What’s this thing cost? How to talk about price – Forbes

After going through all of the sales projects in this class, consistently the most difficult curveball we observed was asking about price. When customers demand answers, redirecting conversation can be difficult. Some of the tactics we learned in class were to flip the question on the prospect. Asking for clarification gives the salesperson a chance to put context to plain numbers for the customer. An article from Forbes lists 6 reminders for those facing the price question in a sales encounter.

1. Believe what you’re selling is worth the price

Confidence means a lot to a customer hearing the price from a sales rep. If a customer wants to hear more about grills from a rep at an appliance store and the rep is apologetic about the tag on the product, then the customer will totally bail. Being able to enthusiastically explain the prices of products goes a long way.

2. Know your stuff

“Umm” is not going to cut it. If the grill rep spends the customers time looking up or scrambling for information that matters to the sale, it makes the product and the customer seem unimportant to the salesman.

3. Be upfront

This accompanies our lectures on the challenger archetype for a salesman. Don’t just tell the customer what they want to hear or spend all your time on solving their problems.

4. Don’t oversell

Don’t list features that do not solve pain points for the customer.

5. If they try to negotiate

Don’t fall down the slippery slope of discounting. While it differs from various industries to others, a general rule of thumb is to keep discounts private or explain the reasoning behind the price and why it has to stay.

6. Follow up after the call

“I’m happy to answer any questions you may have. We’re excited to help you out today!” works well to ease the customer after they make a decision for an easy close.