How To Avoid Sticker Shock in Home Improvement Sales
Prefer To Watch: Here’s The Video
TLDR:
Price is just perception—shaped by info, not reality.
Your credibility can override their expectations.
A strong pitch builds higher perceived value.
Don’t believe their budget limits—change them.
Price Perception in Home Improvement Sales
Understanding the Root 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 information they've gotten. In other words, prices are a perception created by information the customer's received. I used to think that if I went to someone's home and they wanted to spend what my product cost, I could make a sale. And if they wanted to spend less than what my product cost, then 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 be $5,000 before I got there and was only prepared to spend that much? Weak sales people say this all the time as their excuse. Well, they were only prepared to spend half of what I was. Or when I got there, they thought windows were $200 to $300 each.
From Order Taker to Sales Professional
The reality is that even if they plan to spend $5,000 and thought that was what kitchens cost, it doesn't matter because the key is that it doesn't matter what they thought before I got to their home, but what they think after I'm done with my sales call. Now here's the million dollar concept. Price is a perception a person has based on information they've gotten. Again, that could be the internet, friends, other estimates, or just plain guessing. So if you as a salesperson are more credible than the source of information that created that perception, you can change the customer's perception of price. It happens to us all the time.
The Million Dollar Concept: Price is Perception
Have you ever gone to buy something that you thought was one price and were prepared to pay that, but once you got there, you found out that the actual price was sometimes double what you were planning to pay and you ended up buying it anyway? What did that salesperson say to you when you told them that you thought the price would be half of that? Did they say they were sorry or just laughed at you?
Credibility Is More Powerful Than Preconceptions
The key is that the price you got was believable when they told you it was double what you originally thought. It was believable because of the credibility of the salesperson or the company they represented. If you understand that, then you'll believe me when I tell you that it doesn't matter at all how much they think it's going to be when you get there.
The only thing that counts is what they think when you're done, and that's 100% controllable by the salesperson. In other words, when you get good at this, you can literally sell at will, and it has nothing to do with the person you're sitting in front of. Now, based on this concept, you must take responsibility for what they think it's worth when you're done.
The Power of a Strong Presentation
If they think it's worth $5,000, then that means you've done a $5,000 presentation. If they think it's worth $10,000 when you're done, then you've done a $10,000 presentation. For you to sell something at $10,000, you have to do a presentation that creates the perception of at least $12,000 worth of value, so when they see the price, they feel like they're getting a great deal.
Remember, people think it's a good deal and buy when the value of what they think they're getting, it's exceeds what you're charging for. If you hear, wow, that's actually less than what I thought it was going to be when you delivered the price, it means you did a good job and built the value. Now, if you hear the opposite, then the opposite is true. In other words, you didn't do a good job.
What They Say Up Front Doesn’t Matter
The key takeaway should be that it doesn't matter how much they think it would be when you get there. If I'm selling something for $10,000 and when I get there, they tell me that if it's more than $5,000 that I'm wasting my time, it honestly doesn't affect me in any way.
One, it may be a smoke screen, as I mentioned earlier, to back me off. Two, if I'm selling something for $10,000 and when I get there, they tell me that if it's more than $5,000, I'm actually trying to price condition me, in which case it's a meaningless statement. Or if they really believe it costs that much or can't afford more than that, I can change the perception through my sales call and make it affordable to them.
Don’t Let Their Belief Become Yours
The worst thing is where we actually believe them and think that we're wasting our time. It becomes a type of pre-qualifying and our perception will become a reality.
If you are interested in more topics like this one, check out these posts on sales techniques or this post about handling the “It’s too much money” objection. Happy Selling!
