The Salesman.com Podcast Eliminate Price Objections – 4 Steps to Boost VALUE | Selling Made Simple
Pop quiz hotshot—what’s the #1 sales objection you’re likely to run into? Got it yet? The answer is overwhelmingly… price. But 90% of the time, the problem isn’t about budget or expenses. It’s about value.
The better you are at selling your value, the less price is going to matter. And this 4-step framework shows you how to do just that.
Now, one of the most important lessons you’ll learn in your sales career is that value isn’t the same as price.
And oftentimes, an objection on price really comes down to value, not the cost.
In my interview with Saas marketing expert Ajit Ghuman, he said the same thing…
What Is Value?
What is “value” in the context of a B2B sale?
Value is the difference between the intrinsic cost of a product and the price the buyer pays.
So a car for example has intrinsic cost in the fact that it’s made of lots of expensive materials.
But the value is that it can take you places. You don’t have to take the bus, you can fit more activities in your day, and it can exhilarate you if you like driving fast like me.
So it’s much easier for a buyer to say yes to an offer with lots of value, because it makes the offer price look small in comparison.
This gets exciting for salespeople because…
Total Value = Product value + Your value
So you actually have a leverage point here to close more deals, and you don’t have to rely on anyone else to increase the value in the equation.
So how can you as an individual salesperson add more value to the offer and make it a no-brainer for the buyer?
The 4 Steps to Building Real Value
That’s where today’s framework comes in. In four steps, you can increase both the product value and your own value to the buyer. And that way you don’t have to compete on price at all.
1. Identify Real Problems
Often buyers will come to you with what they believe is their issue. But in reality, they’re just seeing the superficial problem—the symptom rather than the disease. With your experience, you’re perfectly situated to help the buyer diagnose what’s really wrong.
Think of it like a buyer going to a mechanic and saying that their steering wheel is causing them issues. They turn the steering wheel but the car doesn’t change direction.
But you as an expert in your field can see plain as day that the car doesn’t have any wheels. No wonder that turning the steering wheel isn’t working.
In the same way, you can add massive value to your potential buyers by diagnosing the problem that’s causing the issues they see.
2. Be a Guide
Next up, you know the pitfalls of your industry and products. It’s likely you’ve taken buyers through the buying process hundreds of times.
The buyer on the other hand may be making a purchase in your industry for the very first time.
Therefore there’s tremendous value for the buyer if you can honestly help them navigate the landmines and potential issues they may face along the way.
For example, when I was selling medical devices I’d regularly add value to the surgeons that’d head up the buying project by making introductions to key procurement and management staff that they didn’t realize they needed to onboard before getting the deal signed. By making their life easier, I was able to increase the total value of working together.
See how that works?
3. Industry Insights
Next up is industry insights. I have a couple of consulting clients that don’t want me to teach them how to sell. They’re already doing a great job at getting deals done.
Instead, they jump on the phone with me every month to get insights on what is working across the broader B2B sales industry.
They’re looking for cutting-edge, innovative ideas, not a training plan.
Now you might not realize it but you’re probably full of industry insights that could be really valuable to your buyers too.
Just think how much time you spend in and around your own specific part of your industry. It’s likely 100x more experience than your buyers have with it. So you’ve likely lots of valuable insights to share and boost your value.
4. Facilitating the Buying Process
Finally, unless you’re selling to a professional procurement team, it’s likely your buyer isn’t used to buying things in the B2B environment.
Buying new products, services, or technology probably makes up a tiny amount of what they do each year in their job.
You know who needs to be involved. You know how long these things take. You know what issues need to be investigated before the deal can happen.
So you can add tremendous value by educating your buyer and streamlining their efforts throughout the buying process.