Salespeople call me all the time saying how they’re struggling because their price is too high.
When I ask them why they think their price is too high, they say something like how they know they could close more sales if their price was lower.
When I challenge them more, they then say how customers tell them the reason they didn’t buy from them was their price was too high.
Sorry, but I think these are excuses. When customers say they bought somewhere else because the deal was better or they didn’t buy because the price was too high, I view that as merely a throw away statement.
Problem is the salesperson believes it and quickly begins to believe the mantra of how their price is too high.
Just because a few customers say your price is too high does not mean a thing. I’ll even go as far as to say if every customer said your price was too high, I’d still say it doesn’t mean a thing. What it means is you have not positioned yourself properly in concert with the price you’re charging.
Keep in mind a few key things. Customers in both B2B and B2C are buying outcomes/results. They want to know what they spend money on is going to work and deliver them the benefits they’re looking for. To get to this takes confidence.
The customer has to have confidence in both you and your offering. Once the customer has confidence in the outcomes, they will buy.
Problem is they won’t necessarily buy from you.
It’s at this point where time and convenience begins to play into the equation. The more time the customer has and the less convenience you provide them, they will be more likely to shop. Again, this goes for both B2B and B2C.
To deal with this you now need to be able to demonstrate how you can assist with both. When you are able to demonstrate this, you will then be able to position your offering at full price.
How effective are you in meeting the criteria I laid out above?
I will argue that in 99% of all situations where the salesperson thinks the price is too high it is because they have not successfully delivered on meeting the criteria spelled out above.
Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
