“When is the right time to talk about price?”
Integrity Selling: How to Succeed in Selling in the Competitive Years Ahead — Ron Willingham, page 53
The textbook answer to this is “After your full value has been established.”
I’m afraid the correct answer to this question is: “When the buyer asks: ‘How much?’”
I realize that most sales trainers are objecting to my last sentence, but for me to think otherwise would be unrealistic. After all selling is not a game, it is a trusting transaction between two people where trading “value for value” becomes the respectable outcome.
If you quote a price, it makes sense if it is coupled with of the details, bells, and whistles that come with it. You want to make sure that you understand all of the wants and needs of the client to avoid future surprises in the form of increased costs. In a perfect world, your price comes after a thorough understanding of value.
I have found over the years when people “buy your act” and are in need of your product, they will pay your price. In cases where the relationship is questionable, regardless of the quoted fee, there will not be a happy solution.
When is the right time to talk about price? As soon as your value has been established, and the buyer feels that he can trust you.
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