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Sales Quiz: Handling "I Can Get It Cheaper Elsewhere"

SCENARIO: You're at the beginning of a sales cycle. Your product is similar but not identical to what your competition offers. The prospect surfaces the following objection:

"I can get it cheaper elsewhere."
Here are three possible responses. Pick the best one.
  • RESPONSE #1: "No, you can't, because we have a low-price guarantee and will pay you twice the difference if you can find it for a lower price someplace else. So no matter what happens you always get the lowest price."
  • RESPONSE #2: "I'm sure you can. For example, (XYZ competitor) sells this product for $_. However, they do not offer a lifetime guarantee. In the long run you save by buying from me... Doesn't that better serve your needs?"
  • RESPONSE #3: "It's a business truism that no company can consistently offer its customers the finest quality AND the best service at the lowest price. Which two of these three elements are most important to you in the long term?"

CLICK for the correct answer »

The correct answer is RESPONSE #3 (what's important.) Here's why:
  • RESPONSE #1 (low price guarantee) is only applicable to cases where the product is identical. If you apply it in cases where your product is not identical to the competition's, you're competing on price when you should be competing on value.
  • RESPONSE #2 (lifetime guarantee) is an attempt to compete on value. However, at this point in the sales cycle, you don't know whether the customer will value a lifetime guarantee or not. Maybe they're about to leave the company, for instance.
  • RESPONSE #3 (what's important) recognizes the fact that you're in the early stages of the cycle and is a bid to discover what's actually important to the prospect. You use it to open a more detailed discussion (e.g. "what do you consider 'high quality'). Then, once you've found out what's important, you tie that to whatever is different about your offering.
The above is based on some one-on-one coaching I got from the great Tom Hopkins, arguably the world's most famous sales trainer.

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