In
last week’s “Tricks of The Trade” I explored the practical and psychological
dimensions that impact on how small business owners price their products and
services.
And I promised that this week I would share with you a little-known tactic you can use when, as often is the case, buyers tell you "it’s only about the price".
It’s never just about the price – you just have to make them aware of that!
This is a fabulous tip that
you can share with your team to achieve
sales success... And I promised that this week I would share with you a little-known tactic you can use when, as often is the case, buyers tell you "it’s only about the price".
It’s never just about the price – you just have to make them aware of that!
Here's the scenario...
You’re in a meeting with the
buyer/potential customer. You’ve got good levels of rapport. Your product or
service seems to entirely match their requirements. And then that’s when they
hit you with the words... “I like it, but for me the price is crucial and
you’re not the cheapest” (or words to that effect).
Your response is...
I suggest you say something like “I totally understand
that the price is important to you and that you need to secure the best deal
you can” (change the words to suit your style). You then go on to say “Just to
be clear, as well as price, what else is important to you with this
product/service?”
Elicit a list of the other factors that
they decide are important. These will usually be things like reliability,
quality, speed of delivery, after-sales service, and responsiveness to issues.
If they stall, ask “what else?” until you get a decent list.
You've got them thinking
Great! So far you’ve elicited a list of
important factors to go alongside price. There’s a good chance you’re already
well on the way to destabilising their attachment to price!
Be sure to write the list down (you'll see why later).
By the way, if you particularly excel at something that they haven’t yet mentioned, ask them “how important is xxxxx” (your specific strength) to nicely bring this into their consciousness – and onto your list.
Be sure to write the list down (you'll see why later).
By the way, if you particularly excel at something that they haven’t yet mentioned, ask them “how important is xxxxx” (your specific strength) to nicely bring this into their consciousness – and onto your list.
Compare and contrast
The next stage is to help them compare
and contrast price alongside those other elements you’ve just elicited. So,
pick the first thing they mentioned after price – for this example let’s choose
speed of delivery – and say something like “let’s take speed of delivery,
what’s more important to you, price, or speed of delivery?”
This really starts to bring home to them the importance of those alternative criteria and further destabilises their attachment to price as the all-important factor in their buying decision.
This really starts to bring home to them the importance of those alternative criteria and further destabilises their attachment to price as the all-important factor in their buying decision.
Repeat and demonstrate
Repeat this with the other criteria. What generally
happens is price goes down their importance list – and your proposition comes
back into favour! You might want to use your written list of important criteria
at this stage - show it to them and let them see their ‘league table’ of
attributes – and how it is changing before their eyes!
Better still, use ‘post-its’. Write one
criteria, including price, on each post-it and move them around their desk (or
even a nearby wall) to create a very visible league table!
Back in business yet?
By now, you’ve demonstrated to the buyer that when it
comes down to it, price is just one of several important factors in the buying
decision. By bringing other criteria back into play you’re much more likely to
get the business than you were 20 minutes earlier. You can then go on to have
rational discussion centred around the fact that, all things considered, your
offering is the right one for them after all!
Try it. Depending on your specific circumstances you may need to tweak the process slightly but if my experiences are anything to go by you’ll start to win much more business than would otherwise have been the case.
It’s all about the psychology of selling.
Until next time.
Try it. Depending on your specific circumstances you may need to tweak the process slightly but if my experiences are anything to go by you’ll start to win much more business than would otherwise have been the case.
It’s all about the psychology of selling.
Until next time.
Leigh
