When to Talk About Price

I had a call last week with a founder that centered on when to talk about price. He sells into a highly price-sensitive market, which means the question comes up early in many of his sales conversations.

My view is that it’s almost always a mistake to talk about pricing upfront. Until you’ve taken the time to understand the prospect’s business and what’s actually not working, there isn’t much of a real price conversation to have.

We’ve all heard this before: “They liked it, but it was too expensive.”

When I hear that, I usually assume price wasn’t the real issue. What’s missing is clarity around the gap between the current state and a better one. There is always a cost to doing nothing—but if that cost isn’t clear, the cost of change will always feel high.

The strongest conversations start by making the current situation real: wasted time, stalled growth, staff effort that goes nowhere. Those things already have a cost.

Once that’s clear, that’s when the price conversation can actually begin.