The short answer is Yes, but no always.....
The decision to walk away over 5% or 10% is a dynamic one which would involve a mental analysis of my overall experience with that particular customer since day one and would include a number of different factors, only one of which would be a willingness on their part to articulate a valid reason WHY they are pursuing a lower price.
I've had some customers come to me, and honestly state that they appreciate the hard work and effort assisting them with the process, followed by a declarative statement of desire to do business with us. I've been told that they budgeted money for the project during the prior year without having any idea what something like that costs.
Ive had others who ask for time to re-evaluate whether or not they truly need some of the features we had spent alot of time discussing. Either way, they are trying to work with us and based on a sincere judgment of that effort, I can be persuaded. They in turn must be prepared to offer a firm closing commitment and DATE.
In any event, if the customer is "just playing "chicken" with me, then:
1 - They picked the wrong guy with whom to play chicken
2 - They better be prepared to turn the wheel first.....cause Im busy texting paying and profitable customers.....
3 - The entire industry would be better served by not reducing their professional game down to "chicken" in the first place, which does nothing but drag everyone into the commodity gutter. This impacts the industry at large, including the salesman or woman succumbing to it.
While I'm on topic three, and I wouldn't mind starting another thread on this.....
I find Item 3 is more the fault of VP's and Sales Managers developing impossible targets for professional salespeople to hit, and/or constant moving of goalposts, which forces irrational behavior during closing meetings, and further drives our industry towards the bottom. This, in turn, forces otherwise competent, capable sales professionals doing their own "reset" by utilizing what has become a revolving door to go to the next employer just to catch a breath.
And everytime one of these salespeople moves to another company or competitor, they take with them valuable knowledge and experience, and in some cases proprietary knowledge.
With the IP advances of the last 5-10 years, our industry has been afforded a unique opportunity to "reset the clock" on commodification and gutterballing and bring what we do back up to the professional level it was at back in the day. But here we all go again - we cant help ourselves - lets give up another 5 or another 10 to close a deal so my Sales Manager can add another 5 or 10 percent to my target next year. Stop and think where that takes us as an industry.
I dont know. No wait, I DO KNOW. Everyone would benefit by not doing that. It is actually possible to Metrics your way right into a hole. Sales Metrics (or metrics in general) are important and should be used as a tool. Practicing them as a religion carries its own trouble on the day of our fiscal redemption.