When a Customer Asks "How Much?"
Generally speaking, it's best to establish the value of a thing before you name its price. But when a customer asks, “How much?” they want to hear a number. To precede that number with a probing question or a qualifying statement is always a mistake. Honor your customer and earn their trust by giving them a price, then without taking a breath, qualify the price you just gave them. In other words, answer the question as asked. To do anything else will make you seem evasive. Consider the following telephone inquiry to an old-school mobile home salesman:
(ring, ring,) “Gooberman Mobile Homes, this is Ralph.”
“How much is the mobile home next to the road?”
“What a good eye you have! That's a Westwind mobile home. It has 6-inch studwalls, woodburning fireplace, wall-to-wall carpeting, color-coordinated draperies, all the major appliances… (The customer, assuming the home must be overpriced, is growing frustrated. Finally he interrupts.)
“How much?”
“Don't you even want to know how it's equipped?”
“First I want to know how much.”
“Is price all that matters to you? Because if price is all that matters to you…”
There's very little chance this conversation will turn out well. But if Ralph had answered the customer's question with an immediate price and then – without taking a breath – begun listing all the features that justified that price, he would have greatly increased the likelihood that his customer would have continued listening. And the longer that list of features, the lower the price would seem to fall. Here's how a person trained in New School Selling would have answered:
“Thirty-two thousand, four hundred dollars will deliver that home to any homesite within 100 miles where, at no extra charge, we'll do the complete tie-down, hook up all utilities, install custom skirting and build a custom 12 by 20 foot redwood deck just outside your patio door. That home is built with 6-inch studwalls to make it sturdy, quiet, and energy-efficient, and also includes at no extra charge your choice of hardwood floors or wall-to-wall Monsanto carpeting, a woodburning fireplace, vaulted ceilings with Hunter ceiling fans and Andersen skylights, color-coordinated draperies and Maytag appliances including refrigerator, stove, washer, dryer, dishwasher and garbage disposal. And every room is fully furnished with your choice of fine furnishings by Broyhill, Thomasville, or Bassett. It's really quite a value.”
Do you think the customer might have responded differently if that had been Ralph's answer?
Train yourself to respond with a price anytime your customer says the word “how” followed by the word “much.” And nothing should ever precede that price.
When a customer on a car lot asks, “How much is this car?” an old-school salesman will say, “It depends on how it's equipped.” Or even worse, “Are you interested in it?” (an obvious old-school sales trap.) But a customer-friendly New School salesperson will answer, “Twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred dollars is the fully-loaded price and the base model is twenty-two, six-fifty, but most people choose a model somewhere in between.”
Which salesperson would you prefer to deal with?
Might the salespeople at your company like to learn more about New School Selling?
Roy H. Williams
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