How do I avoid price too early in the conversation?

Oct 18, 2019

Too often, buyers will focus on price before you’ve had a chance to prove your value. In this episode, Paul shares some ideas to proactively take control of the sales conversation.

 

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In this episode, Paul answers the question, how do I avoid discussing price too early in the conversation?

 

Buyers often focus on price early in the conversation. This is especially true in commoditized industries. When buyers view multiple solutions as the same, they focus more on price.

 

“Well, any time the customer leads you into a pricing conversation before you’ve proven the actual value, your price is going to be too high. The customer has yet to really understand what it is that you actually do for them.”

When customers make buying decisions, they analyze four variables: Price, Cost, Utility, and Impact.

“Price is what you charge for your product or service. It’s pretty straightforward, but, Cost is much broader. Cost is what that buyer really sacrifices. Utility is what your product or service actually does, but Impact is how it really affects the buyer.”

 

“When the buyer asks about price, don’t freak out and start listing price.” 

 

Instead, redirect the conversation to cost. For example,
“Well, Mr. Customer, I understand that price is one of the many factors you consider when making this decision, but the reason you’re asking about price is because you’re really concerned about saving on
your total cost. Is that right?”

 

If you’re talking total cost, you can share ideas to reduce their cost. If you’re talking price, you’re more likely to discount.

 

Once you have changed the conversation from price to total cost, you can discuss all the ways your solution will help that buyer save on their total cost. The next step is to ask questions related to total cost.

 

Ask questions to identity all the ways you buyer determines cost. For example, “How do you calculate labor on this project?”, “How is cost determined throughout this project?”, or “What are some of those soft
or hidden costs associated with this decision?”