Overcoming Objections to Price
By Charlie Cook
Posted Saturday, September 11, 2004
How much more could you earn if your prospects didn't object to your prices? You'd close more sales and be more successful.
Like most service professionals and small business owners chances are you struggle with objections to pricing on a daily basis. You lose business because prospects get stuck on price. Your pricing will never satisfy everyone but the following ideas will help you eliminate pricing objections from the majority of your buyers.
MARKET TO PROSPECTS EMOTIONS
One of the biggest marketing mistakes you can make is to start by marketing to a prospect's head instead of their heart. If your marketing materials and presentations lead with a presentation of the product or service features and/or your own credentials, this is the wrong information to present up front to prospects and can hinder the sale of your products and services.
The majority of purchases are ultimately based on emotion. Vehicle purchases are a great example. Sales of 4 wheel drive SUV's has soared despite the fact 90% of the buyers never go off road or need the 4 wheel drive functionality. Porsche sales have grown steadily, despite the fact that most often their owners use them around town and in traffic, rarely if ever driving at the over a hundred miles an hour they are easily capable of going.
Your prospects buy your products and services for their own reasons, not yours. Get their attention by focusing your marketing on their concerns. Use questions to bring their emotional reasons for making a purchase into the conversation. When you present the benefits of your products or services, do so in the context of your prospects' emotional interests.
- Are you marketing to your prospects hearts or their minds?
UNDERSTAND THE EMOTIONAL REASONS PEOPLE BUY
Some people buy cars based on their perception of safety, others based on the potential for speed and others make their selection based on how little gas the vehicle consumes. If you want to be more successful in marketing you need to know the emotional reasons people buy your products and services.
Reasons prospects buy include fear, gain, comfort, security, pride and personal satisfaction. When it comes to making a decision these are the motivators that determine whether your prospects buy your products and services.
If you sell investment advice, fear of loss, desire for gain and security may all be motivators. If you sell wide screen TVs or audiophile stereo equipment, personal satisfaction and pride may be the motivators. If you sell graphic design, your client's desired image is a motivator.
Marketing is about helping prospects make decisions. If you understand the emotional reasons your prospects use to justify a purchase than you can pitch to their emotions in your advertisements, on your web site, in your brochure and in your presentations and conversations.
- What are the emotional reasons your prospects buy?
HELP PROSPECTS DEFINE VALUE
To help prospects understand the value of your services, don't tell them; ask them. Most people learn by putting new ideas into their own words. Use questions to get prospects to identify the ways they'll benefit from your products. Ask them what they want, what they are looking for, and how they expect to benefit. Get your prospects to define their aspirations and objectives for their purchase.
These questions actively engage your prospects. By describing the benefits they are looking for they begin to imagine how much better off they'd be with your products and services.
- What questions can you ask to get prospects to describe the value of your products and services?
PUT PRICE INTO CONTEXT
There is a reason a car salesman has you look at a car in detail and take if for a test ride so you can experience all the features before they'll discuss price.
Hedge funds are investment vehicles that can provide unique benefits such as being able to achieve steady growth in both up and down markets or unusually high returns. Some investors believe these benefits are worth paying hedge fund managers ten times the normal management fees.
A price of ten dollars or ten thousand can scare your prospects away if you give it to them too soon. After prospects' have defined the value of the service or product they're interested in and can see themselves usingit, then and you present your pricing, they are much more likely to buy.
- Are you presenting your pricing information too soon?
Increase your sales by pitching to your prospects' reasons for buying. Use your questions to help prospects define the benefits of your products and services in their own words. They will have far fewer objections to price and you'll make more money.
About the Author
The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the Free Marketing Guide, '7 Steps to Grow Your Business' and the 'More Business' newsletter, full of practical tips you can use at (http://www.marketingforsuccess.com)
