It’s always disconcerting when a prospect tells you that your price is too high. As a best practice, you shouldn’t even get to the topic of price until late in the sales engagement. By the time price is mentioned, you would have confirmed the prospect’s needs and that they have a budget. You would also know what the implications are if the prospect does not address their problem. So, when you hear “your price is too high” at this point, it’s time to keep your cool and start investigating to uncover the root cause.
Ultimately you need to determine whether the prospect really has a budget problem or whether this response is really “cover” for an unexpressed issue. Ideally, you should draw them into a discussion about their thought process by asking open-ended questions.
What You Can Do
Find out what they view as an alternative by asking them, “What are you comparing this to?” If they have a point of comparison that is inappropriate you will have a roadmap to address, it and reinforce how appropriate your solution is.
Explore with them how they came to this conclusion. You can simply ask: “What makes you think that?” They may have made some false assumptions, or they may have misunderstood some aspects of the solution that you will have a chance to correct.”
Assess whether the solution you offer is missing an important feature. You might ask: “If you eliminated price as a factor, would this solution fully address your needs?” This should reveal any hidden gaps.
As the discussion progresses, don’t miss the opportunity to review with them the ROI for your solution and to share the vision of what their business looks like when the solution you offer is implemented.
Not surprisingly, comments about budget and pricing can also be a prospect’s opening move to negotiate. For many of us, the price is really non-negotiable, but you might have the flexibility to explore whether different payment plans or delaying implementation to a different quarter relieves financial pressure.
“Your price is too high” can mean many things and how you address it will depend on what you uncover in your discussion with the prospect. But in my experience, the combination of being patient and working through the prospect’s thought process can diffuse this situation and move the prospect’s focus from the cost of your offering to the value it provides.
At One of a Kind Sales, we love selling and we are experts at sales and cold calling, in particular. If you would like to discuss how we can help you and your team, please contact us at 908-879-2911.