Price conversations are the Achilles heel of many salespeople. Not only are they uncomfortable broaching the subject, but many are also unable to change the subject once it comes up.

To help transition out of a pricing conversation, it’s important to understand why it came up in the first place.

Sales and marketing have changed since 2008. Historically the two departments worked in silos; today it's more important than ever that they work together as a team.

Organizations are sometimes reluctant to use their marketing team to help the sales team work more effectively. Maybe they aren't convinced, or they don't know where to start. However, it's unmistakable that marketing contributes to sales success by informing and reassuring potential customers. In doing so, it actively lowers prospect resistance and reduces their objections.

Sales objections are a recurring phenomenon. Ask anybody what their initial reaction to a sales pitch is, and they’ll admit to responding with one or more objections:

Objections take on many forms. Some prospects say “it’s too expensive.” Let’s now look at the “My last experience wasn’t great” objection and see how we can lower resistance.

This sales objection doesn’t come up often. Usually, when a prospect has had a bad experience with your competitor, they’re happy to talk to you.

However, in some cases, maybe in a “why” sales where they purchase wasn't planned (as opposed to “why me”), a bad experience with a competitor can turn off a prospect completely.

Before you can even hope to handle the I need to think about it sales objection, you need to accept that it is, in fact, an objection.

Far too many sales representatives and sales managers don't see it that way. There's a major problem with their misperception: it's at the origin of unnecessary follow-ups with dead opportunities.

Below is a list of answers to ban when your prospects tell you they need to think about it as well as a list of great sentences to use instead to deal with the objection.

When a rep faces a price objection, he or she risks losing control of their sales process.

It’s important to understand is that several factors dictate a customer's relationship to price. Very few of them are rational. Because pricing concerns are emotional, salespeople shouldn't take them at face value.

Pushback on price is a common sales objection. In the majority of cases, when a rep hears one, there was another (hidden) reason that cooled the customer down. It's also worth noting that the prospect is usually unaware why. It's, therefore, up to the representative to figure out what led to the client's reluctance to sign.

Sales objections aren't obstacles; they're just an opportunity to ask questions.

When faced with an objection, your instinct might be to counterargument or speak and explain your way through. The fact is they shouldn’t be taken at face-value. They’re rarely about what’s been said.

The thing about objections is that they usually hide some form of resistance that you haven’t been able to address it early on so to deal with objections effectively, reps need to reboot how you think about them.