'Too Expensive' Almost Never Means Too Expensive

The price objection is the thing salespeople hear most often. "Too expensive." "The competition is cheaper." "I need to think about the cost." And this is exactly the moment when most sales fall apart - not because the price was too high, but because the salesperson reacted badly.

The Default Reaction Is Always Wrong

When a customer says "too expensive", instinct suggests two things: start explaining yourself or drop the price. Both are mistakes.

If you hand over a discount straight away, you've just told the customer that your first price was inflated. You've lost credibility and taught them that the way to negotiate with you is to push. If you start defending yourself, you sound like someone who doesn't believe in what they're selling.

Price is not an attack. It's a question about value, asked indirectly.

"Too Expensive" Compared to What?

When I hear a price objection, I don't react to the price. I react with a question. Because "too expensive" is a sentence with no point of reference - and my job is to find that point of reference.

Too expensive compared to the budget? To the competition? To what the customer is losing today by doing things the old way? Those are three completely different objections, and each has a different answer. A salesperson who hears the single word "expensive" and immediately cuts the price, instead of asking questions, discovers in half of all cases that the problem was never the price at all.

Very often something else is hiding behind "too expensive": the customer doesn't yet see the value, isn't sure it will work, or isn't the one making the decision and is looking for an excuse. A discount won't solve any of these.

Talk About the Cost of Doing Nothing

The most expensive option for the customer is usually not your product. It's staying where they are - with a problem that costs them money every month, except that this cost isn't on any invoice, so they don't see it.

My job in a price conversation is to make that hidden cost visible. Once the customer sees how much they're losing with their current solution, your price stops being an expense and becomes a saving. It's the same number - just placed in a different context.

I won't hand you the whole framework for working with the price objection here, or the exact phrases - this is precisely the kind of thing we practise in training, on your real conversations. But remember one thing: the next time you hear "too expensive", don't drop the price. Ask a question. The customer's answer will tell you whether you have a price problem at all - or whether you only thought you did.