Understanding Price is a Perception in Home Improvement Sales
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The Concept of Price Perception
The most important concept to understand when it comes to selling is that what the customer thinks something should cost is based on the information they have received. In other words, price is a perception created by the information the customer has gathered.
From Order Taker to Sales Professional
I used to believe that if I went to someone’s home and they were willing to spend what my product cost, I could make a sale. Conversely, if they wanted to spend less than what my product cost, I was out of luck. In other words, I was just an order taker, not a true sales professional. How could I possibly get someone to spend $10,000 on something they thought would cost $5,000 before I arrived and were only prepared to spend that much? Weak salespeople often use this as an excuse: “They were only prepared to spend half of what I was asking.” Or, “When I got there, they thought windows were $200 to $300 each.”
The Key Concept
The reality is that it doesn’t matter what they thought before I got to their home. What truly matters is what they think after my sales call.
The Million-Dollar Concept
Price is a perception based on the information a person has received. This could be from the internet, friends, other estimates, or just plain guessing. If you, as the salesperson, are more credible than the source of information that created that perception, you can change the customer's perception of price. This happens all the time. Haven’t you ever gone to buy something thinking it would cost one amount, only to find that the actual price was sometimes double what you expected, and you ended up buying it anyway? What did the salesperson say when you mentioned you thought the price would be half? Did they apologize or laugh as they took your credit card?
The key is that the price you were given was believable because of the credibility of the salesperson or the company they represented. If you understand this, you will see that it doesn’t matter how much they initially think it will cost when you arrive. The only thing that counts is what they think after you are done, and that is 100% controllable by the salesperson. In other words, when you get good at this, you can sell at will, regardless of the person you are sitting in front of.
Responsibility and Perception
Based on this concept, you must take responsibility for what they think it’s worth when you are done.
If they think it’s worth $5,000, then that means you have done a $5,000 presentation.
If they think it’s worth $10,000 when you are done, then you have done a $10,000 presentation.
To sell something for $10,000, you need to present it in a way that creates the perception of at least $12,000 worth of value so that when they see the price, they feel they are getting a great deal. Remember, people think it’s a good deal and buy when the perceived value exceeds the price. If you hear, “Wow, that’s actually less than what I thought it would be,” when you deliver the price, it means you did a good job and built the value. If you hear the opposite, then you did not do a good job. 😊
Final Takeaways
The key takeaway is that it doesn’t matter how much they think it will be when you get there.
If I am selling something for $10,000 and they tell me that if it’s more than $5,000, I’m wasting my time, it honestly doesn’t affect me. It may be a smoke screen to back me off or an attempt to price condition me, in which case it is a meaningless statement. Or, if they truly believe it costs that much or can’t afford more, I can change the perception through my sales call and make it affordable to them. The worst scenario is when we actually believe them and think that we are wasting our time. It becomes a form of prequalifying, and our perception will become a reality. 😊
