What if I told you there was a way you would never lose a deal because of your price?
Why do people ask for a discount?
If your price is being questioned, it’s generally for one reason – you’re not good value.
You can argue with me all day on this one, but irrespective of whether your competitors are much cheaper, or much higher, or if you think some people just need to get a bargain, or whatever other reason your price is being questioned, once you get to the core issue, it always boils down to the value of your offering.
Think of the reverse, we’re prepared to pay full price or even more than asking price if we perceive something to be a bargain or we think we’re getting a great deal. Travel operators are renowned for packaging things up to be great value so we feel like we’re getting an excellent deal.
Your price is determined by your value and if you can’t back yourself in with your price, it’s probably because you aren’t good value.
Your price is never the element being questioned, it’s your value that is.
“You’re too expensive”, “we’ve found a cheaper supplier”, “is this your best price?”
However you slice or dice it up, hearing these objections can mean game over or it generally ends by you providing a discount under duress. Unless you’re skilled in asking the right questions, you risk ending up with little or nothing.
Whether you’re selling consulting services, legal advice, cars, houses, furniture or something on Gumtree, it’s essential to be able to back yourself in with that you offer.
The 3 elements to consider in this situation are:
- Knowing market value for what you provide
- Your proven past performance
- Confidence in your ability to deliver
If you can deliver on these three elements, they actually make you great value, otherwise you are too expensive.
After all, if you can’t sell your offering for what you believe it to be worth, then you have another problem altogether.
What to say
Most people don’t know how to come back and combat an objection to price. Many people are fearful of replying to someone once they are questioned on price.
What are your fearful of?
I’ve heard time and time again from people who freeze-up when someone questions their price. Their lack of technique and ability to handle this situation is costing them money!
I hear of people worrying about offending customers by saying no to a discount. What about them offending you by questioning your value?! If you can have the posture and composure to back yourself in when questioned on price, you’ll find that your results will improve.
Wouldn’t it be great if you had a formula to follow that ensures you always get paid what your worth?
Irrespective of what you are selling, here are 7 Bold Questions to ask which will ensure you keep the deal and maintain your price. Remember though, these are Bold questions, which means they are ‘challenging’ style questions to ask, in order to illicit the right response to maintain your price. If you want to give your product or service away or want to heavily discount, then feel free to skip ahead 😉
- If price wasn’t an object, would you be happy to proceed?
- What if I wasn’t able to alter my price for you? What would that mean?
- Is it that I’m too expensive or this is over your budget?
- What do you think is reasonable?
- How did you come up with that?
- Is price your main motivator?
- What else is important to you?
There is an actual formula I teach for using these questions which generally ends up with you securing the business and at the price you are worth.
Even if you start by challenging yourself and asking a few to begin with, you’ll no doubt see your confidence grow and your closing skills improve!
Side point: I rarely lose business due to my price. I also rarely discount and I am not the cheapest consultant in the marketplace. Helping organisations and individuals to learn these strategies is one of my favourite skill sets to teach.