You’ve heard it a thousand times: “Your price is too high.”

And what do we do? We panic. We rationalize. We tell ourselves that 100% of something is better than 0% of nothing. We’ve had a slow month. We really need to close this deal. So we cave. We discount. We “meet in the middle.” We kill our profit.

Understand this: When a customer says “this is too expensive,” there are only three things going on. And in every case, a discount is not the answer.

The Three Cases of “Too Expensive”

Case #1: It’s a Brazen Tactic

They absolutely do not believe it’s too expensive. They’re willing to pay it. But they’re hoping to use the fear that naturally arises in a buyer-seller relationship to get you to discount. This is theater. It’s not real.

Case #2: They Really Believe It’s Too Expensive (But It’s Not)

They haven’t fully grasped the value. They’re not necessarily saying it’s too expensive. They’re saying it’s too expensive for what I perceive I get. You may not have done a good enough job creating a context for value. Our job here is to make sure they perceive reality. If they actually understood all the ways this is going to help them, all the problems it’s going to solve for them, all the ways it’s going to help them achieve their goals, it would be a no-brainer.

Case #3: They Don’t Value What You’re Great At

The problems your product or service solves, the things it helps them achieve… those things simply do not matter to them enough to pay your price tag. And you know what? Those are not your customers. Let them go bother the competition.

So in the first case, it’s a tactic. In the second case, it’s a perception problem. And in the third case, they just don’t value it.

What do these cases have in common? In all three, a discount is the wrong solution for the root cause.

The Knee-Jerk Reaction That’s Killing Your Margins

Picture this scenario. You’ve put together a $10,000 proposal. The customer says, “You know, I’d really like to go with you. I have a high degree of confidence in you and how you work. I’d love to work with you, but so-and-so down the street gave me a proposal for the ‘same thing’ and it’s $8,000. You don’t have to be at $8,000, but could you do $8,500?”

Sound familiar? I’ve heard it. You’ve heard it. Everybody who’s ever sold anything has heard some version of that.

And what do we do? We rush in. We react. We:

• Match the price (killing our profit)
• Meet in the middle (killing our profit)
• Try to do some kind of apples-to-apples comparison
• Vomit a bunch of value messaging at them

None of those responses help us learn which case we’re dealing with. We’re just guessing. And guessing costs us money.

Your Superpower: Questions

Here’s the truth: A salesperson’s superpower is questions.

We can’t figure out which case the customer falls into if we do all the talking. We have to ask questions to understand what’s really going on. What questions you ask will depend on your specific situation with that customer and what they’re telling you, but the key is to start the conversation, to begin an exchange where you gather information that helps you understand which category they’re in and what your next move should be.

Let me give you an example. With that price match request we just talked about where you’re being directly compared against another quote, you could ask something like:

“Let’s just set price aside for a second. If we pretend that the prices on these two proposals were identical, who would you choose?”

And when they say you (which they will, or they wouldn’t have asked for a price match in the first place), you ask:

“Can you help me understand why that is?”

If they stall or give you a vague answer, you can add:

“When I come back to you with a revised proposal and pricing, I want to make sure it still reflects everything that you critically care about. What is it about our team, our process, our products, our services, our approach? Help me understand why we would be the choice if price weren’t the factor.”

Sometimes when you ask questions like this, the customer will share something where you can pull a thread and uncover that they actually have no intention of going down the street to that competitor for $8,000 because that guy can’t solve their problem. But you can.

Now, obviously, your customers aren’t idiots. They’re not going to lay their pricing power at your feet and admit they need the solution next week but the competitor can’t start until next quarter. But that’s not the point. The point is to start gathering information, to understand the situation better, to figure out which of those three cases you’re dealing with.

Because if it’s just a tactic, you need to uncover it and politely, diplomatically hold the line.

If they don’t fully understand the value, you need to help them see what they’re missing.

And if they simply don’t value what you do, show them the door politely and diplomatically.

The Bottom Line

Stop rushing to discount. Stop meeting in the middle. Stop letting price pressure short-circuit your thinking.

Ask. More. Questions.