punishedlad

Business Development Team Lead

Objection Handling: Pricing

Hey there, War Room.

Last post I could find about this was two years ago, so I'd love to get some fresh responses aggregated for those interested.

During your sales cycle, how often does pricing come up as an objection?

How often is it a real concern, or the prospect trying to strong arm a lower price?

How do you handle this objection when it comes up?

I encounter this objection quite frequently, as I sell into public sector entities with very fixed budgets. Normally it comes up when I'm talking to a smaller organization. My go to method for when I'm met with "this is too expensive" is to change the subject immediately. I'll reference the fact that we work with tons of other similarly/smaller sized organizations, and that pricing has never been an issue. Then immediately pivot back into touching on the things we've talked about during discovery and really hammer down the positive things we discussed (i.e., how they agreed our solution would be a great help with x, y, and z).

If they double down and say it's just too expensive, I'll allude to the fact that we can likely be a bit flexible with things like dev cost (if they're a smaller org), dive into the existing solutions they use that we would outright replace, and even brainstorm ways that they can use their existing budget/funding sources that they wouldn't think would be applicable.

I've found a lot of success with these methods, but would love to hear your perspective!

🎈 Mentorship

🙅‍♀️ Objections

🤞 Negotiation

10

16 comments

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antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

5

Bravado's Resident Asshole

My conversation usually turns towards the cost of inaction if price comes up.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

4

☕️

Exactly! What is the cost of doing nothing? If it’s not a $ amount, then is it tech debt, reduced processing capabilities, etc. Quantify what will happen if they don’t move forward with a solution.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

You both friggin nailed this one.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

2

Sales Director

..."quantify what will happen if they don't move forward".

So good.

Minor problems become major problems if not addressed.

"Too expensive? Curious Mrs. Customer, you know your business better than I do. What does the cost of not implementing a solution now look like 1 year from now?"

And, always make sure when they push back on price you understand where it's coming from.

Is it price vs another quote? price vs value of offer? price vs budget?

Context is key there.

salesherald

Executive

1

Sales Process Consultant

Yeah, that's a very good way to discuss pricing. Jacco has a framework called FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and an updated one that is FOMU (Fear of messing UP) that usually help when the prospect are not very convinced.

TennisandSales

Politicker

3

Head Of Sales

so i try to get price out of the way early. If I know the approximate volume of the prospect, ill have some idea of how they will react to price.

sometimes ill bring it up in the first 10 mins of a discovery call. Sometimes ill end a discovery call with it.

your product will ALWAYS be too expensive for someone.

If they tell me its too expensive on the disco call ill look to circle back to the pain points we talked about. (the whole quantify the problem approach)
if they still are saying its to expensive ill tell them that i understand and suggest competitors that are cheaper.

Ill also add that if they do end up expanding the budget I would be happy to set up a demo.
this sort of push and pull seems to help.

Pachacuti

Politicker

3

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

very true that your price will always be too much for some customers. But it will be a bargain for others.

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

yep great call. goes both ways!

Maximas

Tycoon

0

Senior Sales Executive

Good one!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Try to hone in on why they think it's too expensive.
-Is your competition less expensive?
-Is there a budgetary number they have to keep in mind, and what's the reason? ex.: either they aren't budgeted for the full amount now, or they have additional approvals for higher prices and there will be risk to the project as a whole.
-Are they at final negotiation? And if so, are they willing to give something to get a lower price?

I'm sure that you're always building value during your conversations, but if you get to the point where this seems to be the last hurdle, getting a discussion about the actual cost and why they are balking can lead to uncovering the real reason they're pushing back, and can give you something to work with.

edit because the WYSIWYG formatting is evidently gone

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

Sales Rep

Whenever I get told "I am too expensive" I always ask what am I being compared to as too expensive. Is it a competitor with a similar tool, is it doing nothing, or is it just too expensive for this quarter/fy.
Majority of times when I am meeting with a prospect we met with via outbound prospecting, price is always a concern because they havent budgeted for this expense.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

This is the reason why the Discovery Call is SOOOO important. Asking lots of questions, understanding processes, knowing the costs of inaction/status quo - all VERY important!
People who discount the DC are fools.

Justatitle

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

Is their concern on price that it won't be worth it? is it that it is wildly out of budget? understanding why it's too expensive might be the best first action then going and pulling the appropriate levers as needed

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

Really depend at what stage of the process this is coming up. I always like to dive deep into the pain points and try to justify what long term value the product is going to add.

salesherald

Executive

0

Sales Process Consultant

If this subject of the budget comes up, you can't just change the conversations, because if this is something your lead is bringing to the table, is because he is thinking of something and you need to discover what is that.

What I usually do is to, first of all, ask my prospect why he is saying that my solution is expensive (it can be that he really does not have the budget, but he can have another possibility on the table and then you need to understand why you are still on the battle if the other purpose is cheaper).

Then, I usually go to the "you need this, I need that" negotiation style. If you need x% of discount, what I can remove from the purpose so I can reach this pricing point?

Finally, if you have the margin to achieve the pricing point your prospect is asking for, you need to at least exchange this for a closer closing date or maybe a study case when he achieves his goals with your solution.

TheHypnotist

Executive

0

Sales Manager

I am the most expensive in my sector for a particular product line and I make no secret of it. I offer to refer the public sector prospects to other suppliers. If they say "brand X is 30% cheaper than you" then I say "Yeah! Why do you think that is?"
Objections are not yours to resolve, or to dodge.
They belong to the prospect so the prospect has to deal with them.

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