How often does the phone click on the other end after you tell a future buyer the price? If it’s any higher than “on occasion,” then it’s too often.
It’s also not the best way to sell to your potential customers. In fact, the customer thinks what you sell is too expensive when only the price has been discussed.
So, Why Do Your Prospects Think You’re Too Expensive?
Put simply, your leads only think you’re expensive when they don’t see the value in your price. If your potential buyer doesn’t see the impact of your product or service, then they won’t be willing to open their wallets or checkbooks.
People don’t question the price of engagement rings, reputable public speakers or Italy-imported pesto. Because they already understand the values they pull from the product or service, the price doesn’t get questioned.
How do you get your leads to see the long-term value over the short-term price? Selling on value means doing your homework, showing confidence and personalizing the sale.
Define Your Target Buyers
Your company must focus on a specific group of customers willing to buy. Fortunately, you can impact their decision to choose you by how you communicate with your target buyers.
Define your target buyers. Create a buyer persona that explores who they are, their values, their pain points, how they buy, who influences their decision and why they choose to buy. Describe your buyer as a human being, not as numbers and words on paper.
Chances are, price isn’t the biggest value your target audience pulls away from your product. There will always be some consumers who only want a low price, but the right customer always wants to hear why they should choose you as well as what value they receive from paying your price.
Explain Your Values
Does your team know your company’s strengths and how you size up to your competition? If your answer is no, then your sales team could be missing out on great opportunities due to lack of information.
Take the time to educate your team on how your company stands out. Create a chart that shows how you compare against your competition on various features or selling points. Train your team to recognize common pain points and address certain product or service features that solve that challenge better than others in your market.
During the sales conversation, it doesn’t hurt to also explain your company’s history as well as how the product or service developed over the years. This shows how your company values customer input to improve as well as how your company takes the time to listen to current customers.
Document customer testimonials and present them as success stories to your future buyers. That way, your potential customers can reference specific examples on how your company solved issues they’re also experiencing. These are great to showcase digitally on your website or directly delivered to the customer.
Back It Up With Confidence
Even if you have a plan, you won’t win the sale if you don’t have the confidence in the sale or in yourself to make it happen.
Confidence isn’t just how you sound. Hold the discussion in an environment where you can maintain a self-assured and positive attitude. Keep control of the conversation by avoiding phrases that relate to price flexibility such as “our cost” or “generally we charge.”
The time to show your confidence is when you’re asking for money. That shows that you’re confident in the price you charge as well as the value behind the price of what you sell. You can do this by mentioning the price at the right point in the conversation without hesitation or defending it. After mentioning the price, it’s also a great time to mention the advantages you bring to the experience of the product or service that make you stand out.
Being confident doesn’t mean dragging your competitors through the dirt. Simply highlight why your product’s value is worth your future buyer’s consideration over their lower-priced options without bringing price into the conversation.
Emphasize the Customer Experience
Your customers expect a quick response time, ease in starting with your product or service and actions that show you care about them. You can do this by presenting the full picture of your buyer’s experience with your company, especially if you sell a product or service where the experience may not be so obvious.
That means describing all the resources available to current customers, such as blog posts, troubleshooting articles and live customer support channels. If customer experience play a big role in how you run your business, then it won’t be difficult to hold up your end of the bargain.
Customers that see your value understand that you’ll stick around after the sale to give them the support they need. This also allows you more opportunities to gather strong customer testimonials by interviewing customers who have used this support long after the sale.
How do you show your company’s value to your target buyers?
FAQs
1. What should I say when a prospect says “you’re too expensive”?
Start by acknowledging their concern, then redirect to value: “I understand. Let’s look at what you’re getting for that investment.” Ask clarifying questions like “Compared to what?” or “What’s your biggest concern about the price?” to uncover the real objection. Then, connect your solution directly to their pain points and quantify the ROI they’ll receive. Remember, “too expensive” usually means they don’t see enough value yet—not that your price is actually too high.
2. When should I mention price in the sales conversation?
Discuss price on your first call, but don’t lead with it. Data shows win rates are 10% higher when pricing comes up during the initial conversation. The sweet spot? Bring it up about 40 minutes into your discovery call, after you’ve established value and understood their needs. Set the agenda upfront: “We’ll discuss your challenges, explore solutions, then cover pricing in the last 10 minutes.” This prevents awkward price surprises while keeping the focus on value first.
3. How do I quantify ROI when prospects question my pricing?
Build a simple business case using their numbers. Calculate the cost of their current problem (lost revenue, wasted time, inefficiencies), then show how your solution reduces those costs. Use this formula: (Current Problem Cost – Your Solution Cost) ÷ Your Solution Cost = ROI percentage. For example, if they’re losing $50,000 annually to inefficiency and your solution costs $10,000, that’s a 400% ROI. Make it specific to their situation, and they’ll see the value clearly.
4. What’s the difference between a price objection and a budget objection?
A price objection means they don’t see enough value for the cost—they think it’s too expensive relative to what they’re getting. A budget objection means they genuinely can’t afford it right now due to financial constraints. Ask “Is this a matter of budget, or are you concerned about the value?” to diagnose which you’re facing. Price objections need more value demonstration. Budget objections might need payment plans, phased implementation, or a conversation about reallocating existing budget from less effective solutions.
5. How can I use my CRM to track and overcome price objections?
Use Nutshell to document every price objection in your deal notes, including the specific concern and how you addressed it. Create custom fields to tag objection types (price, budget, timing) so you can spot patterns across your pipeline. Set up automated follow-up sequences with value-focused content like ROI calculators, case studies, and testimonials. Review your closed-lost deals filtered by “price objection” to identify which responses work best, then share those winning approaches with your team through Nutshell’s collaboration features.
