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Pricing-Mindset Mistakes – and How to Avoid Them.

Are you confident in your pricing? Can you charge what you want and win the sale? Or do you back down and offer a discount, or miss an opportunity because you’re not confident about asking for the price that you really want, or need to charge?

I believe that there are five mindsets that most business owners and sales people have around pricing. Here’s a summary of what they are and how they can hold you back.

Mindset Mistake 1 – Assuming that people buy on price. It’s almost always the case that people don’t buy on price alone. Of course your price needs to be in the zone of what your customer finds acceptable, but it’s not usually their deciding factor. If it was, then there wouldn’t be many expensive watches, or performance cars sold in the world. But these products aren’t sold on price, are they? In fact, price is often way down the list, even for much cheaper products and services such as toothpaste or new software.

Ask your clients why they buy from you and chances are that price will be quite a way down their list too.

Mindset Mistake 2 – Selling features instead of benefits. So, if customers don’t buy on price, what does influence whether or not they buy? Many sales people fall into the trap of just talking about the features of their products and services. They can tell you in detail what their software does, or about the different sizes of box, or what’s included in the price. But in reality, buyers want to know how your offer solves a problem they have, or improves something for them. A feature is what something IS, such as a training package offered by a fitness coach. A benefit is what something DOES, including how the coach can help you to amaze your friends with your fabulous new figure!

Only when the benefits your customers get from buying from you outweigh the money they give you, will they part with their cash.

Mindset Mistake 3 – Talking price too early. Imagine walking into an electrical store for a new fridge.” I want a new fridge,” you say. “They’re £300,” replies the sales assistant. Do you buy? Of course not! Why not? Well, because you don’t even know if the fridge will fit that space in your kitchen, never mind if it has the right number of shelves, or enough wine bottle holders. You need a bit more to go on than just the price!

Giving the price, before understanding your customer’s needs, and before explaining the benefits of your solution, is not the answer to optimising your sales opportunities. It’s a challenge for many sales people, but the good news is that it’s a skill that can be learned.

Mindset Mistake 4 – Assuming an objection means a discount. Ah yes, the objection – the spanner in the works just when you thought the sale was going smoothly. The customer says it’s too much, it’s the wrong size, their customers won’t buy it, or their dog won’t eat it! This is the stage at which you have to work out if the objection is real, and what to do about it, sometimes on the spot. This can be daunting.

Luckily, most objections come down to just two questions in the mind of your customer: ‘Does it meet my needs right now?’ and ’Is it worth the money?’ Notice that neither of these actually involves your customer asking for a discount!

Mindset Mistake 5 – Having naked price increases. Have you ever received a letter from one of your suppliers telling you that their prices are going up on a particular date? Utility companies are great at doing this! It’s a fine example of why businesses are scared of pricing and why your sales team might dread price increase season! Your customer has nothing else to focus on but an increase in price, so that’s what your sales person has to overcome, the next time they call. The communication is well and truly laid bare and naked. Worse still, it reads like your customers are being rewarded for their loyalty by having to pay more for it!

Avoid naked price increases at all costs, by clothing your price communications in the value you bring your customer.

So those are the five pricing mindset mistakes that I come across all the time. How many of these mistakes are you making? How much are they costing you in lost sales opportunities? When you can learn how to change your mindset around pricing, you can learn how to fully optimise all your sales opportunities and grow a more effective sales team and a much more profitable business.

Pricing with Confidence

So now that you know what mindsets could be holding you back from pricing with confidence, you need to change those mindsets!

If you need some help doing this, looking at the pricing of your own products and services, then here are two great offers for you:

Click here to download a full copy of my ebook: Pricing Mindset Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. This ebook is my gift to you and your business. Do let me know how it works for you and your prices!

If you feel your business needs more hands on help, then reserve your place on our next workshop – Pricing with Confidence. It will be held on Monday 20 June 2016 at Elcot Park Hotel, near Newbury in Berkshire. This will be a full day workshop when we’ll work on all the mindsets discussed in this newsletter and show you how to change them. We’ll dispel all the myths and help you clear any pricing obstacles out of your way, so that you can be much more confident with your pricing. By the end of the day I can guarantee that you’ll be able to charge exactly what you want, and what you’re worth!

This full day workshop costs £395 +VAT and places are limited. To guarantee your place, click here to reserve it now.