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Dealing with price or cost objections

Guest post by: John Cameron

Article Overview: Any sales training needs to address objections. One that is very hard for many sales people to deal with in these trying times is "your price is too high!" or "you are too expensive!" Whether you make your living in business development, tele-sales, knocking on doors, smiling and dialing, dialing for dollars or making new friends-being able to deal with "you are too expensive" or "your prices is too high in an honorable way is absolutely necessary.

Dealing with price or cost objections

Whether you call what you do business development, sales, appointment setting or rainmaking, many of us have a tough time withYour Price is too high! Any sales training needs to address this objection-especiallyIn these cost conscious times. Sales reps will respond toYour Price is too high !by trying to prove that the future customer is wrong to be concerned with cost. This response creates an adversarial relationship.

In this newsletter I will show you a different approach. We will use theYes and...process that is the underlying principle of Improvisational Comedyto diffuse this objection. One of my clients does laser eye surgery and they are not the least expensive in their market-by far! Because their employees know other surgeon's work is similar-not exactly the same, but similar, and less expensive, they had a lot of trouble with this one.

Let's look at how the conversation will go when you are trained to use this process.

Customer,How much is your Lasik?

Sales person,$2200 per eye, and that includes the exam, surgery, follow up for a year and all ordinary and necessary charges.

Customer,Are you kidding me?That's way too expensive!

Sales person,You are absolutely right. ItISway too expensive!I wish we could deliver surgery by two of the top fifty LASIK surgeons in the country using the most advanced FDA approved equipment for less money. The best is expensive. Now, how far you along are you in your research into LASIK? Have you been examined to make sure you are a good candidate?

Customer,What do you mean, find out if I am a good candidate?

Sales person,Not everyoneshouldhave LASIK. You may not have thick enough corneas. Based on how you use your eyes, computer, reading, distance work, or a combination of them all, Lasik could be a less effective solution than what you are using now. Why don't we examine you, with no cost or obligation of course, and if you decide to go with someone else, so be it. You will have something to compare to. We could see you as early as tomorrow at four. Or are mornings better for you?

What did we do and why will it work? First, we agreed with our future patient. Most customers are used to an adversarial relationship with sales people. It is hard to be in an adversarial relationship with someone who agrees with you.

Next we justified why are charges are higher,great surgeons and thebest FDA approved equipment.

We set ourselves apart by focussing on the needs of the customer. We also used a wonderful transitional word-NOW.Most sales people drop very destructive words in conversation, words that stop the forward movement and create a negative frame of reference-words likeBUTandHOWEVER.

NOWworks in a different way. It transitions from one part of the conversation to the next, moving the conversation along without stopping it and creates a sense of activity. In salesNOWi s really all we have.

We used a phrase,Why don't we...which put the customer in a position to have to actively take charge of the conversation and come up with a reason not to have the appointment.

We set ourselves up as a benchmark and when we wow them with fantastic customer service and a superbly professional exam, we will be the vendor of choice.

And, we gave the customer two options. Tomorrow afternoon or mornings. Human beings shut down when given too many choices. Three options is about all people need to see.

We didn't say what day and time would be best because then the number of options is feels infinite and we have to actively think about our whole life and weigh the fear and hassle of an appointment with whatever else we think we will be doing.

NOW,are you going to practice this process today or is tomorrow morning better for you?

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Article Tags: business development, cold calling, dealing with cost objections, dealing with objections, dealing with price objections, sales training



Related Forum Posts
eBay Shipping Rates - Unfortunately a lot of sellers on eBay are selling low cost products but making up the low price with extraordinary shipping prices. You just have to be aware of how much you're paying for shipping and whether the total price is still a good value.
Re: Hiring introverts vs. extroverts - [quote="Evan":37xmbjab]It's generally hard to be a good salesperson if you are an introvert.[/quote:37xmbjab] Evan, I was thinking about the same right? Then I was put in charge of training sales teams and found out interesting traits among the successful ones. Often times, the extroverts talk "too much" and kill a sale. They attempt to overcome every objection by giving answers while NOT understanding they are not hearing true objections. When objections are answered but the buyers aren't proceeding for transaction, they're not telling you the real objection. When that happens, there is a psychological shift occurs that the more you appear needy to sell as a salesperon, the less attractive your sales team becomes because people like to be facilitated instead of being sold. So the hybrid of both characteristics will serve best in sales. The tone of your voice, posture, attitude, all work well... and you want to look confident, mature, calm and not attached to the end result of the transaction. It's like saying.... Mr. Prospect, I certainly would love to welcome you as a customer, but even if you don't proceed, it wouldn't be my loss... but saying this through your tone of voice, look on your face and everything else instead of in words. And some extroverts ones have hard time expressing these messages through unspoken communications, seeking approval for their answers to customers objections by speaking too much. Interesting isn't it? Warmest Regards, Takuya
Re: E-Commerce Spending Down? - [quote="GT Bulmer":a9fxugwc]I find that some vendors add the shipping cost on at the end, while some build it into the item cost to try to hide it or lessen it. It sometimes pays to research the field before ordering, but again, for me, that depends on how badly or quickly I want the item.[/quote:a9fxugwc] I just don't like how some US sellers will charge $5 ground shipping or make it FREE to ship to anywhere in the US... and then shipping to Canada is $30+ (it doesn't make any sense for the price jump). In the past, I've sold tennis racquets to US residents and it only cost about $17 for shipping in a large & heavy cardboard box. So why should a t-shirt in the US (from an eBay seller) cost $30 USD to ship to Toronto?
Re: E-Commerce Spending Down? - Spending might be down, but there's still plenty of spending being done. Only a 2% decrease is hardly anything to worry about. As Kevin pointed out, I've noticed eBay sellers offering free shipping, but increasing the starting cost or Buy It Now price. So, in reality you're still paying for the shipping. I'm one who likes to buy online, mainly because it's a lot easier and I don't have to deal with the mad rush at malls and shopping centers. I'll shop around for the best price online, mainly looking at eBay or Amazon. However, if I happen to get into a crunch, then I'll just suck it up and go to the store and pay full price. Sometimes you just have to, but I try to avoid that situation. As Kevin also mentioned about shipping prices on eBay, I, too, have noticed that some sellers really inflate the price, even for US shipping. I avoid those sellers unless I can still get it cheaper through them than someone else, but most of the time you won't. It doesn't make any sense, and I would hate being out of the country and getting completely ripped off.
Going Global - johnburns - Do you have all the "accounting" done for these territories? Meaning, do you have an established price point? Who is going to pay the set-up fees? Who is responsible for the registration fees, etc.? Are you willing to pay for it out of the "cost" of the territory, or increase the cost by those factors?


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