Waiting for the dreaded price objections on your next sale? Relax – we’ll show you how to respond.
There are many reasons why customers object to prices on items or products they are hoping to purchase. Some customers reject price because they are hoping to get the best deal possible – even if they are comfortable with the price you’re suggesting. Other customers object because they haven’t been shown the or don’t understand the value reflected in the pricing structure. Quite often, price objections are unexpected, and it’s important to understand how to proceed in order to save the deal.
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Wait to Discuss Price
One of the biggest reasons customers object to price is because it is offered up too early in the sales process. Pace your sales presentation so that a customer first understands the value in what you’re selling before they learn the price.
Understand Common Price Objections
There are three common objections customers will share when they aren’t ready to proceed in a sale. While the response to these objections is best tailored for each customer, it’s important to have an arsenal of responses to common price objections. How would you respond to any of these?
- The price is too high.
- We don’t have a budget right now.
- Can we get a discount?
Be Silent
If you’ve given your customer a price, sometimes it’s best to be silent and wait for their reaction. You may hear an objection to the cost. Often, we think we need to respond immediately when objections are raised. Instead, take a moment to pause and see if your client mentions anything the reasons why they are objecting. Sometimes customers will even object, and if you don’t respond they may retract their immediate objection, agreeing to pay the original price..
If your customer doesn’t explain their objections in more detail during your pause, take a moment and ask them to clarify. Try using sentences like, “Could you please elaborate?” or “Would you kindly explain your thoughts in more detail?”.
Ask Questions
When a customer asks a question, most salespeople generally respond quickly with their answers. This makes sense – you not only want an informed customer, but a happy one. When dealing with price objections, we’d recommend you take a moment to instead ask questions of your clients instead of answering theirs. You don’t always need to renegotiate or answer your clients price objections immediately. Their answers will give you much more information on what to expect from a sale.
Be direct when asking questions related to an objection. Here are some questions you might want to consider asking:
- How did you arrive at that budget?
- What were you expecting the price to be?
- What are you comparing the pricing to?
- If the price were adjusted, would you be willing to finalize the sale?
Remember What You’re Really Selling: Value
Yes, you are selling a product or a service, but when you receive price objections from your customers, it’s important to delve a bit deeper and reiterate the value of what you’re selling. Maybe you forgot to mention this in an earlier part of the sale, or maybe you need to do a better job of assigning value to the product or service you’re selling. Often, if customers can truly understand how the value of what you’re offering is reflected in the price, they’ll decide to purchase, even if it was slightly more than they were expecting or hoping to pay.
If value cannot be shown in any more detail, consider any warranty or refund options you could offer. Sometimes just knowing an item has a warranty term is enough to show additional value to your product, especially if it is being compared to a competitor who is not offering something similar.
Bottom Line: Be Informed
Whether your pausing to reflect, asking additional questions, or reselling value, the best way to close a deal after discussing objections to your pricing is to be as informed as possible. If you can understand why your customer isn’t ready to proceed with negotiations, you can best address their needs.
While your sales staff are learning how to best address customer price objections, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Blitz. We like to give you a chance to try our product out on your own and learn firsthand the value behind our pricing structure.