What’s price got to do with it?

You’ve certainly faced the price objection in your sales career by now, and you’ve probably experienced how it can derail your sale alarmingly quickly if you’re not able to put it on the shelf where it belongs. For skilled salespeople, price has no place in the sales process until the invoice gets signed. Here’s why:

Because price is only a number. And it isn’t the important one
This is sales 101, but you can never learn it too well or be reminded too often. There are lots of numbers that should impress and excite customers including the amount your product can increase earnings, create savings or provide an irresistible alternative value.

If something which costs £20,000 can deliver £2,000 per month in savings, within ten months it is already saving them money. In a discussion where price is the core number, the customer may be reluctant to spend £20,000. Change the focus however and you change their perspective.

Because it’s usually better to just stand your ground
If you are clear about the value of your offering, you only prove it by standing firm. That means sometimes a sale will not happen first time out. Many customers who buy the cheapest option however discover they need to re-purchase far sooner than they thought and learn a lesson in the process.  If price is the be-all-and-end-all to a customer, explain to them that you are confident of your price/value equation and you would be happy to meet again at a later date if they would like to. There are better oysters to crack.

Because you already live in a non-negotiable world
Go to Tesco today, take a packet of sugar to the check out and ask the cashier for a discount. They’ll tell you to get lost because the price is the price. Either pay it or don’t. The decision is yours as the customer to decide whether that packet of sugar represents good value at that price or not.

That example highlights the key value salespeople can offer: to describe value and benefits that the customer would otherwise have to work out for themselves and in so doing, prove that value outshines the price.

Ultimately, your job isn’t to find a way to sell; it is to find a way to sell at your first price in a way that the customer still wants to buy.

Colin Browne is one of the founders and former publisher of SALESGURU and is now based in London as a freelance sales consultant, writer and speaker. Visit his blog here.