Hearing “it's expensive” is part of the sales process, but how you respond determines whether the conversation evolves or ends there. In many cases, this objection is not really about price: it's about value, clarity, or trust. Here are some practical approaches to turning this moment into an opportunity.
1. Ask before responding
Classic models, such as those by Zeithaml, show that consumers do not evaluate price in isolation but rather the relationship between perceived benefits and sacrifices involved. When the client verbalizes “it's expensive,” often what occurs is a misalignment between perceived value and expected value. Clarifying questions reveal where this misalignment is: lack of understanding of the benefit, mistaken expectations, or comparison with more familiar alternatives.
Consumers carry a mental anchor of how much they believe something should cost, based on previous experiences, price memory, habits, and exposure to other offers. Asking “compared to what alternative?” helps identify which internal reference is guiding the judgment and allows repositioning the product within a more favorable framework.
Price complaints can signal risk: fear of paying more than one should, not getting the expected return, or making a suboptimal decision. The request for clarification reduces uncertainty by shifting the focus from the perceived threat to an objective understanding of the offer. When the seller investigates what the client expected to be included, they are directly dealing with this risk.
When the client complains about the price, they are revealing a doubt. Clarify.
Examples:
– What exactly did you find expensive?
– Compared to what alternative?
– What did you expect to be included?
These questions help discover if the issue is budget, value perception, or lack of information. Heuristics like anchoring, immediate comparison, and loss aversion influence price evaluation. The consumer may be reacting to an arbitrary reference point, not the economic reality of the offer. Open questions interrupt this automatic response and promote more deliberate reasoning, allowing for re-evaluating value.
2. Reinforce the value, not the price
Talking about value means showing what the client gains by investing. Show concrete benefits, business impact, future savings, risk reduction, or increased results. The more tangible, the better. Models like Zeithaml's demonstrate that consumers evaluate offers based on a subjective equation: perceived value equals perceived benefits divided by perceived costs. Making the benefits concrete increases the positive weight of this equation, elevating perceived value without altering the nominal price.
Consumers do not analyze only technical attributes but also functional consequences (impact on performance, future savings) and psychological (uncertainty reduction, sense of security). By showing impact on business, risk reduction, or increased results, the seller activates multiple benefit dimensions, increasing the attractiveness of the choice.
The purchase decision involves projections about future outcomes. When benefits are presented in a tangible way, the consumer can better estimate future utility and thus perceives the purchase as more rational and rewarding. Research shows that concrete information is more persuasive than abstract. Tangible benefits activate more vivid mental representations, facilitate calculations, and reduce biases like loss aversion. The consumer understands not only that there is value, but where it is and how it will be obtained.
3. Give context to the investment
Helping the client visualize the return turns the price into a strategic decision. Show how the investment pays off, which indicator will be impacted, and how your solution solves a critical problem for them. Consumers do not evaluate prices in isolation; they construct meaning from framing. When the seller shows how the investment pays off or which indicators will be impacted, they change the price framing from an expense to a strategic resource, altering the cognitive interpretation of value.
The way information is framed alters decisions. Presenting the price within a return horizon triggers comparative reasoning of future gains, reducing loss aversion. Instead of focusing on the immediate outlay, the client starts to evaluate the flow of benefits and the strategic relevance of the solution.
By visualizing measurable return, the client can project future utility, estimate impact on relevant metrics, and compare alternatives. This reduces uncertainty and increases preference for options with predictable outcomes, especially when the solution addresses a critical problem. The perception that the investment pays for itself diminishes the sense of threat associated with the decision, strengthening confidence.
4. Offer options instead of immediate discount
When you reduce price before clarifying objections, you reinforce the idea that it was indeed expensive. Instead, present alternatives: different versions of the solution, adjusted scope, implementation stages. Showing flexibility without devaluing your offer conveys professionalism.
Price functions as a quality signal. Reducing the value immediately, without investigating objections, communicates to the consumer that the initial price was inflated or that the offer has lower quality than it seemed. By presenting scope or version alternatives, the seller avoids sending this negative signal and maintains perceived value.
