Make Price a Non-Critical Issue

Some salespeople will tell you that price is all-important and making it a non-critical issue is nigh-on impossible. Not so! I’m about to show you how you can make price a non-critical issue in any non-transactional sale.

Price is almost always a critical issue in a transactional sale. A transactional sale is one where the salesperson doesn’t have to do a lot of selling. This is because the prospect has usually decided what it is he or she wants to buy. Most commodity sales tend to be transactional in nature. In this type of sale, price is usually the key, if not overriding, factor. The farther away you move your product or service from being a commodity or transactional sale, the better your chances of minimizing the impact of price on the result.

Low Price vs. Best Price

Keep in mind that when a prospect tells you he wants the “best” price he’s not necessarily telling you he wants the “lowest” price. Too many salespeople confuse these two comments.

A non-transactional sale always has additional factors that must be taken into consideration before the sale is made. These factors are:

Confidence & Trust:
How confident is the prospect in you, your company, and in what you’re offering? Does he trust you?

Quality:
Does the prospect feel that the quality is in keeping with the price?

Selection:
Is this a take-it-or-leave-it proposition or does the prospect have choices. Prospects like and value choices.

Service:
Is the prospect comfortable with the level of before, during, and after-sale service that is being offered.

Price:
Does the prospect feel the price-for-value relationship is reasonable?

Remember, less than fifteen percent of prospects put price first. That means eighty-five percent of the people are prepared to accept price as a non-critical issue or even a non-issue if you handle the situation properly.

Moving Away from Price

The strategy is to get the prospect to agree that, while price is important, it’s not the most important factor. It’s not as hard to do as you might imagine. In all of the examples that follow, I’m assuming that you don’t have the lowest price on the block.

SalesPro: “How important will price be in your final decision?”

Prospect: “Very important.”

SalesPro:  “I understand how you feel. So delivery, quality and after-sales service are all less important than price?”

Prospect: “Well, not really. I don’t want to buy junk. I want to be sure I’m getting the best value for my money.”

SalesPro: “So, while price is important, quality and value are more important. Is that about it?”

Prospect: “Yes, but price is still important.”

In this example, the salesperson has successfully moved the prospect away from price and made it a non-critical issue. Now all the salesperson has to do is make sure the prospect is “sold” on the value of the other factors under consideration.

Be Prepared to Walk

What happens when the prospect tells you that the lowest price gets his business? Be prepared to walk.

SalesPro: “How important will price be in your final decision?”

Prospect: “Lowest price gets the deal.”

SalesPro:  “I understand how you feel. So delivery, quality and after-sales service are all less important than price?”

Prospect: “As I said, lowest price gets my business.”

SalesPro: “I appreciate your honesty, Mr. Prospect, and if that’s the case you probably don’t want to waste your time chatting with me because I won’t have the lowest price. I’ve learned that the only way I can have the lowest price is to either compromise on quality or the after-sales service and I don’t want to do that to you. Have you ever known someone who paid too little for something and later regretted it?”

Prospect: “I’ve done that myself from time to time. I may be a bit flexible on price if I’m sure I’m getting what I want.”

SalesPro: “That’s reasonable. Let’s see if I can show you enough value to put your mind at ease.”

In this case, the salesperson’s willingness to walk caused the prospect to reconsider.

Take a Walk

What if the prospect is just a price shopper? Be prepared to walk but give him an out just in case.

SalesPro: “How important will price be in your final decision?”

Prospect: “Lowest price gets the deal.”

SalesPro:  “I understand how you feel. So delivery, quality and after-sales service are all less important than price?”

Prospect: “As I said, lowest price gets my business.”

SalesPro: “I appreciate your honesty, Mr. Prospect, and if that’s the case you probably don’t want to waste your time chatting with me because I won’t have the lowest price. I’ve learned that the only way I can have the lowest price is to either compromise on quality or the after-sales service and I don’t want to do that to you. Have you ever known someone who paid too little for something and later regretted it?”

Prospect: “Not really. I’m looking for the best price.”

SalesPro: “I can appreciate that and thanks for your time. If you find that the best price doesn’t have quite the quality you’re looking for, I’d really like to hear back from you.”

At least in this case, you won’t be wasting your time with someone who isn’t likely to buy from you. Put on your hiking shoes and take a walk over to a better prospect.

Create Value

If you can get the prospect to agree that price is not the most important issue in his decision, you can concentrate on creating enough value to justify your price.  Creating value is a whole other topic that we’ll explore in another issue of this newsletter.

Remember, people will pay more money when they feel they’re getting more value. After all, don’t you?