When it comes to price objections, your attitude and beliefs are greater obstacles than a low-ball price competitor. After training more than 100,000 salespeople, I'm convinced that how you perceive your selling price influences your buyer's receptiveness and willingness to pay your price.

What attitudes negatively influence the sale? First, the fear of losing the business. Many salespeople delude themselves into believing that if they do not cut the price they will lose the order. Maybe the buyer is bluffing about being able to buy it cheaper somewhere else. Maybe it would be better to lose one sale on price rather than have your discounting ruin the profitability for your whole territory. Word spreads, you know.

Second, some salespeople find it easier to cut the price than work for a more profitable sale. They fail to prepare adequately for the sales call. Whoever is better prepared for the price objection—buyer or seller—will negotiate from a position of strength. If you're better prepared to handle an objection than the buyer is to give it, you will be able to hold the line on your prices. On the other hand, if the buyer is better prepared to hand you the objection than you are to respond, you will probably cave in on price.

Third, there is often a lack of skill or knowledge for selling at higher prices. Maybe no one ever taught you how to sell profitably. Learn more about what you sell and the impact it has on the customer's world. Let your natural excitement for this solution carry your presentation. Passion sells and enthusiasm is contagious.

Fourth, guilt, perception of greed, and the sense of fairness can come into play. Simply, many salespeople have difficulty selling at higher prices because they feel guilty charging the buyer that price. Psychologists characterize this phenomenon as the "sense-of-fairness" syndrome. Each of us possesses an arbitrary sense of what's fair and what's not. When we go beyond our standard of fairness, we begin to feel uncomfortable. We feel that we're taking advantage of someone. In sales terms, we're gouging the customer.

I've been unable to determine with any precision what's fair and what's not. When I ask this question in seminars I hear vague answers that contain the word "reasonable." Upon further questioning I attempt to nail down "reasonable" and no one can give me a specific number. Is twenty-five percent profit margin acceptable? How about thirty-five percent? Does fifty percent go beyond the pale? No one can tell me with any precision what it is, but they all know their gut reaction to gouging.

In buying and selling, there is a simple principle at work: equity. If buyers feel they are getting as good as they are giving, they will stand in line to buy your product and bring their friends. If you concentrate on giving the buyer as good as they are giving, you will get what you want and then some.