The day after we shipped the job, I called to make sure everything was okay and promised to get the price just as soon as the plant gave it to me. That following day, April 1, I faxed over my pricing: $43.50 per set of three books (they had been paying a little over $15 per binder) and went to a meeting. A couple of hours later my cell phone rang. It was Joanne and she was ripping mad: “That is almost three times what we’ve been paying and I am outraged! I will not pay that price!!!”

Standing there listening, I kept thinking to myself, “Don’t panic, substantiate the difference.” So, when she stopped shouting I went into a long description of why the price was different. I was so thorough I practically described the trees that the paper came from. After a few minutes I heard giggling. I stopped and Joanne said, “Bill, happy April Fool’s day!”

After they restarted my heart, Joanne told me I was the third of three reps she worked with that she’d used that line on and both of the others backed off their price! She tried it the first time as a joke, but when the rep lowered his price, she decided to try it again and it worked with him, too. She then called me and I was the only one who stood his ground.

Whew!

Bill Farquharson is the president of Print Tec Network. Got ten minutes? You can watch his video at www.printtec.com/GetSalesNOW.cfm and learn how to Get Sales NOW!

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