How sales pricing strategies can enhance collaboration to speed closure rates

What is one of the main reasons that a B2B deal is won or lost? I believe it’s dependent on the strength of the relationship between your pricing and sales teams. Many companies fall short in price negotiation because sale pricing strategies are not aligned with sales processes.

In today’s modern business landscape, pricing is not an isolated function but a collaborative effort involving cross-functional partnerships. The most crucial relationship is between sales and pricing teams, as sales negotiate prices with your prospects and customers that drive business growth.

6 common pain points that sales and pricing teams experience when working together:

1. Inconsistent pricing practices for different customers
2. The pressure to give discounts to meet sales targets
3. Communication gaps that lead to errors
4. Disagreement of pricing strategy
5. Customer value perception leads to underpricing
6. No single source of truth that both pricing and sales teams can use

Deal or no deal

Now, let’s look at these pain points from the perspective of your prospect/customer. When pricing and sales teams are not aligned, the result can be a slow and cumbersome deal process. The B2B buying experience you offer should be simple and used as a differentiator in the marketplace. Taking steps to speed up approvals and timelines helps you stand out and increases your chances of closing the deal.

Complex pricing structures can complicate sales efforts, so it’s essential to make pricing as transparent as possible so sales can quickly communicate with customers. When negotiating with a prospect or customer, sales teams need access to real-time pricing data to avoid losing momentum. This clearly shows that the integration of pricing strategies with sales processes directly impacts company profitability and revenue growth.

To help alleviate these pain points and start nurturing better alignment between pricing and sales, conduct regular reviews of pricing strategies and performance with input from both teams and adjust the plan based on market conditions and feedback from the field. 

The pricing team should also offer training to the sales team that focuses on pricing principles, strategies and the rationale behind pricing decisions. This can help sales better communicate the value of products or services to your customers and help them make more informed pricing decisions in the field. When sales can effectively communicate the value, they are less likely to rely solely on price to win a deal. Pricing professionals should also recognize that negotiation is a vital part of the sales process and guide effective negotiation strategies and tactics to help secure deals while preserving pricing integrity.

Data-driven decisions give you a competitive edge

As sales cycles have gotten longer, CRM systems have become essential tools for keeping track of prospects and meeting their needs at scale, but they only reach their full potential when connected with other applications. Integrating pricing and contracting solutions can lead to a more efficient, accurate and collaborative sales process. 

A seamless flow of real-time information from a single source of truth will help speed sales cycles and enable better-informed decisions that might increase the deal's profit. With this level of collaboration, organizations can make data-driven decisions to optimize competitive pricing strategies and tactics by analyzing sales performance, pricing effectiveness and customer behavior.

To give your competitive edge a boost, you need the ability to negotiate, price, quote and manage contracts faster while maintaining visibility and control throughout the review and signing process.

Effective collaboration between pricing and sales teams helps to eliminate friction in the price negotiation process. By understanding the challenges, implementing strategic initiatives and leveraging technology, organizations can foster better alignment between these critical functions, ultimately achieving greater profitability, revenue growth and customer satisfaction.