I remember a customer who once told me that my product cost too much money and I was unable to close him. He left me and bought a product for $150,000 more from my competitor. When he said it was too much money, he was really saying it was too much for the solution I was offering. You will discover that as many price objections will be solved with more expensive solutions as are solved with lower prices.
When I can’t close a sale, I’ll always try to move the buyer up to a bigger or more expensive product as the first solution to price objection. Although this might not make immediate sense to you, I assure you that it will prove successful. If the customer will at least consider it, I know I’m on a product that he still has questions about. This is called “closing with inventory.” I’ve had thousands of customers tell me that it’s either too much money or that it’s over the budget, or they get that uncomfortable money look on their face during the close. I’ll immediately move that buyer up to a more expensive product. Why? Because they’re telling me that it’s too much money for that product or service or that they’re not sure it will resolve their problem. The buyer would rather pay more and make the right decision than pay less and make a mistake.
Every consumer has made mistakes before, and this is the number one reason why they hesitate to make decisions. It is the fear of repeating a mistake; it is not the fear of spending the money. It’s the angst about making the wrong choice or buying the wrong product or making a decision that doesn’t create the solution they were looking for more than it is price.
Always show your buyers how they can spend more as a solution to price—this will determine whether or not you’re dealing with a real price objection. The worst outcome is that the more expensive product will make the one they’re looking at seem more accessible, which will actually build value and substantiate the price. Never buy into the talk of the mediocre salespeople around you who believe that price is the most important issue or who promote the idea that if the price were lower they could sell more! Just look at their results and then disregard their advice.
One time a charity asked me if I would help out with some fund-raising. The members told me about this one prospect who had the wherewithal to make a sizable donation and was supportive of the charity, but they were having trouble getting him to make a financial contribution. They’d been working on him for a year and hadn’t gotten a penny. I asked them how much they’d been trying to get him to donate and discovered that they’d been asking for $10,000. I suggested that they might have been asking him for too little. Maybe this prospect didn’t like making small contributions and that it might be easier to get a larger one.
One woman looked at me with disbelief and said that this man was one of the cheapest people she’d ever tried to get a contribution from. So I took the prospect aside and in ten minutes had him closed to contribute ten times what they’d been trying to get for a year. He wasn’t cheap by any means except in the mind of the fund-raiser. In fact, he was one of the most generous people I’d ever met. He told me that he hadn’t contributed anything to the charity in the past because he didn’t feel that $10,000 would really make a difference. All I did was ask him for the right amount, the amount that he believed would make a difference! The higher contribution actually solved his problem.
Tip: Your prospect is never the problem—never! Salespeople, not the prospect, are the ultimate barriers to every sale.
SALESPEOPLE, NOT CUSTOMERS, STOP SALES
You have to get this into your head: Price is not your problem—you are your problem! Customers do not stop sales. It is salespeople who stop sales from happening. You, not the customer, are the barrier to the closed deal.
Give the prospect a product that he loves or a service that solves his problem and you’ll get the close once he has full confidence in the product or service and you.
There will be times when you’ll have to handle the buyer on money. Sometimes I remind a person, “While I agree it’s a lot of money for a gift, there’s no shortage of money on this planet. But there is a shortage of people who’ve found the love of their life and who know how to show their appreciation for that person. Be grateful you’ve got someone to love. Now, how would you like to handle this?” Now that’s selling! If the buyer is totally convinced it’s right, he will chew off his own foot to have it!
If the buyer who’s saying it’s too much money found out that he had a disease and was going to die, but this product would save his life, what would he do? He’d find the money, buy the product, and save his life. Why? Because he’s completely sold on the need! If the need is important enough and he has confidence in the cure, if the love is great enough, price will not be an issue.