When In The Sale Should You Disclose The Price?

We all know the old rule-of-thumb in selling which is to try not to reveal or discuss the price of what you are selling, until after you have completed your sales presentation.

However, dealing with today’s modern, more educated consumer, many of which are demanding price before presentation; should you still try to avoid  talking about the price early in the sales interaction?

Not As Easy, Yet Just As Important
Of course, there are some products and services where price is common knowledge and not integral to the sales process, as in many retail selling scenarios. In addition, with today’s sophisticated internet connected buyer, it’s not as easy to hold out on discussing rates and fees.

However, in most sales situations, it is still essential not to expose pricing until you have accomplished several mission-critical objectives.

Below are a couple of reasons why you should still try to delay pricing discussions until after the presentation. We often cover these in our Sales Training courses.

Also note that this is not just for your benefit, but more so for the benefit of the buyer.

Revealing Price Too Soon Is Unfair To The Buyer
Uncovering the price too soon in a sales interaction is actually a disservice to the prospect. If you believe in what you do, then you know that it is imperative for the buyer have all of the necessary information and facts so he or she can make a PROPER INFORMED BUYING DECISION.

Revealing price too early, inadvertently forces the prospect to make a buying decision before receiving all of the information. Even if the prospect decides to buy, it is an ill-informed decision. Such buying decisions create cancelled orders and unsatisfied customers.

Looking to improve your client and customer interactions? Check out our Customer Service Training courses.

If on the other-hand the prospect decides NOT to buy after hearing the price, you have robbed the prospect of the opportunity to solve their problems and benefit from the sale. After hearing the price, the prospect will make a buying decision and like all buying decisions, is based mostly on emotion. Any amount of logic you add on after the fact to try to justify the price is irrelevant.

The Price Is Irrelevant Until You Have Established The Value
For your product or service to have ANY value or meaning to the prospect, the prospect must have a NEED for that product or service. Before you can establish a need, there must be a solution. Before there can be a solution, you must unearth a problem. The significance of the problem for which the product is a solution, determines its value. Until there is such a value, the price is meaningless. The following analogy, though absurdly fictitious, will help demonstrate the point.

If I came to sell you a gigantic inflatable toy and I told you that the price for this huge, bright yellow blow-up toy is £500, would you be interested in buying it? What if I discounted the price to only £250? You would have to think that such a child’s toy is not worth more than £5 or £10.

However, what if only moments before I walked in with the blow-up toy, you heard in the news that the local reservoir dam had just collapsed, and the equivalent of a small tsunami was on the way. In a matter of a few minutes, the entire town is going to be 20 feet under water. Now if I asked £10,000 for that same child’s toy, you would consider it a bargain.

The price is irrelevant until you have established the value. Revealing price after you have established the value, benefits both buyer and the seller.

Take a look at our popular portfolio of Sales Training Courses, to find out what other courses and knowledge we can provide to your business.

Happy Selling

Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Sales Training