Stop Price Over-riding Quality

So when we want to find a client budget and also set an expectation around the budget, there are a couple of things we can do, bearing in mind that everyone is a little reluctant to give out this information.

This first step is really about making sure it's not just money that we talk about and it's a use of an old tool that we've discussed before called the Continuum.

You literally take a piece of paper and your pen and you draw a line on the page.

If you do this, you're starting to take into account the fact that people are ‘Auditory Kinaesthetic’ and they also want to see things.

On one end you write a dollar and at the other end you put the letter Q.

You say to your client “Now, obviously every deal is made up of how much you're going to spend, but also the quality you expect. Certainly, some people like to get as cheap price as they can, but they recognize that they sacrifice something in the quality side. Other people just focus on getting the best quality they can and money is not so much of an issue. Can I ask you on this line here, could you tell me where you sit in that balance between making sure you stick within your budget, which you must do and the quality that you want” and you pretty much hand them the pen.

Now very few people will put a mark at the end with the lowest dollar value and if they do, you can then make your decision about whether you're going to be in the market with them.

Remember, one of the keys for sales is to qualify people out. If someone says to you, “look, if you're not the cheapest option, don't worry about it”. Then don't worry about it.

But, somewhere along this line, they will put a mark and you can then say to them, “Oh, okay. So it's not about making sure it's just the cheapest option”. We have to take into account that fact. You must have something that works so we will have a bit of a playoff at between the cheapest thing in the market and making sure that it produces the result that you want”

What you're saying is that you're positioning the idea that you may not be the cheapest, but quality is important. This allows you to come back to that later as part of your discussion. It's a very useful tool for setting their mind around the fact that quality is important and price is not everything.

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