Your Price Is Higher Than We Pay Now

“We really like you, but your price is higher than what we are paying now.”

If your prospective client is dissatisfied enough to move, they are dissatisfied enough to pay more for the better result that you are selling.
The difference between your price and their incumbent supplier’s price is the value of eliminating the dissatisfaction that is compelling your prospect to change.

Matching the Price

If you are simply matching the price, you aren’t selling. You are allowing your prospect to gamble, to make a bet that what they are doing is working for them, that only their lousy supplier needs to change. This is why so many buyers change from one supplier to the next supplier to the next, never getting the result that they really need. The salespeople that call on them don’t sell them on change. They just replace the current supplier, leaving the dissatisfaction right where they found it.

Reducing the Price

If you are actually reducing the price, then “price” is what you are really selling. You aren’t selling the greater value that you create. Instead, you are removing the resistance to buying by eliminating price as an obstacle. You are trying to make selling easy. This lets the customer off the hook when it comes to change. They aren’t paying for new value, and they have no skin in the game. This is what weak salespeople and weak sales organizations do.

Increasing the Price

When you ask for more money, your prospective client has to get serious about change. They are now paying more, and they are going to expect more. If you are really selling, you’ve helped your client understand what is going to need to change on their end, in addition to them paying more for the results they need. You will have told them about the time, the energy, and the leadership that is going to be required. And you will have sold them on the value that you are going to create and why it is worth paying more to obtain.