Friday Client Insight #18 –
“Profit Margin Is a Leadership Decision, Not a Sales One.”
“We just need to close the deal — we can fix the margin later.”
That belief surfaced repeatedly during a recent coaching conversation.
On the surface, pricing decisions were being framed as a sales challenge — negotiate harder, discount smarter, move faster. But underneath, a different issue emerged.
Margins weren’t being eroded by customers.
They were being eroded by “Leadership” disguised as a sales hack to avoid.
Fear of losing work.
Fear of difficult conversations.
Fear of saying no.
Once pricing was reframed as a leadership decision — not a sales tactic — behaviour changed.
Leaders clarified minimum acceptable margins. They aligned pricing to value delivered. And they stopped outsourcing confidence to the customer.
Interestingly, sales conversations became calmer, not tougher. Because clarity replaced compromise.
Instead of asking, “What will the customer accept?” the question became, “What does this work need to deliver — for both sides?”
I wonder how many of us actually ask ourselves this question when preparing the proposal?
Our Insight this week:
Profit margin is not protected at the point of sale. It’s protected at the point of leadership clarity.
When leaders lead on value, sales follows.
Product used: Effective Coaching and Empowerment (ECE)
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