Sales Training Ideas – Why prospects focus on price.

How many times have you found yourself in a price war when competing for business? How many times has a salesperson found him or herself in a price war when you were the purchaser?

When one does not understand the real differences in two or more products being considered, 99 times out of 100 price will be the deciding factor. Why? It’s the one clear difference.

It’s simple, if Box A is assumed to be the same as Box B, and Box A is 1 dollar, whereas Box B is 2 dollars, obviously you’ll buy Box A because it’s half the price of Box B.

Now intuitively we all know that there has to be a reason why Box B is twice the price, but if we talk to the salesperson for Box B and she does not differentiate the two, or show why Box B is twice, or more than twice, as good as Box A, we’ll assume the person selling Box B simply priced the same product as Box A at a higher price and thus buy Box A.

Most prospects and customers don’t know our products and services as well as we do. They also do not want to put a ton of work into the process of getting educated or finding out all the differences for themselves, they rely on the salesperson for that. Many will test us by simply saying, “Hey, this one is half the price of yours, I’m buying this one.” If we don’t then do a good job of educating why we are twice the price and instead get into a price war, they will assume that price IS then the only difference and buy on price.

The bottom line: Assuming you price your product with integrity, the only way your product costs more money than a competitive product is if it is more valuable than the competitive product. When a prospect pits you against the competition based upon price, they are really saying, “Okay, the only difference I see is price and your higher priced, so I’m not going with you. If price IS the only difference you will cut your price to or below your competitor. If price is not the only issue, you will now educate me as to why your product is more valuable.”

Again, people assume the higher priced product is more valuable and they are waiting for you to educate them as to why. Many salespeople go straight to price assuming that is the quickest way to the sale, and through their actions tell the prospect, “My product is NOT more valuable, price is the only difference, and now I’ll do what I can to cut my price.”

Educate as to why your product costs more and build as much value as possible, cut price as an absolute last resort.