If you’re like most sellers, you get price objections – lots of them. It’s easy to take the path of least resistance, let your nervousness get the best of you, lower the price, and cheapen your offer. But do you stop to think of the effort, time and resources that went into perfecting the product or service you’re selling? Here are two stories that perfectly illustrate how having confidence in your offering and standing firm on your price can get prospects to see the true value of your offering and why it’s a fair deal.
$5000 for THAT? Are you kidding me?
We were newlyweds enjoying our honeymoon in Maui when my new husband stopped and admired a Koa wood bowl. He stared at it for what seemed like two minutes, touched it softly, and turned it upside down to look at the price.
He didn’t know I was watching. I figured I hadn’t gotten him a wedding gift, so maybe I’d buy it for him – a surprise!
I secretly called the salesman aside and asked, “How much for the bowl?”
“5,” he replied.
Now, I’m not an art connoisseur. I’m thinking it can’t be 5 dollars, five hundred? Five thousand? I mustered the courage to ask.
“5 what?”
“Five thousand dollars,” he replied.
“Five thousand!” I protested. “How long did it take the artist to make the bowl?”
He smiled and replied, “30 years.”
“30 years?” I asked.
Another pause.
“Yeah, 30 years to be good enough to make it in three hours.”
He’s a master. You ask how much for the bowl: 30 years of experience. It takes that long to be a master.
Whoooahh!!! That’s way too expensive.
Here’s another example. A few months back, I read a post on LinkedIn from Ashlynn White and couldn’t resist changing the context to a sales conversation to show an example of how to overcome price objections.
Customer: How much will it cost to do virtual training for our team in for our sales kick-off meeting?
Trainer: $20,000.
Customer: WHOOOOAHHHH!!!!! That’s WAY too expensive for virtual training.
Trainer: How much do you think it SHOULD cost?
Customer: No more than $5,000 – ALL IN. It’s not that hard to teach discovery and value creation.
Trainer: I can’t train your whole team for that price.
Customer: People in your industry are so full of themselves.
Trainer: Sorry you feel that way. Why not do it yourself?
Customer: Because I don’t know how to do any of this. I’m A VP, not a trainer.
Trainer For $2000, I’ll teach you EXACTLY how to train your team. Then you can spend $2000 to do the training, and you’ll still be saving $18,000 – PLUS… you’ll get the knowledge and experience for the next time you want to train your team yourself.
Customer: Cool! Let’s do it.
Trainer: To get started, you’ll need a virtual studio. So you’ll have to buy an ATEM mini, a Sony Camera, a second screen, a Vibe board, a background and a few other things.
Customer: But I don’t have all this equipment, and I can’t buy all of this for one training.
Trainer: Well then, for another $1500 more, I’ll let you rent my studio… and you’ll still save $16,500.
Customer: Hmmmmm… That’s cutting into my budget, but I’ll rent your studio.
Trainer: Okay! I’ll set up a call for next week, and then you can start creating your curriculum.
Customer: Wait. CURRICULUM? What do you mean curriculum?
Trainer: You need to write the content you’re training on, and I might recommend hiring a speaking coach. Creating content and delivering content are two different skill sets. The audience needs to be engaged and moved to take action.
Customer: Okay!! I’ll meet with you next week, but only for an hour. I’m slammed.
Trainer Yeah… me too. Oh… and I forgot… to do the training yourself, you also have to create follow-up materials. Online follow-up is best. Today’s sellers need reinforcement and should have it available on their devices. Everyone is short of time right now, and unless you create bite-sized follow-up modules, they’ll forget 90 percent of what you teach them.
Customer: Online learning? I’m not an instructional designer. I don’t know how to create online learning. I don’t have a training department!
Trainer: I guess you’ll have to hire one, AND an experienced videographer and editor. Do you have a recruiter who can place ads? It’s hard to get help these days.
Customer: Ummm… ya know… I’ve been thinking. It’s probably best if YOU do this training. I’d rather pay someone to MOTIVATE AND TRAIN THE TEAM correctly than go through all the hassle myself.
Trainer: Good move; I’ll send over a DocuSign and start customizing the curriculum.
If you’re getting price objections, the prospect isn’t seeing your true value. Don’t lose confidence and discount right away: circle back in the sales conversation and work harder at tying your value to their pain.
TRUTH BOMB
The final product is never the complete picture.
When you hire a trainer especially one who has 25 years plus experience delivering and creating content, you’re paying not only for the event but for:
- Knowledge
- Experience
- Track record
- Expertise
- Time
- Results
Be smart. Trust a reputable speaker, trainer and content creator. And never forget… “There’s always time to get it right the second time.”
