Context, sequence and timing really matter when you’re making a sale …

Context gives everything meaning!  Imagine you saw the image of the bald man without the label on it – you could make up any meaning you liked … good or bad.  Then imagine you were told the context first (soldier or cancer survivor), then saw the image – you would view the image through the lens of the context you’ve been given, and that shapes the meaning you place on the image.

Whenever we communicate a critical piece of information without context, we leave it up to the other person to make up their own interpretation … their meaning.

This is true for price and value during the sales process.  If we give the prospect a price PRIOR to expressing the deep and profound value of what we do, we are positioning VALUE in the context of PRICE.   This leads to the prospect wondering if your offer is worth it.

If we position PRICE in the context of VALUE, in other words, we give them the compelling and self evident value of what we do BEFORE we give them the price, they may ask themselves, “how can I afford to NOT do this?

You should NEVER position value in the context of price.  ALWAYS position price in the context of value.

Sometimes we have to be provocative …

If a prospect says “… just give me your lowest price” they are provoking you to position value in the context of price.

It’s sometimes best to address the elephant in the room and respond provocatively with price in the context of value …

“ … it’s unlikely we’ll be the lowest price you’ll get and there is a reason for that, I’d love to discuss what we can do for you before we get to price”, or

“… I can give you our lowest price, and to do so, I’d just love to unpack the lowest level of value you’re after.”

I know these are quite confrontational examples, but I’m using them to make the point that we should do all we can to position price in the context of value in every sales conversation.

How do you make sure you always position price in the context of value?