Younger generations, accustomed to wage transparency, reject the traditional sales 'game' of delaying price discussions. Salespeople must adapt by addressing cost earlier and more directly to build trust, rather than waiting for later stages.
Instead of asking for a budget, which can feel confrontational, state a typical investment range for your solution. This anchors the price, makes the conversation less awkward, and positions you as a transparent consultant by asking where they fall within that range based on their research.
Instead of just sending a proposal PDF, record a two-minute video walking through the pricing. This 'eliminates the game of telephone' by allowing you to directly explain the value behind each line item to the ultimate budget holder, ensuring your champion doesn't miscommunicate the message.
Don't let your personal perception of what's 'expensive' limit your earning potential. Set your price high based on the value you provide. It is easy to lower a price that gets no buyers, but impossible to know if you could have charged more if you start too low. Never say no for the customer.
Price objections don't stem from the buyer's ignorance, but from the seller's failure to establish clear economic value. Before revealing the cost, you must build a business case. If the prospect balks at the price, the fault lies with your value proposition, not their budget.
By proactively asking about potential deal-killers like budget or partner approval early in the sales process, you transform them from adversarial objections into collaborative obstacles. This disarms the buyer's defensiveness and makes them easier to solve together, preventing them from being used as excuses later.
Discussing pricing early doesn't mean you're in the proposal stage. True proposal and negotiation begins only after you have secured explicit agreement on the problem, the solution, and from the key decision-maker. At this point, the deal would close if it were free; price is the only remaining variable.
When starting out, don't just charge a low fee. Instead, state your full market-rate price and offer a significant discount (e.g., 50%) as an introductory offer. This establishes your true value from the beginning while still winning the client. Then, systematically raise your price every few clients.
The way a price is presented alters a consumer's emotional response, even if the total cost is identical. Breaking a large sum into smaller installments, like Klarna does, makes it feel more manageable and less intimidating, thus boosting sales.
Instead of hiding price until the end of the sales cycle, be transparent from the start. Acknowledge if your solution is at the high end of the market and provide a realistic price range based on their environment. This allows you to quickly qualify out buyers with misaligned budgets, saving your most valuable asset: time.
When increasing prices, the communication strategy should be direct and confident. If you truly believe the product delivers value commensurate with the new price, there's no need to hide the change. Evasive language or trying to 'shy away' suggests you doubt your own product's worth.