10 Approaches to Overcome the Price Objection

‘But what do I do if they say it’s too expensive?!’

‘But they’re over their budget already!’

‘It’s always about price!’

...Just wanted to bring you a little snapshot of ‘things sales trainers experience almost daily’.

On that note, I’ve written up a few ideas to keep in mind when approaching a price objection. These are some of my favourites based on behavioural science, established Sales Gurus and my own and others’ experiences. There are hundreds more, and it’s always going to come down to the situation at hand – certain approaches will be suited to certain situations, and they need to be executed in a way that works with the customer.

A word of warning that none of these will work if you have not already sold the customer on your product. Make sure you have built rapport, qualified and sold the benefits before we get to this stage – otherwise you’re in for a bumpy ride in the objection section.

A second word of warning that with objections, it’s always important to ask questions, use reflective listening and isolate the objection – there’s no point dealing with price, trying to close and finding out you have a new objection to deal with.

People never buy on price alone. If that is how the world operated, very few businesses would even exist. People buy based on value. Let that be your mantra as you play with these approaches...

1.    Isolating questions to bring it back to the value:

If it were free, would you go ahead with it?

Aside from the price, is there anything else holding you back?

Price aside, are you happy with the product/service?

2.    The justifier #1:

Great. Mr Customer, if price is the most important consideration then you should definitely proceed today because...

This is going to save you money by X Y Z

OR

This is the most cost-effective choice because X Y Z

OR

This choice provides the best value for money because X Y Z

OR

This is the cheapest you’re ever going to get this product because X Y Z

3.    The comparison:

I’m curious Mr Customer, what are you comparing this price to?

...This choice is the only one that provides [features and benefits that give a point of difference to your product or service]

4.    The classic:

Mr Customer, is price the only criteria or is quality also important?

5.    The justifier #2:

Absolutely, Mr Customer. You can be assured that, like that old saying, ‘you get what you pay for’. This is the highest quality product/service on the market, and it’s able to provide you X Y Z.

6.    The cut down:

Mr Customer, if you’re looking to spend less then that’s understandable. As you can appreciate, of course, it means we will be looking at sacrificing some of the benefits, including X Y Z which we have agreed would be very valuable for your business. Which part of the package would you like to cut out?

7.    The break down:

Mr Customer, looking at this as one big number may seem large, I can appreciate that. Let’s break it down though, you were looking at keeping this product/service for 7 years, right? So over a 7 year period, for $30,000, that’s:

$4,285 per year

$357 per month

$11.74 a day

Mr Customer, what kind of items does your company already spend $11.74 on daily? ...That’s really quite affordable, isn’t it?

8.    The budget breaker #1:

Mr Customer, I can appreciate that this wasn’t what you intended on spending for this product/service. I know I’m not alone when I say I’ve had many occasions when I’ve gone to buy a product with a price in mind and found the perfect solution that exceeds that price. I’ve bought it anyway. The most important thing isn’t the cost, it’s the value you’re getting for the cost – you’d agree with that, wouldn’t you?

9.    The budget breaker #2:

Mr Customer, you’ve said that this is $2000 over your budget. That’s great! Most customers end up spending around $5000 more than they originally anticipated when buying a new product/service, so you’ve done really well.

10. The feel-felt-found:

I can appreciate how you feel. In fact, just the other day I had a customer who felt the exact same way. However, what that customer found was [insert reason why value justifies price]...

What’s your favourite approach to handling the ‘price’ objection?

Make Today the Day,

Sonia

This blog post was originally posted on my training website, Statusone.com.au, on Dec 13, 2016. I have since been moving some of my favourite blog posts from there over to here, as this is now my ‘content hub’ and I want you to have access to some of the cool stuff I’ve written about before. You can still check out the Status One site if you’re interested in corporate training if you want. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter below for updates and weekly exclusive content.