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“It is too expensive”

Written by: Richard Mulvey

Article Overview: What do you think your customer means when he raises this objection?

“It is too expensive”

“It is too expensive”

Ever heard that objection?

Only once or twice... A day!

When you get the “It is too expensive” objection what is the customer thinking?

I know that sounds obvious but give it some thought. He may be thinking "I have not got the money" but in fact that is not very likely. It would be more common for the customer to be thinking any of the following:

"Your Competitors are cheaper"
"It is not in the budget"
"I do not see your product as good value at that price"
"My wife would kill me if I spent that much"
"I could buy a second hand one that would do the job"
"I am not authorised to spend more than 50,000"

You will realise that he could be thinking hundreds of different things and very few of them are real price objections.

What is the salesperson thinking when he hears this objection? He automatically thinks he will have to lower the price to make the sale but this is just not true.

Consider some of the options here.

“I had a quote last week from your competition and they were cheaper. It is too expensive”

Of course you might make the sale by lowering your price, but it would be a lot better to keep your higher price and demonstrate the value of your product.

“It is not in the budget. It is too expensive”

The two things we know about budgets are that budgets are annual (next year’s budget starts next month and you can wait) and budgets are flexible (If the MD wants that new Mercedes they will find the money somewhere)

“I am only authorised to sign purchase orders up to 50,000 and your product is 60,000. It is too expensive”

You could make the sale by lowering the price to 50,000 but a better approach would be to go higher for authority.

Your customer may be thinking any number of things when he says “It is too expensive”.

“I ca not afford it this month” - Spread the payments over a few months
“My wife would kill me if I spent that much” - Go to higher authority (The Wife!)
“It does not fully satisfy my needs” - Demonstrate how your product will, in fact, satisfy the needs.
“I do not carry that much money around with me” - Take a cheque
“The warehouse is full so we cannot take any more stock” - Store the product for the customer
“It seems all right but I would like to try and push the price down” - Don't fall for this one

That last one is very common. The customer says “It is too expensive” simply to put pressure on the salesman.

When you hear the words “It is too expensive" you should try to clarify the objection by asking something like the following

“When you say it is too expensive, are you saying you cannot afford the price or is there something I have missed?”

In my experience customers never say they cannot afford the price so this forces them to tell you the real objection.

Customer "No it is not a matter of price, it is just that your competitors are cheaper”

Now you have the real objection which should be easier to handle.

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