As a salesperson, you’re bound to be confronted with what is arguably the most dangerous question a prospect can raise.
“Just tell me the price.” Or “How much does it cost?”
It’s a question that can put some of the best sales people in an uncomfortable place.
So how should you respond?
Simple – Be totally upfront.
Honesty is definitely the best policy when confronted with this question, so tell them the price. Someone who says that clearly has their guard up and may even be suspicious of you. The individual probably doesn’t want to be sold to. So you won’t achieve anything by avoiding the request.
You can’t force a prospect into being a good fit for your product or service; especially when it comes to price. You can’t work magic. You can’t magically make them have more money. If your product or service is way outside of their budget it’s better not to waste either your or their time.
Try to get a better feel for a prospect’s circumstances.
When discussing pricing, it helps to gain a big picture of where your prospect is coming from. You need to understand their situation as best as you can before you can have a meaningful conversation on the subject.
Each business has different requirements when it comes to their wants and needs. Try to learn more about their requirements, in order to give them a more specific estimate.
Push for a wider conversation.
Given that they’re asking about price, it’s likely that they’re at least interested. Often when a prospect asks you to just tell them the price, they are asking in order to simply gauge if they should even continue the conversation. If you offer freemium or free trial models, an easy way to overcome this objection is to say, ‘I understand that you need to know the price to understand if our product is even viable for your company. We offer ways to get started with our products for free, and some of our customers are paying us as much as £10,000 a month. The last thing either of us wants is for you to get an inaccurate quote, so can we talk about what you really need so that I can give you an accurate price that reflects your needs?’”
One way or another, it serves you to further discuss both the nature of their needs and how you can best help them. Both sides of that conversation will be helpful in terms of identifying if they’re even a good fit for you and identifying the kind of pricing structure you can offer.
Whatever you do, if you don’t have enough information to offer them a meaningful estimate, don’t just throw out some arbitrary, potentially misleading figure. Push for some more context via a more concentrated conversation.
A prospect being blunt and hitting you with, “Just tell me the price,” can be imposing, but it doesn’t have to throw you off your stride.
Remember – honesty and asking for more context are the best policies.
Be upfront with them immediately if you can, but if you need more information to present a fair, accurate estimate, ask for it. Try to have a more wide-ranging conversation to help you understand your prospect’s business operations and the needs that come with them.
“Just tell me the price” is just one example of a common sales objection… and there are plenty more.
If you need help overcoming objections, then take a look at our training and coaching programmes, or arrange a free exploratory call.
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