When buying a house, for instance, the unspoken objections that the realtor won’t hear will be, “Is this the right house? Is this the place that’s going to fulfill our needs? Will we be happy here? Is this going to be a good investment? Do I really love this place? Can we do better? If we’re going to spend this much money, why don’t we spend a little more and get our dream house?” The last one—let’s spend more money—describes about 50 percent of all buyers who are concerned with price. The same buyers who use price as an objection will often go out and spend even more money, not less! Remember, many times when a buyer says, “It’s too much money,” what he’s really saying is, “It’s too much for this product”!
Remember the story about a house I sold for 50 percent more than the realtor said it could possibly bring? When the buyer came to the house, I knew she loved it the moment she walked in. Later she insisted on having an appraisal done because her manager said she was paying too much. I explained to the buyer that while I understood she wanted an appraisal, it would be a waste of money because the house wouldn’t be appraised for the price she was paying. I told her that the house was overpriced and because of that it wouldn’t appraise. I went on to tell her that I’d paid too much for the house when I bought it, that the people before me paid too much when they bought it, and that the next people after her were going to pay too much for it. Because of the location, it had always sold for more than it appraised for and everyone would always overpay for it. The buyer decided not to have an appraisal done and bought the house. She lived there about a year and a half and sold it to the next people for too much money. It’s never about price; it’s about love or confidence that the product will solve problems.
$4 COFFEE AND $2 WATER
To be an effective salesperson, you have to believe in human beings. You have to have a positive outlook about people. You have to believe that people are good and that they want to make the right decision. Your buyers are just like you—they spend money they don’t have, they go over budget, they work hard for their money, they’ve made good decisions and they’ve made bad decisions. Like you, they want to avoid bad decisions and make good ones. People want to feel good about themselves and their decisions.
If you’re selling a service to a business owner, he wants to know that he did the right thing for his business and that what he paid for is going to make a difference for his company. If you’re selling a product, consumers want to have certainty that they’ll be happy with it and that when they use it they’re going to feel good, look good, and be admired by others because of the choice they made.
If people don’t buy from you, I assure you it’s almost never about the money or the budget, but about something you didn’t uncover. If it were all about price, please explain to me why people stand in line for a $4 cup of coffee when they could make an entire pot at home for almost nothing. Explain why people spend $2 on a bottle of water when they could simply get water from the tap for free. Explain why someone spends thousands of dollars on season tickets to the ball game when they could watch it on television. Explain why someone would go out and buy a sports car when they could take the subway to work and arrive there in half the time. Explain why you bring your kid to a professional when he cuts himself rather than stitching him up yourself! Love, baby—love!
Consider how many times you’ve paid more than you could afford and you loved it! Consider how many times in your life you went over budget because you found something that you weren’t even looking for and decided to buy it on impulse.
Remember, it’s almost never about price.
CHAPTER SIX QUESTIONS
What does the author suggest is the main reason people don’t buy something?
Give two examples of when you told someone that you couldn’t do something and used price as the reason when there was another objection that you never voiced.
1.
2.
What are the two main reasons people will buy something?
1.
2.
Write down three things people buy everyday that they love but don’t need.
1.
2.
3.
Write down three examples of times when you bought something you could not afford because it solved a problem or you loved it so much you had to buy it.
1.
2.
3.
What does the author suggest is the best way to justify a price when there is an objection?
CHAPTER SEVEN
YOUR BUYER’S MONEY
THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF MONEY
Before you ask customers for their money, there’s something that you need to get straight about the subject. Millions of people on this planet have the false idea that there’s some sort of money shortage. But the truth of the matter is, there’s more than enough money to go around. In fact, there’s a surplus of it.