It’s not about price. I know that’s what your customers keep telling you and it’s every salesperson’s biggest objection but believe me. It’s not about the price. However this is every person’s default objection and something that every salesman falls for time and time again. It costs salesmen more sales than just about any other objection there is. But the truth of the matter is that price isn’t what matters to prospects there are things that greatly outweigh the price.
As a matter of fact price is probably more towards the lower end of the list of what is most important to people than it is the higher end of the list. Most are scoffing at this remark saying “You have no idea what you’re talking about Charles, half of my objections are because of the price of my product (or service)” but I would respond with “Half of your customers tell you that the price is there objection but if you looked deeper you would find that they had other things that they were much more concerned about”.
Price Is Misdirection
Now I should start by saying there is a tiny fraction of the population that buys on price alone. The nickel and dime type people who value a penny over well just about everything. But they make up such a small part of the population to be almost negligible. No, when most people say they are objecting to the price it is really for a couple of others reasons. It could be because you haven’t built up the product or services benefits yet. They don’t see how your product or service is more valuable then the pieces of paper they have in their wallet or the digits in their bank account.
It could also be because of a lack of confidence. A lack of confidence in your product or service, a lack of confidence in your company, or even a lack of confidence in you as a salesman. People really don’t value a piece of paper or a digit on a computer that much when it can be exchanged for something real and tangible. Price is usually expressed when there is something else bugging the prospect but they naturally respond with price. You have to find out what their real objection is and address it. Then the price “objection” will disappear.
Why The Sale Is Lost When You Believe The Price Myth
Most sales are lost over the objections that you don’t hear not the ones that you do. Most objections you do hear (especially price) are really covering up for some deeper emotion that the prospect has. Not always, but more often then not. There is something that you don’t know when you get a price objection. Ask leading questions to try and figure out what it is that the prospect wants and what their true objections are. Usually it comes down to trust and confidence in you. Let them talk and listen intently.
Also make sure that you are addressing the right problem. For example say a kid just turned 16 and has been hustling enough to get his own car. He wants to show off the car to all his buddies at school and impress the girls with it. But the salesman keeps talking about how a certain car will save him gas money and “fit his budget” the kid doesn’t give two shits about that. He wants a car that goes fast and drops panties. Make sure you are addressing the problem that the prospect wants solved.
Connect Your Product With The Problem
Build value. Connect your product with the problem that the prospect has and how it will solve it. Every person generally has one main reason that they buy, but it varies from person to person. One person may buy The Primer because he knows it will get him girls, another buys it because he just recovered from drugs and wants to get his life back on track, another will buy it because they’re tired of other males not respecting them. Everyone bought the book but they did so for different reasons and had different problems.
If I had approached the former drug addict with about how The Primer would teach him how to get girls he might not have much interest but if I told him about how it was a life plan to get your shit together and life in order suddenly he’s all ears and the price means nothing. When you are getting price resistance you’re probably not hitting on the main reason the prospect was interested in the product or service in the first place. Let them talk and ask leading questions until you find out the real reason and then address it.
Summary
It’s never really about price. There is always something else there that means more to someone. To use a fictional example. Say someone said they’d never spend 10k on a book. But let’s say that book has the capacity to earn you 100k and you truly believed it. You’d go into debt to get that book because the value exceeded the price. When you said it was too much what you really meant was that the value wasn’t high enough for you.
People are more concerned with making the right decision that is going to get their problem solved then they are concerned with the amount of money that they spend.
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If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.
-Charles Sledge
When I hear some one say $20 is to much for a book, I ask would
you pay $50 for a 50 page book, $1 a page? Most always say no
then I ask what if it changed your life? Then almost everyone says
of course. But will still not spend the money.
People will always spend more on things they want and don’t need,
and will cut corners on thing they should buy like better nutritious
food.
Absolutely Johnny. Books have so much value in them some book I would have gladly paid 1$ a page or more for what they’ve either made me or by how much they’ve improved the quality of my life.