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For salespeople, there is a challenge that is tantalizing.
And this is a challenge that cuts across all products, services, industries,
price points and geography. Falling prey to it can also cause you to lose sales,
profits and opportunities. And what is it?
It is simply answering the premature price question; the one that invariably
pops up early in your sales presentation. In fact, it occurs so early that you
often have not had the opportunity to ask questions, present your
product/service or sometimes even size up the situation. The jolting question
often comes in a variety of forms. Let's take a look at just a few:
· Could you "give me a ballpark figure on the
cost?"
· "How much does something like that
cost?"
· "What do you think this would cost us?"
· "I'm only interested in price so how
much is it?"
· "I don't want to talk about anything until
you give me a price. How much is it?"
All of these questions take a different form and structure.
But in each case, the question is designed to accomplish the same goal: to
determine price without investing too much time into learning about the
product/service and its value. To relieve the prospect from having to
invest any emotional capital into the possibility of becoming enamored with a
product or service that could either be out of their comfort range with regard
to price or something the prospect may believe he or she can't afford.
What are your options? Basically there are only three and two of them are bad.
You can:
· Answer the question by presenting the price.
That's bad.
· Ignore the question. That's bad, too (plus
it's ignorant)
Or
· Defer the answer until you are prepared to present
the price. That's good...and, by far, your best option.
But how do you professionally and diligently defer the
answer? Surprisingly, the strategy is really quite simple and logical. But
before we discuss that, let's look at why you need to defer it.
Here it is: In the absence of value every price will be
perceived as being too high.
The result will be "fight or flight." Your
prospect will either feel the price is too high and prepare for negotiated
combat or simply feel that the price is outlandish and prepare to leave!
On the other hand, in the rare cases where your price is always perceived as
being too low you need to evaluate factors to include:
· Is a salesperson really necessary to sell low
priced objects (maybe you should be replaced with a vending machine. It's
cheaper!)
· In the absence of any resistance, perhaps your
product should be priced more aggressively.
Sales is a combination of strategy (why to do things) and tactics (how to do
them). And the tactics center around the correct and specific choice of words to
use.
In this case, you have several choices of both. Let's look at some of the
options:
1. "We have a full range of prices
based on what you're trying to accomplish. Let me help you narrow your choices
and then will look at prices."
2. "I could give you a price, but it
might be misleading. Let me ask you a few questions to be sure I understand
exactly what you're trying to accomplish, then let's look at price."
3. No matter what the price, this could be
the most expensive mistake you ever make if it is not right for you. Let's make
sure that you make the right choice, then let's talk about price."
4. We have a full range of prices from
"x" (low) to "y" (high). You'll likely fall somewhere in
between. I need to know exactly what you're trying to achieve, then I can help
you select the right product, price and direction."
The bottom line is that in each case, you are trying to defer the price issue so
you can correctly recommend the exact product or service, build value
and present your price only as related to (a) the correctly recommended product
and (b) the value it brings to your prospect.
There are few sales issues that carry more valuable weight then learning
precisely why and exactly how to defer and then correctly present price. This
skill alone will help you maximize margins and increase sales. Try it. You'll
like it.
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