If you still close most deals yourself, this one is for you.

You send the proposal. The buyer liked the call. Then the reply comes back: "Can we start smaller?"

Or it doesn't come back at all, and the thread goes stale.

Right now every number gets a second look. More people sign off, decisions take longer, and the first thing that gets cut is the scope. 🐬

Here's the bitter part we keep seeing on calls with founders. It usually isn't the price. The buyer never said out loud what the problem costs them. So your number had nothing to sit next to.

The three sentences founders say to us

When B2B founders tell us why sales feels heavy, it comes down to three sentences, almost word for word:

• "I need more leads, but I don't have time for marketing."
• "It takes many meetings to close. We get ghosted."
• "We're not landing deals in the size we want."

A founder told us recently: "I priced the first few too low."

If one of those sentences is yours, there's a one-page chart for it. It takes about 20 minutes, and you can grab it free here. 🐯

Why the deal shrinks

Picture the call. You explain the offer well. The buyer nods. Then you name the price.

Against nothing, any price looks big.

A buyer who has put a number on the problem compares your price to that number. Not to a competitor's quote. Not to "we could do it ourselves". That's pricing power.

Most proposals go out before that moment happens. Right things, wrong order.

The founders who land the big deals aren't louder or pushier. They just let the buyer say the number first.

The Pricing Power Chart

So we put it on one page. Three problems. Three columns. Nine boxes.

• Problem, in the buyer's words. Their sentence, not your diagnosis.
• Impact, what it costs them. Money, time, and how it feels.
• Source, what really causes it. The one thing that, fixed, makes the problem go away.

A problem only stays on the chart if it passes three filters:

1. You can fix the source. Not the symptom. The source.
2. A real client said it. No quote? Mark it 🔍 and verify it on your next call.
3. It costs real money or time. If nobody would pay to make it stop, it's a complaint.

Then you turn every box into one question. Nine questions. Questions, not pitch lines.

What it sounds like on a call

Take the third sentence: "We're not landing deals in the size we want."

• Problem: "What size did you want your last deal to be, and what did you land?"
• Impact: "How many more deals at today's size do you need to hit the target?"
• Source: "When you named the price, did the buyer already know what the problem costs them?"

Notice who does the talking. The buyer sizes the problem. The buyer finds the source. You stay quiet long enough for it to land, and you feel the room shift. 🌴

When they say it, it's theirs. So is the urgency. And when you get to the price, it sits next to their number.

That's what control of the sales conversation feels like. No chasing, no begging, no discount to save the deal. You ask. They talk. You lead.

In the 8 Steps of the Repeatable Sale, that's Step 4 (Cost of Inaction) before Step 6 (Investment). Same call, different order. That's where the deal size changes.

Test it after every call

After each conversation, mark each problem. ✅ the buyer confirmed it in their own words. ❌ it didn't land. Write their sentence down, word for word.

Two ❌ in a row and no ✅? Swap that problem for the next one on your list.

Every call makes the chart a little sharper. After a few weeks, your 3 problems are written in your buyers' exact words.

We run our own chart this way. Page 2 of the download is our chart, filled in, with what we're still verifying marked honestly. 🐬

And it stops living only in your head. Your new sales hire can run the same 9 questions on their first call.

Get the chart

The Pricing Power Chart is a free 2-page printable PDF. Page 1: the blank chart, the 3 filters, the 9-question pattern and the call log. Page 2: our own chart, filled in.

Get it here: https://www.strategysprints.com/pricing-power-chart

Prefer to fill it in with AI? The same method runs as a free Claude Code skill: github.com/SimonTheSalesBooster/pricing-power

Fill it in before your next call. Then notice who names the cost. 🐯

That's Sprintlife: bigger deals, fewer meetings, evenings back.

Want to practice the 9 questions every week, with the tools, the AI skills and other founders doing the same? Join Sprint Club (7 days free): https://www.strategysprints.com

Ready to accelerate now? Book a Discovery Call: https://calendly.com/strategysprint/discovery-call

Happy hunting.

Simon & The Sprinters 🐬⚡️🐆