The original price works as an anchor. If the seller grants a discount before discussing value, they shift the anchor downwards and reduce the client's mental benchmark. Offering options preserves the anchor and gives the consumer new points of comparison, allowing them to evaluate solution versions without lowering the perceived value of the main one.
Consumers feel more comfortable when they perceive they maintain control over the decision. By offering implementation alternatives, service levels, or stages, the seller increases this sense of control, which reduces resistance and enhances satisfaction with the choice. To internally validate the decision, the client needs rational arguments. When they receive clear alternatives, they can justify the choice by aligning with the problem, not by the lower price.
5. Use concrete evidence
Testimonials, numbers, case studies, and demonstrations reduce uncertainty. When the client sees that others have achieved real results, price stops being the focus and becomes a natural part of the decision. According to Cialdini and studies on social influence, individuals tend to consider other people's behaviors and results as reliable indicators of which decision to make. Testimonials and case studies work as validation heuristics: if others obtained results, the option seems safe and appropriate.
Consumers face performance, financial, and psychological risks when evaluating a purchase. Concrete evidence, like numbers and demonstrations, reduces these risks by providing predictability. The lower the uncertainty, the lower the sensitivity to price. Tangible results help the consumer align expectations on what the solution really delivers. This avoids discrepancies between expectation and reality, increasing the sense of coherence and reliability. When expectations are well defined, the price seems more justifiable.
Objective evidence strengthens two critical pillars of credibility: competence and trustworthiness. The more the client perceives the supplier as competent and trustworthy, the more price is interpreted as a reflection of the value delivered, not as a barrier.
6. Show the cost of not deciding
Often, not acting costs more than investing. Point out the impact of maintaining the current problem, the risks involved, and lost opportunities. Consumers often delay decisions out of fear of error or excessive alternatives. Demonstrating the cost of inaction reduces this inertia because it makes clear that the absence of a decision is also a choice with measurable consequences.
Research by Kahneman and Tversky shows that individuals tend to react more strongly to losses than to equivalent gains. When the seller highlights the impact of maintaining the problem, they activate loss aversion, emphasizing that not acting may generate greater losses than the cost of the investment. This shifts the focus from price to the risk of loss.
Rational decision models show that every choice has an opportunity cost associated with the not chosen alternatives. Showing lost opportunities makes this opportunity cost explicit, which normally remains implicit in the decision-making process. Risk perception is not static. When the client understands that the risk of not solving the problem increases over time, the risk associated with the purchase seems relatively smaller. This contrast favors action and decreases sensitivity to price.
By highlighting future consequences of not acting, the seller forces the client to consider the decision's time horizon. This activates deliberate processing, leading the consumer to compare future losses with present investments and to recognize that maintaining the status quo can be more costly in the long run. Explaining impacts and risks of maintaining the problem shifts motivation towards damage avoidance, increasing the likelihood of action.
7. Close by reinforcing clarity and security
After responding to the objection, recap the main points and confirm if the client is secure to proceed. Final clarity increases confidence and helps consolidate the decision. Uncertainty is one of the main factors hindering purchase decisions. By recapping the main points, the seller reduces cognitive gaps and ensures the client fully understands the proposal. The lower the uncertainty, the higher the likelihood of adherence.
The memory of benefits and justifications increases subjective security that the decision is solid, avoiding last-minute negative reconsiderations. After overcoming an objection, the client seeks coherence between the evaluation made and the action taken. Confirming if they feel secure activates this mechanism, allowing them to align thought and behavior, reducing cognitive dissonance, and strengthening commitment to the decision.
Trust is a central determinant in the adoption of solutions. Final clarity and security check convey competence and transparency, strengthening the perception that the supplier is trustworthy. This reduces perceived risks and turns the decision into a more rational act. Complex decisions are processed in phases. The final stage performs a cognitive closing function. By organizing the key points and validating security, the seller leads the client to close the last psychological stage.
Conclusion
“It's expensive” is not the end of the conversation. It's the start of a chance to show value, better understand the client, and lead the decision maturely. Companies that address objections with depth and professionalism turn doubts into confidence and confidence into sales.