March 29, 2004 -- Years ago when I was a cub rep for Uarco Business Forms, we attended a sales training event that I will never forget. There were probably 50 of us in the room from around the New England area ranging in experience from the Newbie to the 35-year Veteran. The sales trainer split us up into two groups and sent half out of the room to role-play a purchasing experience. Those of us left inside were told to act as Buyer and those outside were the sales people. I was one of those in the room. The game was this: the Sales Rep was going to present a price on a job of $1000 to the Buyer. Our job as Buyer was to ask just one question: “Is that your best price?” If the answer came back “Yes,” we were to award the job immediately. Game over. If the answer came back anything BUT yes, we could negotiate down to whatever price we could get. Simple, right? The Sales Reps came back in (they had been given the simple instructions of quoting $1000 for the job and then trying to secure the order). What happened next was simply amazing: Only 20% of the Sales Reps stood by their pricing and answered, “Yes.” Eighty percent of the sales people caved on their price. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS SAY YES! The responses to the “Is that your best price?” questions ranged from “Let me double check my numbers” to “I am sure I can do better than that.” When the game ended, there were some mightily embarrassed people in the room. I never forgot that lesson and have even used it a time or two, both in my own sales training events and in my personal negotiations as well. For example, at this time last year my wife and I decided to put in a pool. I was sitting with the sales rep as he laid out the plan and the prices. When he finished I thanked him for his time, told him we'd be calling other pool companies and that I would be in touch with him. Two weeks later I called. We, in fact, did NOT call any other pool companies because these guys were the best and we wanted to do business with them. Still, when the rep returned my call, I said, “Rick, we are ready to decide, but I have one question for you: Is that your best price?” Silence. Then, to my amazement, this Veteran sales person started backing down on his price and bumping up the extras he was going to throw in. We got an extra light ($350), a diving board ($500), extra decking ($750), the robot vacuum cleaner ($1200) and $1000 off of the price, all because the rep had no spine. When he was done bleeding profits he asked, “Will that be enough to secure this order?” I said, “Sure.” And away we went into the land of pool contractors and missed construction dates. But that's another story for another day. Now, you are probably thinking to yourself, “I never would have done that” and maybe so. But just the other day while I was leading a Get Sales NOW! conference call, I played the game with the ten reps on the call. Only one (the last one queried) held his ground. The more things change…