Step 6. Share the Investment
Did you notice this section isn’t titled Quote the Price? Rather it is Share
the Investment. What’s the difference between a price and an investment?
A price is something you’ve got to paaaay. An investment gets a return. The
best investments get huge returns! The more you invest, the bigger return
you get.
A fatal mistake that order takers make is not just quoting a price, but
quoting it before the first five vital steps have taken place. Can you now see
how the first five steps build the value of the unique experience you offer? You want the value to be so high that when you quote the investment, it sounds like a great value. Build the value of the return higher than the investment.
This doesn’t mean that all prospects will automatically buy. They may be
hoping to get your phenomenal service experience for the same price other
people charge. They may be expecting to pay more, but are surprised how much more it is. That’s okay as long as you have a good closing rate (the number of people who buy compared to those who don’t).
As the business owner and/or sales consultant, you need to know the
ROI of the benefits you provide. It is up to us to be able to communicate
that. It doesn’t mean that every prospect will accept it right now. They may
have to have some experiences before they come to terms with it. Here’s an
example. In-home service companies such as carpet cleaners, plumbers, air
conditioning companies, cable TV companies, and many others are sending
technicians into people’s homes.
What is the potential cost of someone with a criminal background com-
ing into your home? What is the potential cost of having someone who damages your property and they don’t have adequate insurance? What does it cost to fix the problems they create? And by the way, how much is your time worth? If they do a lousy job and you have to spend all of your time trying to correct the problems, you simply wasted your money and your time.
So the potential cost outweighs the investment.
Never share the investment until…
• You have built the value in excess of the investment
• They have agreed that is what they are looking for!
• Shared how your company is different from any other company
• You’ve shared exactly how you are going to solve their problem
To share the investment, simply say, “Mr./Ms. Prospect, your investment
today will be….” Once you have shared the investment, don’t say another
word! Have you ever heard that the first person who speaks after the price is quoted is usually the one who buys? I have found it’s pretty much true!
You must understand that something amazing happens when you quote
the investment. They leave (in their mind). They go to the justification station in the mind. If you interrupt that process by continuing to talk, they get confused or pressured and may shut down. Or they feel pressure to buy, which turns into a return for you later on. They get what’s called buyer’s remorse.
Instead, zip it! After you quote the investment, just be quiet. It will take
some people longer than others to justify or reject your offer. That’s okay. Just stay quiet. Silence is literally golden in this situation because it can make or cost you real money. When they finally speak, they may say yes, or they may give you an objection.
Step 7. Overcome Objections
In the best of situations, you will have already overcome all objections
during step five. If not, this is where you will need to apply this skill. Did you notice the word I just used? Skill. To be a phenomenal business owner and sales consultant, you need skill that requires training. Train yourself with information, seminars, and coaching.
If there was ever a time when questions were important in the sales pro-
cess, it is in this step. When you get an objection, always ask a question. Always. What kind of question? Well, what if you simply repeated the objection in the form of a question?
For example, if the prospect says, “Wow, that’s expensive!” you say, “So
you feel it’s expensive?” They now have to respond. Remember the more they tell, the more you sell. They might just say, “Yes, it’s expensive.” To which you respond with, “Would you mind sharing what you mean by too expensive?”
Your goal is to get more information about their objection.
There are literally hundreds of closing techniques and questions you
could use, so I recommend you study Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Sale CDs as well as anything else he produced on the subject. Again, you want to
develop your skill in this area.
Five Ways to Overcome Price Objections
If you have come all the way to this step, the only objection you should
have is “price.” Here are my five favorite ways to overcome price objections:
1. Review the value.
The reason you went through the Seven Step Sales System is so you
can go back to the agreement points in step five. If you assessed the market
correctly and you know that you offer more value for the investment, go
back and connect with that. Reconnect them with your five point message.
Confirm that they truly want to work with a company that has the unique
qualities your company has and that they truly want to get the benefits you
offer.
Perhaps they are convinced they can get “the same thing” somewhere
else. Obviously, you didn’t convince them of the uniqueness of your product
or service and the value, so you now must do that.
Get their permission to explore the other options with them. For example, let’s say they are buying a service, and they have used your competitors in the past. Ask them why they didn’t call that company to start with? Why
have they called you? Perhaps you will find out that the other company can’t service them when they need to, or they’ve gone out of business, they can’t remember their phone number, or whatever.
