Handling "It's Too Expensive"
Separate a real budget limit from sticker shock, then re-anchor the price against the cost of the problem.
How it sounds
- Buyer It's too expensive.
- You Too expensive compared to what?
- You You said the manual process eats about ten hours a week. This is less than what one of those hours costs you.
- Result The price gets re-anchored to a concrete cost instead of discounted on reflex.
The full entry
“Too expensive” almost always means one of two things: they cannot afford it, or they do not yet see it as worth the number. Your first move is to find out which. A calm “Too expensive compared to what?” or “When you say too expensive, is it the budget or the value?” sorts it in one question.
If it is value, re-anchor against the cost of the problem you already discussed: “You said the manual process eats about ten hours a week. This is less than what one of those hours costs you.” If it is genuinely budget, talk scope or payment terms rather than discounting on reflex, since a fast discount tells them the first price was inflated.
It works when you have done real discovery first, because the re-anchor needs a concrete cost to point at. Dropping price the moment you hear the word is the common mistake; it trains the buyer to push. The value-versus-budget split is standard sales practice with no single documented originator.