Every conversation takes place on
two levels. Externally, there are two people talking. But there’s also an internal
dialogue that silently tracks the outer one. Your internal dialogue includes
what you’d like to say, what you wish you had said, what you wish you hadn’t said – plus all the
emotions that accompany those categories. Regardless of whom you may be
physically talking with, the internal dialogue is always between the mental and
emotional aspects of yourself as your Inner CEO.
And if you’re in any sort of a
marketing encounter, nothing gets the mind and heart of an Inner CEO more
agitated than these five little words: “the price is too high.”
The late Jim Rohn was one of
the most interesting writers on all aspects of entrepreneurship, management,
sales, and related topics. He was especially insightful about one of the most
frequently heard objections in any marketing encounter. I’m sure you’ve heard
it many times, and I’m confident you’ve used it many times as well.
The objection can be stated in
lots of different ways, both long and short, but in the fewest possible words
it comes down to this: “The price is too high.”
There’s a good reason why this
objection is so popular: it happens to be very effective. It strikes right at
the foundation of any and all interactions between a buyer and a seller. That
foundation, of course, is money. Sellers want to make as much money as they
reasonably can, and buyers want to save just as much. Once the encounter has
gotten past the bluffing stage, if a buyer says that the seller’s final offer
is too high that would seem to be the end of it. If the seller can’t lower his
price and the buyer can’t pay it, there’s nothing left to talk about.
Over the years Jim Rohn
developed a personality that was persuasive and also refreshingly prickly. It
wasn’t happy talk. He wasn’t aggressive, but he was straightforward and challenging.
Jim Rohn’s response to the “price is too high” objection was a good example:
“The price isn’t too high. You just can’t afford it.”
That’s a good comeback and I’m
sure there are many situations where using it could be fun. But it’s also more
of a putdown than an attempt to move a negotiation forward, and I wonder how
often this has actually resulted in a deal. But at least it’s not a sorrowful
admission of defeat, and it’s a good example of why Jim Rohn’s material was so
popular.
Today Seth Godin covers the
same territory as Jim Rohn but with a slightly less confrontational edge. In a
recent posting on his blog Godin addresses the “price is too high” objection
and came up with a different response – and one that I think is likely to be
more productive in the real world: “The price isn’t too high. You just don’t
think it’s worth it.”
What exactly does this mean?
Well, suppose your phone rings late one night just after you’ve gotten into
bed. A voice you don’t recognize asks you to run down to the supermarket, buy a
dozen eggs, and deliver them to an address on the other side of town. You’re
puzzled. Chances are you just hang up or, at most, you ask, “What’s in it for
me?” If the voice says that you’ll receive a visit from the Easter Bunny,
you’ll definitely hang up (I hope.) And you might turn off the ring sound on
your phone.
But suppose when your phone
rang it was not some unknown voice, but a man who sounded exactly like Warren
Buffett. He tells you a few little-known facts about himself to verify his
identity. Then he explains how, in his later years, he enjoys phoning people at
random and offering them a million dollars if they’re willing to go just a
little out of their way for it – by going to the supermarket, buying a dozen
eggs, and delivering them to an address on the other side of town.
What would you do? At the very
least, your calculation of the benefits and rewards would be more complicated
than for the first call. While the Warren Buffett call is almost certainly a
prank, is worth going to the supermarket on the slight chance that it’s not a
prank? Does the tiny possibility of a huge payoff justify getting out of bed in
the middle of the night?
One thing is for sure: if
Warren Buffett himself appeared at your door with a suitcase full of money, it
wouldn’t matter what time it was. You’d be heading for the supermarket.
The lesson is this: no matter
how it may seem, money is almost never the real issue in business decisions.
Don’t let anyone tell you that it is, and don’t tell it to yourself either.
Some things really aren’t worth the price, other things are worth any price you
might have to pay, and most things are spread out in the middle. The decision
is yours.
Seth Godin link:
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