How do you see yourself when explaining your price to a customer? How do you react when they say it’s too expensive? For many of us, it’ can be an unpleasant feeling. A sense of dread. Or, sometimes we get a little defensive. “How dare you question how much I am charging you for this. Can’t you see that it’s worth it?” We might feel better, but we’ve probably blown the sale. Let’s try recalibrating, and focusing on the process.

When a customer resists our price, they are telling us that we haven’t convinced them of the value of our product or service. They are giving us another chance. “C’mon. Try again. Convince me.”

They are almost ready to buy. They like it, they just want to be convinced. I know that when a customer tells me that my price is too high, I am on my way to getting a sale. “It sounds like price is the only thing we need to discuss. Was there anything else besides price getting in the way of the sale?” They rarely bring up anything else. So now I know that if I can work out the price, I have a sale. But I don’t want to give it away. So first I start by revisiting the value of my service.  I show them how they will benefit from hiring me. I will also ask them about their budget. After all, I have given them my price, they should be willing to share their budget, and mostly they do. If it’s clear that they cannot pay my asking price, I’ll start scaling back my services to match their budget.

Dealing with a customer’s price resistance doesn’t have to be scary. Remember, what they are really telling us is that we haven’t sold them yet. So, let’s make them happy, and sell them our product or service.