89% of B2B marketers and salespeople say that the amount of price pressure they’re feeling from customers and buyers has increased over the past 3 years, making it more difficult to close high-margin sales, according to [pdf] results from a Corporate Visions survey. Two-thirds say that despite having a sales methodology in place, they aren’t good at managing the tensions during pricing negotiations, and 81% agree that CRM systems don’t always capture or provide the information needed when they’re trying to close a high-margin deal.
Part of the problem appears to be a reluctance to fully leverage those systems. While 87% of the respondents said they’re required to use a CRM system to track their activities, 79% admitted that they only “check the boxes.”
The survey results paint a picture of a stressful negotiating environment that few respondents are prepared for. Roughly two-thirds said they find themselves in these tough negotiations because their customers aren’t convinced that they’ve differentiated their solutions enough from their competitors’. Indeed, half said that they try to emphasize the superiority of their products instead of identifying “unconsidered” needs and demonstrating their unique value by tying those needs to their capabilities.
Finally, close to half admitted that they’ve already yielded too much to the buyer by the time they bring in executives to assist them in closing big deals.
About the Data: The data is based on a survey of more than 800 respondents representing organizations of all sizes across the US.
