You will be able to find out what a price objection really means and respond to that.
"It's too expensive." Four words, and most sellers hear only one meaning in them: lower the price. So they defend the number, or they cut it. Either way they are guessing, because those four words can mean at least four different things, and each one needs a different answer.
This lesson takes the method from lesson 4.2, Listen, clarify, respond, confirm, and applies it to the objection you will hear most. The clarifying step does nearly all the work.
Too expensive is always too expensive compared with something. Your first job is to find out what. Ask a plain, neutral question: "When you say it's too expensive, what are you comparing it with?" Or, more gently: "Too expensive compared with what you were expecting, or with something else you've looked at?"
The answer usually falls into one of four groups: a competitor's quote, a budget that has already been set, a figure the buyer expected to pay for no particular reason, or the option of doing nothing, which looks cheaper because they cannot yet see what the problem costs them.
Each meaning gets its own response. Answer the wrong one and you waste the moment.
If the buyer is comparing with a competitor, put the two offers side by side on scope and outcome as well as price. Start by asking what the other quote includes. Very often the two offers are not the same thing.
Priya hears this from Joel: "My friend's bookkeeper charges about S$250 a month." Priya asks what the friend gets for that. Joel is not sure, so he checks. The friend has one outlet, the bookkeeper does the books quarterly, and nobody checks the tills. Priya's option two covers two outlets, monthly books and a weekly till check, at an example price of S$450 a month.
She does not criticise the other bookkeeper. She lays out the difference: "That sounds like a good fit for your friend's setup. The main difference is the weekly till check. If finding gaps within a week isn't important to you, option one might suit you better." Sometimes, after an honest comparison, the cheaper option really is the better fit, and a buyer who hears you admit that will believe the rest of what you tell them.
If the price is over a budget that is already set, a speech about value changes very little, because the budget is a fact, at least until the next cycle. Look at the shape of the purchase instead.
Three moves are worth trying. Offer a smaller option that solves the core problem, if you designed one in lesson 2.2, Offer options without confusing the buyer. Phase the work, so part starts now and the rest when a new budget opens. Or suggest a smaller first step that proves the value before the larger commitment.
Kelvin's concern in lesson 4.2 was this kind. His budget had been set before the night shift was confirmed. Hafiz offered a note for finance that put the cost of the problem next to the price, so Kelvin could ask for the budget to be adjusted. Another route would have been to start with the overtime module only and add the rest at the next budget cycle.
Be careful not to confuse this with a discount request. Phasing and smaller scope change what the buyer gets. A discount gives the same thing for less, which lesson 3.3, Trade concessions instead of giving discounts, warned against.
Sometimes the buyer simply expected a lower number. Ask where the expectation came from. It may be a figure from a few years ago, a price for something smaller, or a guess with nothing behind it, and hearing their own impact figure again is often enough to move it.
The fourth meaning usually points to something that went wrong earlier. A buyer who compares your price with doing nothing has not yet seen what the problem costs them, so no defence of the number will land. What helps is going back to the impact from discovery.
"When we first met, you worked out that the books were costing you about S$6,500 a year between your Sundays and the extra accountancy. Does that still feel right?" If the buyer agrees, the comparison is back where it belongs, as lesson 3.1, Make the value clear before you say the price, explained. If they say the number feels too high now, you have learned something important about the deal, and possibly about your discovery.
Whichever meaning you found, finish with the confirm step: "Does that help with the cost question, or is there something else behind it?" Sometimes the price objection was covering a different worry, such as trust or timing, and the confirm question is what brings it out.
You will also notice that none of these responses is a discount. Each one deals with the real comparison. If you still need to move on price after that, trade for it.
Before the activity below, think about your own market and which of the four meanings you hear most often. Many sellers find one meaning dominates, and it is rarely the one they assumed.
Write a clarifying question and a response for each of the four meanings of too expensive in your market.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).