What to say when a client says "your price is too high"

The proposal is on the table and the client says it: "Your price is too high." Or the blunter version: "You're too expensive." The instinct is to offer a discount or defend every line, and both usually make things worse. Here is what to say instead, word for word, and how to hold your price without losing the deal.

What "your price is too high" usually means

"Too high" is always compared with something. Before you respond, find out what: their budget, another supplier's quote, what they expected to pay, or the value they think they will get.

Each needs a different answer:

• Against their budget. They may want it but can't fund it this year in that form.
• Against a competitor's quote. There is another number on the desk, and it may not cover the same things.
• Against the value they see. They don't yet believe the outcome is worth the cost.
• A negotiating habit. Some buyers, and many procurement teams, say it to every supplier as routine.
• A cover for something else. They have doubts about the solution, the timing or you, and price is the polite thing to object to.

The last one matters most, because no discount will fix it. If you cut the price and the objection simply moves somewhere else, price was never the real issue.

Three things not to do

The three most tempting responses to a price objection each make it harder to resolve. Avoid them even when the pressure is on.

Don't discount on the spot. An instant reduction tells the buyer your first number wasn't real and invites them to ask again. A finance director who gets money off in the first five minutes will reasonably wonder how much more is available.

Don't defend every line. Going through the proposal item by item to justify each cost turns the conversation into a contest, and you are on the wrong side of it.

Don't apply false pressure. "This price is only valid until Friday" is a bluff unless it is genuinely true. The Pharaoh's Pitch is blunt on this: the product doesn't change if the client buys a day later, and a savvy buyer will call the bluff.

What to say: four replies, word for word

Acknowledge the objection, ask what they are comparing against, and then answer that comparison. These four replies cover the situations you will meet most often.

1. When you don't yet know what's behind it. Ask before you answer:

"That's fair to raise, and I'd rather talk about it now than have it sit there. Can I ask what you're comparing it with? Is it the budget you've set aside, another quote, or just more than you expected?"

The answer tells you which conversation you are in. Ask it calmly, without defensiveness, and you give the buyer room to answer straight.

2. When there is a competitor's quote. Offer to compare like for like, and mean it:

"That's useful to know. Would you be open to putting the two side by side with me? Quotes can look similar on the first page and differ a lot in what's covered, and I'd rather you chose on a fair comparison, even if it isn't us."

For an insurance broker quoting group cover for an SME, the cheaper quote might carry a lower annual limit, a co-payment or a narrower panel of clinics. For a SaaS account executive, it might exclude implementation or charge separately for support. Point out differences only where they matter to this buyer, based on what they told you in discovery.

3. When it's over their budget. Change the scope, not the price:

"Understood. If the budget is fixed at [figure], I can see two ways to do it: a smaller first phase that fits now, or the full scope spread over two financial years. Which would be easier to take to your management?"

This keeps your price honest and gives the buyer a decision they can actually make.

4. When they want a further discount to get it approved. This one often comes late, from a contact who says they need the reduction to sell it internally:

"I understand you have to take this to your management. I've already given you the best price I can get from my side, and I'd rather not pretend otherwise by finding a little more now. What I can do is help you make the case: a one-page summary of what this costs against what it saves, written so your management can see why you recommended it."

These replies are easier to say calmly once you have said them out loud a few times. Niles' role-play can put you opposite a finance director who keeps pushing for money off, then debrief you on where you gave ground.

How to hold your price without losing the deal

Trade, don't give. If the price comes down, something else should change with it: the scope, the contract term, the payment schedule, or the work the client takes on themselves.

Fair trades look like this:

• Scope: fewer users at launch, a smaller first phase, or a lighter service level.
• Term: a longer commitment in exchange for a lower annual rate.
• Payment: annual in advance rather than monthly.
• Effort: the client handles data migration, training or first-line support in-house.

A management consultant pitching a regional bank might offer a short diagnostic phase at a lower fee, with the full programme priced once the diagnostic shows what is needed. The bank gets a smaller first decision, and the consultant keeps the full rate for the full work.

The rule underneath all of these: never reduce the price without changing what is delivered. If you can take money off and still deliver everything, the buyer will conclude the original price was padded, and they will be right.

If the conversation ends with the buyer wanting time, our guide on what to say when a prospect needs to think it over picks up from there. If it ends in silence, see what to do when a proposal goes quiet.

When to bring up price so it isn't a shock

Raise price early, as a range, so the proposal confirms a number the buyer has already heard. A figure the buyer meets for the first time on the last page of a proposal is much easier to object to than one they have already planned around.

In discovery or the first proper meeting, give a range and say what drives it. If the bottom of the range ends the conversation, you have both saved weeks. If it doesn't, the buyer has time to check budgets before the proposal arrives.

Our guide on responding to an early proposal request has a script for giving a ballpark without committing to a firm figure.

What The Pharaoh's Pitch says about discounts

Chapter 3 of the book, on knowledge and wisdom, treats the price conversation as a question of power and authority, and it includes a worked dialogue of a salesperson giving in to discount demands. It is the most direct guidance in the book for this situation.

The chapter's starting point is that both sides hold power. The client has the power to buy; the salesperson has the power to discount, to raise the price, or to walk away.

Most salespeople, it argues, go into meetings armed with tactics that only pull them into a power struggle with the client. What it recommends instead is earning authority first, the right to be listened to, through real expertise.

It then shows the difference with two versions of the same conversation. In the first, the client asks for extra items, then asks for them free, then asks for a further discount to win over their management. The salesperson agrees to each request immediately, the last with a large extra discount.

The book's verdict is that sales like this leave unhappy clients and an even unhappier management, because they drain resources without proper payment.

In the second version, the salesperson handles each request differently. They suggest checking whether the extra items are really needed, since adding more can get in the way of the solution running smoothly. They explain that free additions carry a real labour cost, decline, and offer to meet the client halfway by sharing it.

On the further discount, they say they would need to look at the cost of the whole project first, and that the price already given is the best their management has approved so far. The note the author adds after the dialogue is the part to remember. As Ivan Yong puts it:

I have always advocated for salespeople to give the best possible price upfront that they can offer.

He acknowledges the other school of thought, which holds a preferential price back for the closing stage so you have room to manoeuvre. His objection is that it reflects poorly on the relationship you are building. Reply 4 above is that principle in practice: if you have already given your best price, you can say so honestly.

The chapter is also careful about what holding firm means. Giving up power, it says, is not giving in to every demand, such as an unreasonably large discount or after-sales terms that make the deal unprofitable. It means being sincere and supportive while keeping your own position, so both sides are respected and both sets of boundaries hold.

Chapter 6, on trust, adds the cost of breaking that promise. If you tell a client a price is your best and then match a much lower competitor quote to save the deal, the book says you have gone against your own principle and may have sown mistrust. The same chapter adds that if a client trusts you enough to tell you their budget, you should still charge fairly rather than price up to the limit.

The book also explains why holding your price is possible at all. Chapter 1 separates products whose benefit is visible straight away from solutions whose benefit arrives later, such as insurance or enterprise software, where the relationship carries the sale. In Ivan Yong's words:

A very good salesman can sell at a higher margin because what he is selling is trust.

Chapter 4's idea of giving face fits reply 4. The book describes treating a client as an individual-in-relation, someone whose standing with colleagues you protect even when those colleagues aren't in the room. A contact asking for a discount for their management may be worried about how the decision will reflect on them, and giving them the material to defend the price protects their standing better than a discount would.