You’re with a prospect and they have a need—yet they are saying your solution is too expensive. You’re concerned they will look elsewhere.
In a situation like this, many a salesperson starts to feel pressure and loses faith in their pricing. They take their eye from the value of their offering and get consumed by price. Sometimes they become demoralised and demotivated. The kneejerk reaction is to discount the price to get the sale.
The issue for the salesperson is they are focused on closing the sale instead of helping the prospect.
Because the real issue with ‘I don’t have the money’ has little to do with the price. It’s because the client with the money doesn’t have trust in the salesperson.
When the client does have trust in the salesperson, the relationship shifts to something like a doctor/patient scenario where the client is waiting to be advised what solution will fix their problem.
They are expecting the ‘expert’ to give them the most suitable solution. In turn, the salesperson feels an obligation to provide a solution that aligns best.
Often this solution is substantially more money than what that client was originally going to spend … and (insert drum roll) the client buys (cue crescendo) because it’s the right solution for them (release the doves!).
When we are engaging with a prospect, they are looking for someone to understand them. Someone who gets what they need. The client wants to feel confident the seller is 100% aligned with them and will only present a solution that fits what they are actually looking for.
As a salesperson – ask yourself these two questions:
- Are you 100% sold on your solution? If you are not 100% sold you can’t expect your client to be.
- Do you know your solution, inside and out?
- Do you know the alternatives the client could buy instead from competitors?
- Do you know the value of your solution to the client?
- Do you seek to understand? Your intent is to be a partner, the solution provider, the trusted advisor
- When you are with a potential client, are you mentally and physically beside them and seeking to understand?
- Are you 100% present and focused on them?
- Do you ask relevant, meaningful questions to really assess the situation?
- Are you are listening and absorbing everything the client is saying and how they are saying it?
Often a salesperson is selling at the buyer. We call this ‘spray and pray’—spraying all the features and benefits of their solution with repetitive banter without adapting to this client. They are not making it clear what’s in it for them. They are not linking the benefit and value to how it will help that person’s situation. And they can’t know as they haven’t asked enough insightful questions.
