This is going to be focused on selling B2B services. What is your biggest sales objection, price, right? Well if not the biggest objection, it’s got to be very close to the top. Why can I say this? I’ve been in sales for over 3 decades and have had a small business for over twenty years, selling B2B services. Not to mention talking to many sales people, entrepreneurs and small business owners over the years about this very subject.This is going to be focused on selling B2B services. What is your biggest sales objection, price, right? Well if not the biggest objection, it’s got to be very close to the top. Why can I say this? I’ve been in sales for over 3 decades and have had a small business for over twenty years, selling B2B services. Not to mention talking to many sales people, entrepreneurs and small business owners over the years about this very subject.

If you think about it, it’s seems like a game that’s always played, but why?  I guess in a perfect world it wouldn’t happen. But, if you break it down, it usually happens like this, the customer wants your product or service as cheap as they can, and you’d like to make as much profit as you can.

So let’s strip away some of the negative areas from this scenario.  It’s just you and the customer, each trying to maximize each other’s outcome. The biggest problem I’ve seen is incorrect perceived value. I think this is the area I’ve heard more feedback from, both from customers and sales people I’ve spoken with.

This may sound like another insurmountable negotiation issue, but I think it could be simplified a lot. What I found is, it can be less of a negotiation problem and more of an education problem. Many customers might be willing to pay what you’re asking if they know what the true value or if it’s the perceived value they are looking for. If their perceived value is not the price you are proposing, it can be an immediate deal breaker. The real key here is for you to know the real value yourself, if not how you can convey it correctly to your customer? If you can make this process work better, the result should be getting more closed sales and having happier customers,  and most likely more repeat customers.

One last important part I’d like to share with you on this and it’s the subject of customer budget or lack thereof. This subject will be discussed more later, but it does cross paths with the subject of pricing objection. So, the perceived value otherwise will not matter if there’s not an established budget. How many times do you get in front of a customer and they tell you they don’t “really have a budget”. Let’s think about this for a second. If they don’t have a budget, and don’t know the value of what you are selling, how can they make the right decision? And another part of this equation is if you’re in a bidding situation, if your price is “higher” than someone else, you could just be totally wasting your time. Plus, as far as you know they may not have any money and just kicking the tires around.  Where does this mentality come from and how does a company operate properly if they don’t know the value of what you’re selling or have a budget? This is a tough one, if you can’t show them or educate them basically why your product or service is better than the competition you haven’t done you job. They could certainly make a bad decision either way.  It could also be a disaster for both of you. This is where you really could possibly earn your keep and turn this (maybe disastrous situation) into an awesome one AND have a lifelong customer, so again what do you do?  This has happened to me more times than I want to think about. When it comes to selling services, it’s more difficult for the customer to “compare” accurately in their minds. So educating is a huge part of this process. 

To end our pricing objection discussion, I’ve put together 10 points that we’ll hopefully help out.

1. Do your due diligence

2. Do the best needs analysis as possible, otherwise you won’t have all the information you need to educate them.

3. Make sure you know exactly what they need

4. Discuss with them what you think is be the best solution for them.

5. Educate them

6. Make sure you have answered all their questions

7. I know this may seem like selling 101, but we’re talking about the one area that seems to be the biggest sales objection that can kill the one thing you need to do your job, sell.

8. Meet and present them with proposal if at all possible do not email it, not a good idea unless you have to.

9. Follow up quickly

10. Again 101 stuff maybe, sometimes not following up quick enough can make or break the deal.