How to Deal With Pricing Objections

We all get into a scenario where we’re asked for a discount. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes what they’re asking for is too much.

Here’s a play for how to handle “your price is too high.”

Table of Contents

• Question 1: Compare

• Question 2: Commit

• Question 3: Issues

• Question 4: Difference

• Additional Tips

Question 1: Compare

Asking your customer to elaborate to better understand the objection is essential to address that objection. 

“I’ve received a lower price from a competitor for the exact same offering as you.” If this is true, then you need to explain to your customer why your product is worth more than the alternatives they’re considering.

This comes back to something you’ve missed in your discovery process, maybe articulating how you best solve their pain or ranking of decision criteria.

Question 2: Commit

Unless the customer is ready to buy now - not 4 months from now - there should be no pricing negotiations. Only if the customer is willing and able to commit now, move to question 3.

You want to know if you’re the winning solution. If price wasn’t a factor, would they move forward with you? Are you the best fit for them?

Question 3: Issues

Many times, customers “forget” to reveal to you that there are some major outstanding issues. They will tell you that the price is the only remaining issue, only to later unveil payment terms, delivery, etc., as key issues. This is handled with a powerful closing question:

“To confirm, you have no outstanding concerns on any other issues, correct?”

Question 4: Difference

Your customer will typically respond with something like: “I don’t feel comfortable sharing that with you.” In that case, you do not have enough info to lower the price. 

At this point, you must get your customer to share where you need to be in order to earn the business. At a minimum, they should be willing to approximate the difference as a percentage or range.

Once a customer provides you with their target price, you will then use a confirming summary to ensure that you have a full understanding of exactly where they stand and what you need to do to earn their business. “So let me review: You’re saying that you want to finalize your investment decision tomorrow, you are 110% convinced that we are the right solution for you and the only thing standing between us doing business is [[$$price difference]], correct?”

Additional Tips

You want to seek to understand the objection before you adjust your price.

You do this by asking direct questions.

DON’T GIVE IN RIGHT AWAY!!!!

Oftentimes price objections aren’t real, they’re tied to something else you missed throughout your discovery process. Likely you didn’t dig deep enough in the OUN part of FOUNDER

If the price difference is something you’re comfortable with, adjust your price and close the deal.

Typical discounts in b2b SaaS are 5-20%. More than that, and it reduces their likelihood of renewal.

Use this play in your next negotiation and let me know how it went.

For more practical early-stage sales tips, connect with me on LinkedIn.

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