Here are six techniques to build rapport with mid-level decision makers and prevent them from getting hung up on price.

1.  Understand his biggest values
For any purchasing agent, this issue runs deeper than price or value. He wants to feel like he matters. He deals with so many salespeople making promises that you become just another face in an increasingly maddening crowd. He’s exerting what little power he has on vendors like you, and keeping an iron grip on that low price is the most obvious way he can prove his worth. His biggest values are:

• Recognition from his boss and colleagues. He wants to be recognized and rewarded for getting the lowest price, so of course he’ll try to get it. Like all of us, he wants his boss to say, “You just saved the company thousands of dollars! High-five!” He wants his colleagues to think, “I want to be as successful as he is so the boss will high-five me, too!”
• Justification. His self-esteem soaring, our money-conscious front-line manager thinks, “I’ve saved my company money! I’m valuable! My job’s safe!” He’s justified his existence, confirming to his company and his boss that he’s a “keeper.”

2.  Understand their fears
Most people are satisfied with something average. With fears ranging from leaving their comfort zone, to spending more money than the boss wants, to getting fired, they’re more likely to passively avoid what they don’t like than to actively pursue what they want.

3.  Understand what they’re up against
Most people want to do a good job and make a decent living, but they also want to clock out at a humane hour and have time for a life. Meanwhile, they’re competing for resources, clamoring for attention, mired in daily obligations. Consequently, they unwittingly overlook the bigger picture. Show that front-line manager a solution that’ll bring the big picture back into focus. Pitching how you can help his company increase profitability is more meaningful when it directly impacts his year-end bonus. Maybe he’s thinking, “Yeah, like my boss needs to drive another new Lexus while I can barely get around in my ten-year-old junker!”

4.  Understand their need to feel appreciated
When companies keep a narrow focus on increasing profitability, people can slip below the radar. When the company has a great year, the CEO rarely says, “We owe it all to our purchasing agents toiling down in the basement, saving us 5 cents apiece on widgets.”

Many workers you deal with feel overworked and under-respected. All they ask is that you make them look good. Provide them with solutions that’ll take paperwork off their desks and keep their bosses happy with them, and they’ll be happy with you.

5.  Focus on the lowest TOTAL cost
Avoid getting cornered on price by talking about the lowest total cost. Instead of just the up-front, out-of-pocket cost for the company, show how lowest total cost results from on-time delivery, faster time to market, support, quality, peace of mind, ease of use, reduced down time, overhead, and labor.

6.  Utilize questions to uncover what your customers value
Understand what makes customers tick, see what’s really driving them. When you hear “lowest price,” don’t scamper like a squirrel — instead, ask good questions that go beyond the price issue. You’ll find out what they really want and why they want it, as opposed to what they’re telling you they want. Read the entire article.