Getting your customers to think past 'price'

One of the challenges a salesperson must accept is that of giving their customers reasons to think past 'price' when helping them make a buying decision. A salesperson who fails to do this may leave their customer with only one criterion to use – price.

(This is an important concept to get. A business can’t afford to always be the cheapest; if it does it’s almost certain that it will go broke.)

There are several ways to make dealing with this challenge easier. One of these is to remember that most buying decisions have an emotional element to them. For example, think back to the last time you, knowingly, paid a higher price to deal with someone you liked. (The lesson here for salespeople is to be likeable. This doesn’t mean being fake or phoney but it does mean being the most likeable person you can be.)

Apart from this, what else can you do?

Firstly, you should take the trouble to identify the reasons, apart from price, why a customer should deal with you. This means thinking about what you offer to prospective customers from their point of view. As you do this you need to remember that there are two aspects to what you offer; they are the product or service itself and the ways in which it is supplied, delivered or backed-up (let’s call these the fringe benefits).

Secondly, you should make the customer aware of those reasons whether they ask you or not.

One way to do this is, when you are meeting with a prospective customer for the first time, to point out these reasons in a pre-emptive strike. This is easily done as part of the initial introduction of your company. 

For example, as part of your introduction, make a statement like

‘Mr/s Customer, at XYZ we are proud of what we do and how we do it. We also believe that we do things differently. Can I show you what I mean?

In addition to quality products (or a quality service) we provide ………’ (here you outline the fringe benefits; being the reasons, apart from price, why the customer should deal with you).

Having done this you can then move on in your sales process to find out more about your customer’s situation and their needs and wants.

Another advantage of this pre-emptive technique is that it will make dealing with a Price Objection easier if one arises later.


(The up-post for Friday 19/12 is It's important to Qualify. It's a short reminder of the importance of qualifying in the sales process.)