You can now ask a question like, “Why do you think that is?” In other
words, perhaps they can’t service you or they went out of business because
they didn’t charge enough. The question is, “Do you want to have a company that you can rely on over and over again?”
If they are comparing you to another competitor that charges a lower
price, you want to ask questions that will cause them to wonder what the
other company is leaving out. What is their true reputation? What kind of experience do they really have? Are they really trained? Can they really and
truly deliver the experience you want? And do they stand behind their work?
If you are telling me they can do all of this for a cheaper price and there
is nothing different, you better get scheduled with them quickly before they
go out of business! I mean really, isn’t that just the plain truth? You know it
and I know it. You get what you pay for, and companies that charge too little
cannot deliver consistently for very long.
You must create contrast between you and them, and create doubt with-
out mentioning any competitor by name. And you must attract the kinds of prospects in your marketing that you have a chance to close. Don’t try to sell a KIA customer a Mercedes, and don’t try to sell a Mercedes client a KIA!
2. Offer payment options.
If you haven’t determined what their budget is (if they have one), you
want to do that now. Depending on your industry, you may want to put that
in the interview process in step four. If not, when you get a price objection,
ask, “What were you planning on investing in this project/product?” If they
don’t know, it means they don’t have a basis for judging the pricing. They
probably haven’t been shopping.
At this point, you have a couple of options. If you can get them to give
you a figure, try this option. Let’s say the investment is $500 and they didn’t
want to spend more than $350. You say, “How would it be if you could put
the three fifty down today and pay the rest later?” My experience has been
that if they really want your product or service (and that is the key: building
desire in the presentation), they will find a way to pay for it if they don’t feel they can afford it today.
Of course you want to mention that you accept major credit cards.
Although I don’t like to help people get into debt, and I’m a big fan of Dave
Ramsey (Dave helps people get out of debt), I do allow people to use credit
cards to pay for my products and services (Dave doesn’t). If I was in Dave’s
business, I’m sure I would only allow debit cards like he does.
If they want your product, work with them on the payment options by
first determining how much they can put down today. If you can cover your
hard costs on the first installment, you haven’t lost anything even if they
never pay you. If they don’t buy, you may have lost a client forever. So, my
goal is to close today. If you are convinced your product or service will really help them, you should have a strong desire to close as well.
3. Referral Reward Program.
Another strategy is to show them how they can get their entire investment back by using your referral reward program. Simply ask, “Did you know you can get all of your money back with our referral reward program?”
Share how the program works and how they get their money back. For example: “Mrs. Prospect, we offer a 10 percent referral reward for any new client you send us. That means that once you have sent just ten new clients, you will have gotten all of your money back on this project.” I have found that some people who truly can’t afford my product or service, will work extra hard at getting referrals for me so they can get my service. Again, it’s about creating desire for your product.
4. Down sell.
With this strategy, you will offer a lower priced product or change the
scope of the project. You settle for less money today, but you did not lower
your price! If you lower your price without attaching it to a condition, you
lose all credibility! In their mind, you could have offered the lower price to
start with. Keep in mind that people will ask for a lower price simply because they know many salespeople will immediately drop the price. Don’t do it if you want to maintain trust.
Let’s say you are selling fitness training. You have presented the value of a package that includes X number of weeks in group training and a few one-
on-one sessions. You could take out some of the sessions. You are still selling training at a profitable rate, just settling for a lower package today.
5. Offer a free trial.
In the marketing chapter, I revealed the Free Trial Offer Program. Not
only is it a phenomenal marketing tool, it can also be a phenomenal closing
tool. Many times your prospects don’t know how to value your product or service and they can’t imagine how good it is. Therefore, allow them to experience it for free if you can. If you can’t actually give them a sample, create some sort of experience that allows them to see and feel exactly what it will be like.
Also in the marketing chapter I talked about the “free ride” Lexus gives
its prospects. Chick-fil-A was the first to offer free samples in the mall. Now
everyone does it. If you have a cleaning company for example, offer to clean an area free as a sample. If you have a high-value product or service, you may want to borrow a tactic from the time-share industry. Have you ever been on vacation and noticed a little booth or office that advertises a free resort stay or a free jet-ski rental? In order to get the freebie, you have to listen to a 90-minute presentation. And guess what? It works! Of course you’ll leave out the high pressure that some of those outfits use.
