When a price objection surfaces, most salespeople crumble. Or, they take the path of least resistance and match a competitor’s price. Salespeople need to understand that buyers are being professionally trained to ask for price concessions.
Several years ago I attended a popular negotiation course that was advertised in an in-flight magazine. One of the concepts that I was taught was to always ask the seller, “Can you do better?” Or, make the comment, “You’ve got to do better.” So, I tried that technique the very next week on a major supplier of advertising space.
To my surprise, “Can you do better?” Got me a $50,000 discount on a $250,000 purchase. That’s $12,500 a word!
In Action Selling ®, we teach salespeople that price objections may be a disguise for another buying decision that is not satisfied. Examples include the customer is not completely sold on you, your company or your product. That’s why we teach salespeople to return to Act 3 – Ask the Best Questions and learn more about the customer’s price objection. It goes like this:
- Completely Understand the Situation
- Quantify the Price Objection
- Search for Potential Solutions
- Then Complete Act 4, 5 and 6 (where your solution to the objection is presented)
- You are ready for Act 7, Ask for Commitment (again).
The better you are at the Acts of Action Selling ®, the better prepared you are for Price Objections. Certified Action Selling ® Sales Forces outsell all others. And, they are in the 10% who are effective at handling Price Objections.
Action Selling ® In Action
Equity Residential is the largest apartment leasing company in the United States. In a tough economic climate, Equity decided to invest in developing the selling skills of its leasing consultants. Needless to say, these consultants often hear objections such as, “Your rent is higher than another apartment that I’m looking at,” said Jonakan O’Steen, director of education and leadership development.
Equity has a Service Promise Guarantee that minimizes the risk for customers who choose to rent. “Action Selling ® training has opened our eyes to a new way of looking at price objections; Equity’s consultants ask questions about how the competitor deals with service requests and how they guarantee response times. Then, we present our solution and Ask for Commitment to rent. This process works!”
“It’s easy to get stopped by a price objection when working with rentals,” O’Steen said. Or, rather, it used to be.
Contact us to learn more about how to handle price objections.