When the customer tells you your price is too high–you have made the sale. That's right. They are telling you:

*Your products or services satisfy their needs;
*Your products or services solve their problems;
*They love your products or services; and
*They want your products or services.

Now all you have to do is show them your products or services are worth more to them than their money. All you have to do is turn the feature “price” into a “benefit.”

We Americans treat money as an ambiguous commodity. We are always in a relentless pursuit of it, and then cannot wait to spend it. We spend our money before we even have it (credit).

If you cannot get the potential customer to exchange his money for your products or services, all you have failed to do is to convince him that the benefits he'll receive are worth more than his money.

You can, however, remove the customer's price objection by:

Adding benefits. If your products and services truly solve customers' needs and problems, all you have to do is give them a better understanding of how it will do so.

Showing how you offer better value. If your price is higher than your competitor's, you must justify it with more benefits–benefits they receive from buying from you rather than the competition. List the benefits you offer that the competition does not. These might include better service, free delivery, extended warranties etc.

Point out that the customer's money is not solving his problem or meeting his needs. Only purchasing your products or services will accomplish that.

Turn device

One day while watching my father selling a color television set in our retail electronics store, I learned how to turn objections into positives. He was demonstrating a new 21-inch model that had just arrived. The set was much bigger and more expensive than the advertised 15-inch model the prospect had come into the store to purchase.

At one point in the conversation the prospect, in an objectionable voice and tone, said: “The size of this TV is really large. My father seized the opportunity to turn the objection into a positive by simply saying: “Yes, you're right. With this size television everyone in the room gets a great view.” This is known as the “turn device.”

The customer asked: “What is the price?” (In the 1970s, retailers did not put price tags on every item the way we do today.) My father replied: “$599.” The customer, in a surprised, objectionable tone, repeated the price: “$599!” (The 15-inch television set he came in to look at was selling for $299.)

My father used his “turn device” and said: “Yes, everyone says the same thing. They cannot believe we are selling a new, 21-inch RCA color television for only $599.”

Recently, one of my clients–Clean Air Technologies of Charlotte, N.C., which specializes in inside air quality systems–made similar use of the turn device to overcome a customer's objection.

Owner David Thompson received a call from a local homeowner asking the price for a particular job. When he quoted her $99, she was astonished and replied, in an objectionable voice and tone: “$99!” David said: “Yes, isn't it something that we can do so much for so little money?” She then stammered and started asking more questions. Within five minutes he had scheduled the job.

Mr. Janet, a marketing consultant and professional speaker, lives in Matthews, N.C.