In enterprise sales, the fastest way to watch your ARR do the Titanic iceberg dance is to start haggling on price before you’ve sold on value. Compete on price alone? Congrats, you’ve just gift-wrapped your deal for the “Commodity of the Year” award. Compete on value? You walk away with bigger ACV, faster deals, and healthier margins.
The difference isn’t just in mindset. It’s in execution. We scanned through Kandir reviews to surface the top ways AE’s are flexing their value-selling muscles so hard that discount requests just wither and die.
1. Lead With the Business Case
Make them believe you’re fixing a problem so critical they’d pawn their office furniture to keep you.
They actually did not negotiate much with us on price. In the initial buy they saw value in the business case.
Anchor your price to ROI and outcomes before the money talk even starts. When they’re picturing the glory days after your solution lands, the actual number feels like a rounding error.
2. Show Why Cheaper Means Riskier
Sure, your competition might be cheaper, but so are knockoff AirPods.
Other competitors were in the mix at a significantly lower rate but with less robust product and limited support. They attempted to get a larger discount initially but we were able to hold them to a very small drop in annual price.
Lay out the risks of going cheap: limited features, garbage support, zero scalability. Suddenly, your price looks like the smart-people option.
3. Build Champions Who Defend Your Price
Your best anti-discount weapon? A decision-maker inside the buyer’s org who’s ready to throw elbows for you.
They did do some discount fishing, but we stood firm on price and they backed down immediately. I think it helped we had a strong VP level champion who would back us.
Arm your champion with ROI proof, competitive ammo, and stories they can sling at their procurement team like ninja stars.
The Bottom Line
Price resistance melts when buyers clearly see that:
- You solve a critical problem better than alternatives.
- The risks of a cheaper solution outweigh the savings.
- Your product adapts and scales with their growth.
Value isn’t just what your product does, it’s how deeply the buyer believes they need it.
Build that belief, and you won’t need to buy the business with discounts.
If this hit you in the feels, forward it to someone who still thinks discounts are a love language.