“How Much Is It?” Say THIS (Home Improvement Sales)
Prefer To Watch: Here’s The Video
Article Summary:
Learn why homeowners ask for price first and how trust and credibility affect the sales conversation.
Discover why giving price before building value can hurt both your close rate and the customer’s decision-making process.
Master simple scripts that redirect price questions without appearing evasive or defensive.
Understand why most homeowners want the best value—not the cheapest option—and how to sell accordingly.
Improve your one call close by building desire and value before discussing price and investment.
Why Homeowners Ask About Price Before the Presentation
Have you ever gone to someone’s home when selling home improvements and in the first few seconds heard “well before we get started can you tell me how much this is going to cost so we don’t’ waste each others time?” Of course you have.
When you are new to doing home improvement sales on a one call close and even if you are experienced you learn to go through your steps or system. To do that you are going to have to learn to deal with common obstacles the customer can throw at you that may take you out of sequence or in the worst case end your sales call before you even really get started. Before we start how much does this cost can be a big one if you don’t know how to handle it.
Why Homeowners Ask About Price Before the Presentation
So what causes people to try to get the price at the beginning? There are two main reasons. The first reason is that they don’t know anything and it’s the only thing that is common to all products sold. A price
It’s the only reference point that they have. How much? In most cases when you sell home improvements it’s a once in a lifetime purchase. It’s the first time they every had to buy a roof, replacement windows, bathrooms or a new hvac system. They don’t know how to buy it and the first question is how much. If you had to buy something you never bought before like a helicopter what’s the first question that would pop into your mind. How much are they?
The other and more common reason that customers ask “before we get started can you tell me how much this is going to be ?” It’s because you are doing something to make them doubt you ie they want you out sooner. It’s more common that it happens to newer or incompetent sales people than experienced ones. I honestly don’t remember the last time a customer asked me in the beginning about the price but when I started they asked me it all the time. Imagine I came to your home and your first impression of me was “ Hi. I’m Ron from Abc hvac company. May I come in? sure.. So you’re thinking about hvac right? What were you thinking? “ It’s not going to be long before you hear “well before we get started how much is this going to be?” They don’t feel it going anywhere. They don’t feel confident in you and “how much does it cost?” is a way of cutting to the chase since they don’t see any other value coming from you. As you become more confident and can lead the customer to sitting at the table and going through your needs analysis they will trust you faster and won’t be asking you that at the beginning. How many people go to a doctor and start by saying “look Doc cut the pitch and before we get started I want know how much this is going to cost” Think about that. Credibility is everything.
One Call Close Sales Training: Why You Shouldn't Give Price First
As a salesperson you want to give them a price but it’s not at the beginning. You have to be able to take control and give them the information they need in an organized specific sequence. It’s not in you or the customers best interest to give them the price first without them seeing the product. How can they know if it’s worth it if they don’t’ know what they’re are getting? How does that benefit the customer or sales person? If you just gave them price first in most cases they would shut you down right there and if you really do have the best value and product on the market you would actually be hurting the customer because then they wouldn’t be getting it. Because you were weak. It’s like saying “suppose I had something in my hand and it’s a thousand dollars do you want to buy it?” Well what is it? “I can’t tell you but do you want to buy it?” no . Then how would you feel if I opened up my hand and there was 5 carat diamond in it? Same thing . In fact sometimes I actually say it like that to explain to customers why giving the price before they know or see anything is silly.
How to Respond When Customers Ask for Price Upfront
So if you do hear this at the beginning here are some of the things I say to handle that that have worked really well.
The easiest and most common way I handle “ before we get started how much does this cost?” I say.. If it’s okay let me find out what you want exactly as far as styles and materials then I can give you the exact cost since they are different prices. And If it’s not exactly what you want it doesn’t cost you anything. Ok?”
For 90% of people that satisfies the question and then I move on.
Handling Requests for a Ballpark Price
Now you will have some people push and say things like “Can you give me a ball park price?” “or can you give me a price range?” Don’t say well at this point you don’t know. Who in their right mind would believe you do this for a living and don’t even know the price range. It insults the customer and yourself. What I like to say is the truth. If I have good rapport sometimes say “oh about 600 millions” what..Well that’s what the average stadium cost today and smile?! “To be honest of course I could give you a range but until you see what you are actually getting it’s not fair to you or me. The main reason I don’t give price ranges is if I give you a ball park and you pick all the bells and whistles available on this and it’s comes out to be a lot higher and you would be mad at me. If I ballpark you high and you don’t end up needing all of that then the price would actually be lot lower. How’s this how about I show you what we do first because if you don’t want it it doesn’t matter how it costs right?” Yea “then if you want it I will leave you with an exact cost to the penny and you can decide if it’s worth it and if you want to do it ok?” alright.
How to Explain Value Before Discussing Price
Another way I’ve done it for those people pushing is to say “Can I be honest with you? Yes ron If I just give you a price now we might as well just stop because to be frank we are not the cheapest if anything we are in the top third of pricing. Yet even with that more people hire us than anyone else. What I’m doing is showing what you are getting for your money and why so many people hire us even though we are not the cheapest.People who work hard for their money like you and I and you can see if it’s worth it to you. So can I show you what we do and you judge for yourself it its’ worth it? Ok ron.
Best Value vs. Cheapest Price
Or you have people who say things like:
I don’t want to spend a lot of money and just want the price. What I say is “ Are or looking for the cheapest price or the best value? The best value . Ok because when you said I just want the price I thought you wanted the cheapest I was going to tell you that that wasn’t us but we offer the best value. Cheapest is not the best value if something is 5.00 and last for a year and something else is 10.00 and last 20 years. Because you would have to buy 20 5.00 items to last the same as the one 10.00 item. Make sense? Is it okay if I show you what we have first. Then you can see if you even want it. Because if you don’t want it then it doesn’t’ matter if it cost a dollar right? Then if you like what we have to offer I will give you an exact price and you can decide if it’s worth and when you want to do it if at all ok?. Alright that’s fine.
Why Most Homeowners Don't Actually Want the Cheapest Option
People don’t want the cheapest. Newer sales people often think that the customers who say that they don’t want to spend a lot of money are cheap. Yes before I get trolled there are people who are cheap but is a very small percentage.. Quick story one time I went into a home and the kids were all around the table squeezing fast food condiments into containers. The customer was dead serious when they told me “Ron most people don’t know this but you can save a lot of money if you get your kids to do this.” I was like wow okay but then I saw the paper towels hanging on a line above the sink . “What’s that for ?’’ Oh that’s another thing ron most people don’t realize that with paper towels you can dry them and use them over many times and don’t waste them. Now I’m freaking out and say “ well what if they get dirty like if you have to wipe up some spilled ketchup do you wash those and use them again?” He said with a straight face “ oh no we just throwthem away we”re not cheap anything?!” Thankfully again this is the not the norm. In most cases you didn’t build enough value and make them want it enough to spend the money. Selling to homeowners is different. For a business they may buy the cheaper copying paper because they think in terms of profit. The good part about selling to home owners is that they don’t want the cheapest. If everyone wanted cheap everyone would be living in mobile homes and having cardboard furniture…by choice.
The Real Secret to Closing More Home Improvement Sales
Think about you and how you furnish your house. Did you just buy the cheapest couch etc. or did you buy the nicest thing you can afford. That’s how most people are when it comes to spending on their home. When I understood that I made a lot more money because I wouldn’t let my failure be justified by saying they just wanted cheap.
Hopefully this article helped you and if want to learn how to make them want what you are selling after you start check out this article on “Features and Benefits” listed above or my free one call close mini course .
Happy Selling
