Just Tell Them the Darn Price

What do you do when your client or prospect asks you for the price of your product or service very early in the call or presentation?

If you were taught like I was, the rule was you don’t answer until you’ve had a chance to establish value. And to do that, you need to complete at least some level of discovery.

Every major sales training program I’ve seen talks about how to avoid answering the early, “What’s the price?” question.

Mine did too.

Until about ten years ago. That’s when I changed my tune.

I more thoroughly examined the buyer question and seller’s response from the buyer’s perspective.

It’s sort of embarrassing to admit that. After all I’d been teaching a consultative, trusted advisor approach for years and here I was looking at it only from the selling side.

Why wasn’t I just answering their direct question?

First, I assumed they didn’t know the value just because I hadn’t told them. But, just because I hadn’t told them didn’t mean someone else hadn’t or they hadn’t done a ton of research.

Second, I assumed they weren’t savvy enough of a buyer to handle the number yet. They’d think that price was too high because they didn’t have something to compare it too. Again, how did I know?

The point is, I didn’t And here I am NOT answering their direct question.

Savvy buyers hate avoidance. They hate feeling manipulated.

And that assumption seemed a whole lot more accurate (and dangerous) than just answering the darn question.

So, that’s what I started to recommend (and still do).

Confidently answer the price question like they’re asking you where you’re from or where you went to school or who your favorite football team is.

Don’t avoid. Be open and honest. Tell them the price or your pricing methodology. Wait for their response to it. Then address the response. Tell them why it’s priced that way or how that compares to others or the value they get for that investment.

But do tell them the price.

You can do that in a number of ways:

You can say your pricing methodology is based on volume or number of seats/users. And give them those numbers.

You can tell them the price range on projects is typically $100K – $500K with a few over $1M.

You could even say, “Our price? That’s the best part. It’s only $49 per user. Let me tell you what all you get for that price…”

Or you could say, “The price will vary based on what modules we select, anywhere from $X to $Y. Should we talk first about what you want and then narrow it down?”

There are lots of ways to answer, “What’s the price?”

The key is to answer the question, to do it with confidence and to deal with their response.

If they say that seems like a lot, no big deal. That’s just a price objection. And if you can’t handle price objections as a salesperson, I hate to break it to you, but you’re in the wrong profession!

Here’s the fun part. Every once in a while they’ll say, “That’s less than I thought” or “I thought it would be more”, and you’re golden.

Even if there’s no response, you’re fine. Just move onto discovery or whatever was your objective on that call.

Have a great week!

Bob

P.S. If you like these newsletters and want to work more closely with me, just send me an email: [email protected] and we can schedule a brief, no-cost consult. We offer low cost mini-courses, deep flagship courses and personal coaching for those who sell or manage those selling complex technology-based solutions.