"Your Price Is Too High!"—The Trap You Need to Avoid in Sales

I hear it all the time in the paint­ing industry:

“Your price is too high!”

Recent­ly, I saw a post in a painters’ Face­book group where some­one wrote:

​“I’m so tired of peo­ple always want­i­ng the cheap­est price. Any thoughts on this?”

It’s a valid frus­tra­tion. I get it. But it’s also a dan­ger­ous mind­set. If you let it con­sume you, it can wear you down as a salesperson.

The Choco­late Bar Sales Lesson

When I was in ele­men­tary school, my pri­vate Chris­t­ian school had us sell World’s Finest Choco­late once a year. Any­one else have to do that?

I can’t remem­ber all the fla­vors, but I do remem­ber the milk choco­late with almonds (which, to this day, I still don’t like — sep­a­rate­ly, fine. Togeth­er, no thanks. But I digress…).

The moti­va­tion? Sell enough choco­late bars, and you’d earn points to get cool prizes — remote-con­trol cars, bikes, all kinds of stuff that seemed incred­i­ble as a kid.

So, my par­ents took me door to door, and there I was — a red-head­ed lit­tle boy, sweet and inno­cent. Who wouldn’t buy a choco­late bar from me?

Well … a lot of peo­ple, actually.

Most of the time, the answer was ​“No, thanks.” Because hon­est­ly, peo­ple could get cheap­er choco­late at the drug­store or gro­cery store.

I nev­er won the top prizes, but I sold enough to keep going. And look­ing back, I real­ize I learned a fun­da­men­tal les­son about sell­ing val­ue over price.

Why Do Peo­ple Pay More?

Think about it:

• Peo­ple buy lemon­ade from a kid’s stand when they could make it cheap­er at home.
• I worked in high-end retail in high school, and I was always sur­prised to see peo­ple spend big mon­ey on hand­bags, shoes, and coats — even when they could find them for less else­where. Yet, they did it because of the expe­ri­ence, exclu­siv­i­ty, and brand perception.
• I worked in the auto­mo­tive indus­try, where cus­tomers will­ing­ly paid a pre­mi­um for cer­tain brands — not nec­es­sar­i­ly because they were the best val­ue, but because of the expe­ri­ence, rep­u­ta­tion, and emo­tion­al connection.

Price is rarely the biggest fac­tor for the right cus­tomers. They buy based on expe­ri­ence, trust, and how a prod­uct or ser­vice makes them feel.

Con­fi­dence Sells — And Peo­ple Can Tell When You Don’t Have It

Ever dealt with a sales­per­son who wasn’t con­fi­dent in their pric­ing? It’s obvi­ous. And when they start fum­bling, sec­ond-guess­ing, or apol­o­giz­ing for their price, you instinc­tive­ly start ques­tion­ing it too.

Cus­tomers pick up on your ener­gy. If you act like your price is too high, they’ll believe it. If you hes­i­tate or over­ex­plain, they’ll sense your uncertainty.

That’s why it’s cru­cial to own your price, have fun with the process, and sell with confidence.

• If some­one says, ​“That’s a lot of mon­ey!”—smile and say, ​“It is! And let me show you why it’s worth every penny.”
• Play along, keep it light, and guide the con­ver­sa­tion with curios­i­ty instead of defensiveness.
• When you believe in the val­ue of what you’re sell­ing, your cus­tomers will too.

Han­dling the Price Objec­tion — Exam­ples That Work

Exam­ple #1: ​“Why do you think that is?”

A home­own­er once told me my paint job was more expen­sive than oth­ers. Instead of get­ting defen­sive, I sim­ply asked:

“We’ve done hun­dreds of jobs in your area. Why do you think that is?”

It com­plete­ly shift­ed the conversation.

Instead of mak­ing it about price, it made them think about why so many oth­ers had already cho­sen us. That one ques­tion gave me con­trol of the con­ver­sa­tion and led to a more pro­duc­tive dis­cus­sion about trust, rep­u­ta­tion, and quality.

Exam­ple #2: ​“What do you think your cab­i­nets will look like for 50% less?”

A cus­tomer once told me anoth­er painter would do the job for half the price.

Instead of argu­ing, I smiled and said:

“Sounds like a deal! I’m curi­ous… what do you think your cab­i­nets will look like for 50% less?”

Then I remind­ed them:

“You men­tioned you want­ed qual­i­ty, a good prod­uct, last­ing results, and a com­pa­ny that stands behind their work. Do you think that’s what you’ll get for half the price?”

This response forces the cus­tomer to rethink their pri­or­i­ties. If they tru­ly care about qual­i­ty, they’ll rec­og­nize that price alone doesn’t tell the full story.

Exam­ple #3: ​“What would you cut from the job?”

Anoth­er sim­ple but effec­tive response when a cus­tomer says your price is too high:

“I under­stand you’re look­ing for the best val­ue. Let’s look at it togeth­er — what part of the job would you like to cut to meet your bud­get? Less prep? Cheap­er mate­ri­als? Few­er coats of paint — brushed not sprayed?” 

Nine times out of ten, they don’t want to cut any­thing. They just want reas­sur­ance that they’re mak­ing the right investment.

How This Applies to Painting

If you’re in sales — whether it’s paint­ing, cars, high-end retail, or even choco­late bars—don’t let price objec­tions dis­cour­age you. They’re part of the game.

• Don’t argue about price. Instead, ask good ques­tions. Find out what they tru­ly care about.
• Smile more. Peo­ple buy from peo­ple they like.
• Sell the expe­ri­ence, not just the ser­vice. Clients who val­ue qual­i­ty, trust, and pro­fes­sion­al­ism will pay more — just like the peo­ple who buy design­er hand­bags or lux­u­ry cars instead of cheap­er alternatives.
• Turn objec­tions into oppor­tu­ni­ties. A price objec­tion isn’t a rejec­tion — it’s a chance to edu­cate and con­nect with the right customers.

Pre­vent­ing Price Objec­tions with Smart Marketing

While your sales team han­dles price objec­tions in per­son, your mar­ket­ing should work ahead of time to attract bet­ter-qual­i­fied leads. Show­cas­ing high-end projects, using words like lux­u­ry and pre­mi­um, and tar­get­ing the right neigh­bor­hoods nat­u­ral­ly fil­ters out most bar­gain shoppers.

But it goes beyond just tar­get­ing. The more some­one knows about your com­pa­ny before they call, the bet­ter. Qual­i­ty con­tent — blogs, tes­ti­mo­ni­als, and social media posts that edu­cate home­own­ers on your unique crafts­man­ship, qual­i­ty mate­ri­als, and process — helps pre-sell your val­ue. When a prospect asks for an estimate because they know what sets you apart, your sales team can walk into esti­mates with con­fi­dence, know­ing they’re speak­ing to home­own­ers who seek the val­ue you deliver.

Final Thought

Every great sales­per­son learns how to nav­i­gate price objec­tions. If you focus on pro­vid­ing val­ue, build­ing trust, and stand­ing by your worth, the right cus­tomers will rec­og­nize it.

And when they do? They’ll hap­pi­ly pay more.

What are your strate­gies for han­dling price objec­tions? Drop a com­ment — I’d love to hear your thoughts.