For whatever reason, people want to get the best while paying the least for it. At the same time, though, the principle of supply and demand says that excellence costs.
And deep down inside, we know that the product or service with the highest quality is very rarely the one with the lowest price, don’t we? So, with that said, it’s your responsibility as a professional service provider to help your prospects understand this. In other words, since they want the best, the idea that they might be able to get it cheaper somewhere else really isn’t the issue, is it?
So, what do you do when the prospect says, “I can get it cheaper somewhere else”? Well, before we answer that, let’s see what we’re actually dealing with in this scenario.
Here, the prospects are noting that your competitor provides what they think is a similar service to yours for less money. So why should they pay you $900 when they can get what they think is a similar service from the XYZ Company for $700?
Ok. Now, the key to handling this objection effectively is to help your buyers see that they’re actually not comparing apples to apples, but rather apples versus oranges. And since you offer many desired advantages in terms of quality, reliability, and service, a narrow comparison of price is not an adequate exercise. To put it another way, your goal is to help them see that the extra benefits you offer outweigh the price you’re asking for by far.
Now, there are three different ways you can respond to this price concern. The first way to do this is to help your prospects recall a time when they bought based on price alone, yet were later sorry that they did.
For instance, suppose the prospect says, “I know someone else who can do the job for less money.” In this case, you respond by saying, “I understand. Let me ask you a question though: Have you ever worked with someone in the past because his price was the lowest, only to be disappointed when the job was done and your expectations weren’t met?”
Another approach you can take is to be more direct and ask prospects point blank if they’re merely price shoppers. For example, say, “Are you more concerned with the price, or with actually getting the [describe the end result that you provide] that you say you want?”
Here, most people will insist that they want the quality, service, or other result that you provide. And if that’s the case, then your role is to not only demonstrate that you can deliver these benefits, but also help the prospect see that although superior results naturally cost a bit more, the extra benefits are easily worth it.
Ok. The third way to handle the price concern is to simply remind the prospect that it’s more cost effective to hire you now and get the job done right than it is to hire a low-quality provider first, pay the fee, and then pay you to correct their mistakes as well.
You do this by saying, “As a professional with over X years of experience in helping people [describe the end result that you provide], I spend a countless number of hours getting paid to fix the mistakes of others who don’t have the expertise and training to complete this type of project correctly. Don’t you think it makes sense to get the job done right the first time, rather than pay for an incomplete job from an underqualified source now, only to pay me later on to fix it?”
