When prospects ask for price before you're prepared to give it.

What do you recommend salespeople say to prospects who ask for price prematurely? -Houston

"I promise I'll provide you with a to-the-penny price, but before I can do that, I need to find out more information from you..." and then continue on with your process without a pause.

This is especially true of my client companies who do selling in customers' homes, or in retail who sell customized products such as furniture or special order items, and in insurance. In other scenarios it's perfectly fine to give the price when the prospect asks for it. -Skip Anderson

I'd be more than willing to discuss price. Just before we do that, let me ask you a couple of questions...then ask high-quality questions to discover:

- what is important to your prospect about the pending purchase
- how the decision-making process works with your prospect
- what results the prospect wants from your product/service

Etc, etc, etc.

Then, and only then, should you discuss price. -Kelley Robertson

When can any customer question be "premature" ?

I can see the scene now "No, you're not supposed to ask that until later in my script".

Sounds more like a sales person who lacks preparation, skills or training ! -TonyB

Present your solution along with your price ONLY when you are ready to do so, NOT, just because the prospect asks.

And when should you give your solution and price, only when you have 3 things:

(1) A solution to the problem the prospect has identified as NEEDING to be resolved; (2) your solution will fit within the established budget the prospect has set aside, or you have established what will happen if the prospect needs to find more money to resolve his solution satisfactorily; in combination to establishing what is the 'cost to the prospect' if he DOESN'T resolve the problem he is facing and (3) that the person(s) you are talking with and making the presentation to have the ability and willingness to GIVE you a decision after you MAKE the presentation. -Paulette Halpern

If you are selling a commodity, it would be common for the prospect to ask price early which would hardly be premature. In such cases there could still be determinates to the price offering which would allow the the salesperson to ask questions. Quantity and time requirements are two examples of determinants.

With a product or service that is not a commodity, I think preparation is essential as Tony suggests. There are several issues that must be covered in an organized sales interview, and, they would be determined by both the nature and the scope of the product or service. Another determinant could be the prospects expectations and budget. These things need to be discussed prior to costing. -Ace Coldiron

Instead of 'premature' let's say 'early in the call before the salesperson has an opportunity to identify a need or present a solution. Would that affect your answer or does that still sound like a sales person who lacks preparation, skills or training? -Houston

It is wize to say to a prospect that you "have more than one solution", that it is "important you are providing the 'right price for the right product'" and that it will "just take a few moments to insure that I am quoting the right solution".

Again, you may not yet have uncovered a need that can be satified by your product or service, this must be done ... otherwise there is no reason to buy and price is not relevant ... but we can't say that to a prospect.

I other words - get control of the situation again. Do so right away or you are in trouble. -Gold Calling

My response is that since I have several services and products that until we know what their goals and objectives are, the range of price won't be relevant at all to how quickly or how much they want. Then I just steer things back on course to find out more about what they want. It's usually then up to me to say, now back to your question about your fee. -patweber

Houston, to put my response into perspective, I'm a B2B grey hair.

When I feel it's too early in the cycle to discuss price, I'm struck with the following thoughts:
1. how will complexity of the ultimate configuration affect any price considerations (eg. are there PS's involved which will drive-up the price; are there 3rd parties involved in the sales cycle)?
2. if price has come-up before we can accurately assess the situation, are they genuinely interested in:
a) return on investment?
b) long term service-ability (ie. would another configuration yield a longer life span; should a warranty be incorporated into the price)?
3. has the competition "set the tone"?
4. am I at the wrong level in the organization?

These thoughts will under-pin the dialogue which follows and invariably you'll find that the pricing topic will take its proper place in the cycle.

Good luck & Good selling!
Pat -OUTSource Sales

I think we as sales technicians are more involved with hearing ourselves talk. The longer you speak the more you bring attention to the issue.
Keep it short when the client asks you about price before your ready to give the price or solution.
We will get to that, we will cover that later
When they persist " it is relatively inexpensive."
I am a PITA to those who try to sell me as I love to hear how sales people reply. I laugh when I hear I have no idea or I do not know. Yes you do know, your the professional who has done this hundreds if not thousands of times.
Be short and to the point -rich34232

Well for car sales it's pretty simple.

"What's the price?" or "Is that the price?"

Option 1:
"Mr. Client, now when you are talking about price, are you looking to pay this all in cash or you like 90% of us who plans to finance? (Most will answer with financing.) So lets make sure this is the vehicle you are wanting, and then we can see what we can do to fit it into your monthly budget, sound fair?"

Option 2:
"Mr. Client, I understand price is very important to you as it is to all of us, but first let's make sure this is the right unit for you. If you hate everything about this vehicle, would it really matter what the price was? Let's make sure this is the vehicle you are looking for and then we can see what we can do about price." -jrboyd