By Neal Glatt

When it comes to selling, how important is price really?  Some people say that price is the most important factor.  Others claim price doesn’t matter at all.  Having sold millions of dollars of maintenance contracts, I’ll tell you the truth: price sometimes matters.  Here’s when it does, and why it sometimes doesn’t….

The most important thing to understand about how people buy is that they make choices based on what is most important to them.  Some salespeople think that this means we need to show prospects what may be most beneficial to them, but this isn’t the most powerful driver of importance.  

In fact, people make choices most consistently based on solving a current problem that they have.  If there isn’t a current problem to solve, then people choose by solving a future problem that they may have.  Only after these two items will buyers elect to enhance current benefits or, failing that, future benefits.

This is the same reason that people in pain will see a doctor as soon as possible, but far less often, will eat healthy with the goal of extending life expectancy.  Issues today are always the strongest motivator for taking action, while future benefits are the weakest motivator.

What does this have to do with prices?  Well, price matters a lot when a company is in financial stress.  A building with no tenants that is struggling to make mortgage payments may very well consider price as the leading issue to deal with and make a price-based decision as a result.

At the same time, price doesn’t matter much when a solution to a present issue can be solved.  When a building with no tenants is consistently losing deals because of the appearance of the property, they may very well consider the speed of improving the grounds as the most important factor and make a value-based decision.

The more pressing the non-financial issue that a prospect is facing, the less that price matters.  Great salespeople will help them discover the problems that they’d like to solve, even when they weren’t previously aware of them, and price doesn’t matter that much.  But weak salespeople never have these conversations, and as a result, price matters a lot.

If your sales goals aren’t being exceeded or your company profits aren’t high enough, you are probably being told from prospects (or salespeople) that price matters.  If that’s the case, the solution to your problem is in your sales process, skills, or approach, not in your market or your estimating.  

Here are three ways you can fix your problem and make price a non-issue:
Check out the more than 35 videos we have on GrowTheBench for sales performance including courses like Value-Based Selling, Goal Setting, and Sales Beliefs.  You can try out every course FREE for 30 days by adding our Monthly All-Access Pass to your cart and using code PRICE at checkout.
Complete a scientific evaluation of your company’s sales effectiveness to discover opportunities for improvement of each of your salespeople and your sales systems.  Contact Neal at Neal@GrowTheBench.com to learn more.
Hire a new salesperson who is guaranteed to be an all-star with a candidate assessment that will prevent you from making another hiring mistake.  If you want to determine just how much a hiring mistake will cost you, here’s a free calculator to help you determine if there is value to be gained.  Learn more by emailing Neal at Neal@GrowTheBenh.com for details.