Episode #123: Your Price Is Too High - Your Reply Is?

When your client hits you with 'your price is too high" what do you say? Are you flustered, wondering how to reply? Is your brain freaking out, as you flash possible answers through your mind. Or are you straight off the blocks and into an argument with the buyer? Are you telling them why it is not too high and why they are wrong, wrong, wrong? By the way, how is that working out for you so far?

Rule number one is don't be stupid. That means don’t argue with the buyer. Because the “your price is too high” comment immediately triggers a chemical reaction in our brain, we have to short circuit what is going on and regain control. To do that we need to have a circuit breaker, like we have in our houses if there is an electricity overload. We have this so that we don’t burn down our house. Same with sales, we don’t want to burn down the deal.

We insert a cushion. This is a non-descript sentence that neither inflames the disagreement with the buyer nor agrees with what they are saying. It would sound like this, “yes, budgeting is important in all businesses”. In the few seconds it takes us to say that sentence we don’t allow ourselves to kick off an argument with the buyer about why their comment is totally flawed, incorrect, ludicrous and ridiculous. It gives us enough breathing time to remember how a professional handles objections from clients. After they tell us our price is too high, we very softly ask “why do you say that?”.

This pushing back process is like reading a newspaper. We see a controversial headline splashed across the front page. It grabs our attention. But to really understand what the headline is saying, we need to read the accompanying article. That is where the detail is and we need to know it before we know how to answer their objection. Our combativeness with the headline is pointless. We need to know is their pushback just plain wrong, because they don’t have the correct facts? Or wrong because they have misinterpreted something we have said? Or is it correct? Our price may in fact be too high for the current value it brings to their business in their mind.

We have no idea of how to answer “your price is too high”, until we have more information. Here is the professional’s next step, after we have discovered the reason behind their statement – we keep digging for other issues. We park the first one and move into asking, “apart from X are there any other concerns you have?”. Objections are also a bit mysterious because the client may not be giving us their primary concern upfront. There may be a hidden objection we don't know about and we merrily go about answering the first objection and wonder why they didn't buy. There was a bigger problem, but they didn't share it and we didn't ask. Always ask.

After they give you the second objection, ask if there are any other concerns. Keep doing this around three to four times maximum. “Are X, Y and Z then your major concerns or is there another?” We have to dig these out before we even attempt to answer any objections from the buyer. Once we have them out then ask for some guidance on which of the three or four is the most problematic for them. “You have mentioned X,Y and Z as issues for you. Of these three which one do you feel is the most pressing?” It is very important to stop speaking at this point. Don’t add anything or qualify anything. The question leaves a certain amount of tension in the air, but let it hang there, don’t relieve the tension by saying anything further. If you have another person with you, tell them before the meeting that when you ask a question and it creates tension with the buyer to sit there and shut up. Don’t release the tension.

We need to hear from them, so that we can concentrate our efforts answering their key concern. Once we know what that concern is, then we bring all our weight to bear on the value we provide with our rationale, statistics, data, testimonials, evidence, proof, etc. to show why the price is just fine and dandy.

Usually, once we have answered the ley concern the minor concerns drop away. If we have done all of this and they still don’t want to proceed, then it means there is still a hidden issue we need to surface, so we can deal with it.

If we haven’t done a good job of building the trust, the client may be reluctant to tell what they are really thinking. This reinforces the importance of the sales cycle to build trust first, ask brilliant questions to uncover needs, tailor the solution to exactly the key points they have raised before we ask for the order.