Perhaps no other issue is more misunderstood by salespeople than the whole issue of price. For many years, salespeople have hidden behind the notion of – ‘low price is the main reason why they don’t get the sale’. The fact is, that belief is an erroneous deduction on your part. You have been conditioned by the marketplace to believe this assumption. This conclusion is not true and if you continue to act as if it were true, you will never attain significant financial success in the sales profession.
This first Sales Trainer Issue deals with the myth that the buyer’s primary buying decision is low price. I have been a sales trainer for over two decades. During that time, I’ve heard from weak sales people a thousand times that their customers make purchases based on price. These same weak sales people tell me that their product or service is superior to their competitors. Yet, instead of trying to sell value, they default and try to compete on price. Truth is superior products and services cannot be sold cheap. Crap can be sold cheap, but not quality.
Study after study of buyers has confirmed numerous times that in at least 92% of the cases, when you do not make a sale, it is not about price.
Let’s start with truths and myths. Myth: price is the number one issue in a customer’s mind. Really?
Says who?
Consider your buying decision. When you buy a shirt, pair of shoes, a vehicle or anything else do you buy the cheapest things you could find? Or do you seek quality and are willing to pay more than Walmart prices for nice clothes and a nice car?
You probably didn’t buy your clothes at Walmart. You probably did not buy your car at the dilapidated, rundown used car lot where the sales office is a trailer up on blocks.
Truth of the matter is, when you go out shopping, you do not primarily make your purchase simply based on price. There may be some items that you buy on price, such a toilet paper or detergent. Even doing that may not be a good idea. Cheap things always fall apart pretty easily and end up being more trouble than they’re worth.
We all may occasionally buy something based on the price. However, the important stuff that you buy, (if you are truthful with yourself), are not necessarily the cheapest you could find. As your sales trainer, I challenge you to ask yourself this question: ‘If you are not a low-price buyer why would you think that your prospects are different from you?
Consider these other sales trainer questions and advice
Are your buyers really so terribly different from you? How can it be that you are not a low-price buyer, but you think everybody you sell to makes their decision based on price? The notion seems rather inconsistent. If you are not a low-price buyer why would your prospects be any different?
Essentially, there is no difference between your buying process and the process your prospects use when making a buying decision. This myth that your customers only buy on price or that price is the number one issue that comes into their mind when it comes time to make a buying decision is faulty thinking.
At some time in your life you probably bought something because it was low-price but it didn’t quite live up to your expectations. When you bought it, you may have thought it was a steal, but you ultimately ended up being disappointed because the item failed to last as long as it should have or it failed to deliver its promise or match your expectation.
Bottom line here is that if you continue to hold on to this low price myth and try to compete on low price instead of selling superior value, you will always struggle and ultimately be broke.
If you wish to sell more and increase your personal net worth, you must change your belief to match reality. If you refuse to do so realize that you are choosing mediocrity instead of success.
There is a quote that sums up this whole sales trainer issue, ‘the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low-price is forgotten’. That might be a quote you want to memorize and use in your selling process when talking with people about price.