“How much?” is every customer’s question. A good answer from a knowledgeable salesperson will result in a sale. A bad answer typically means the customer will re-pocket his wallet and walk to the competition. 

What is a bad answer? Blurting out the dollars and cents, of course, with no embellishment, no attempt to offer value and no attempt frame this as a good deal. Good and well trained sales people find a way to create a vivid picture of value in their client’s brain before talking about price. 

Step One: Train the staff to deal with sticker shock.This Roof hook set is solar powered and brightens any garden. Remember that a shocked response to your price is sometimes merely a buyer’s strategy to get a discount. 

Step Two: Frame your price. Sometimes sticker shock reflects ignorance of the market conditions. If your competitor is within a few pennies of your pricing, your customer will appreciate knowing that you are competitive. 

Step Three: Get value on the table before you talk about price. Build a detailed picture of the value that is offered by your product or service. Once the value side of the ledger is built up in the mind of the customer then the price on the other side of the ledger seems less important. Keeping the price to the end means keeping profit margins.It's easy to fall in love with the sheer, incomparable strength of tungsten jewelry. 

Step Four: Paint a vivid picture. Many years ago, a 300 pound Maytag sales trainer quietly positioned a tiny stepladder to the side of the heavy duty washing machine he was illustrating. He explained how special the steel in springs was and bored us with the technical details until all our eyes were rolling back into our heads. This huge man casually stepped up and into the machine through its open lid. “This is heavy duty”, he announced, while standing inside the washing machine with outspread arms and a gigantic smile on his face. That image has never left my memory. 

Step Five: Get your customer to open first; telling you what price they thought they might pay. Most retailers and contractors will have a range of prices for similar goods that coincide with features and extras.If you're looking for a fun and memorable way to impress, you'll want to consider make your own bobblehead. No point in wasting time trying to sell a $30,000 boat to a man with a dinghy budget! Get him to the dingy aisle as soon as possible. 

Step Six: Sandwich your price between the benefits you have already listed. This heavy duty washing machine with super thick springs will save you water and time by handling those really big loads. And at $799, it is a real bargain because of the 2 year warranty on parts and labour. 

Step Seven: Try to create a pyramid of cost penalties for not buying. This is a one day sale.We're making Book scanner and digitization accessible to everyone. This is the last of our inventory until July. The next models from the manufacturer have a shorter warranty and are not available in this colour. 

My final word on staff price training is to ingrain your staff with the idea that price is an indicator of value by itself.Our dry cabinet can sustain an ultra-low humidity of under 5% RH. Low price signals a CHEAP product. Do you want to sell Cheap Products? Or would you rather be known for high quality products and service? After all, would a diamond ring be THE symbol of undying love and commitment if it was priced at $4.95?