A prospect raising pricing concerns is like your five-year-old waking you up after a nightmare.
It's perfectly natural, but dealing with it still takes tact and empathy — and hopefully, when all is said and done, you'll figure out where these issues are really coming from.
They're also both annoying as hell, but that's sales/parenting.
That's why we surveyed over 300 sales leaders for insight on the topic (pricing objections, not consoling children). Here's some of what we found.
Social proof doesn't do much this far down the funnel.
When asked how reps should respond to a prospect saying, "We need to think about it," only 11% of our respondents recommended presenting additional social proof.
The top two responses were asking "What specific aspects do you need to think through?" or "What questions can I answer right now?", pulling 26% each.
Prospects are naturally skeptical of salespeople (no matter how charming, handsome, and/or pretty you may be), but if they're deep enough in the buyer's journey to talk about pricing, they're probably not iffy on whether your solution works.
Any hesitation at that point likely stems from deeper-seated factors like internal alignment or decision risk — so while social proof is crucial further up the funnel, leaders favor direct communication to surface underlying objections when pricing comes up.
When budgets are tight, leaders prefer changing what gets delivered over how it gets paid for.
Our study found that 27% of sales leaders prefer to handle genuine budget constraints by presenting scaled-down solutions — 11 points higher than offering creative payment terms, indicating a strong preference for re-tooling scope over arrangements like discounts, deferred payments, or phased implementation.
Offering creative payment terms is kind of like saying, "No worries if you can't split the bill at The Capital Grille. I'll cover it!" when arranging a first date as a broke 22-year-old.
You know you should propose going to The Cheesecake Factory instead, but you let that ship sail — and gone is the budget-friendly alternative that would've worked for everyone.
So you spend $200 more than you can afford, and sure, you kiss … but at what cost?
While the sales leaders we surveyed might not use that exact analogy, they generally share its sentiment. When budget is tight, leadership usually wants reps to take a beat and solve for fit rather than aggressively keep deals moving.
What can you do with this next-level, revelatory insight?
For reps: Lean towards solution reconfiguration, not payment restructuring or qualification out. Ask questions like, "What capabilities would address your most urgent need within your current budget?" over, "Would breaking this into quarterly payments make it easier to move forward?"
For managers: Listen for reps exhibiting a "social proof reflex," and coach accordingly. Reps who default to sending case studies in pricing conversations might lack confidence or struggle with diagnosing the root causes behind hesitation.
For leadership: Audit when and how your org uses social proof. If it's consistently appearing late in cycles to counter pricing objections, you may need to restructure how credibility gets established earlier or gear training more toward direct conversations.
"What's my favorite Science of Scaling send I've written? The next one ... but also this one and all the other ones."
Jay Fuchs. Managing Editor, The Science of Scaling Newsletter
The data in question
We sourced the data we used here through Panoplai: The panoramic research platform your children and your children's children will be using every day within the next 5-10 years.
Which technique works best when prospects respond to pricing with "We need to think about it"?
- Ask clarifying questions: "What specific aspects do you need to think through?" - 26%
- Create urgency with limited-time offers or implementation deadlines - 15%
- Schedule a specific follow-up meeting with a clear agenda - 16%
- Offer to address concerns immediately: "What questions can I answer right now?" - 26%
- Present additional social proof and case studies to build confidence - 11%
- Propose a smaller pilot program to reduce decision risk - 6%
How do your reps typically handle pricing conversations when the prospect's budget is genuinely constrained?
- Explore creative payment terms like phased implementation or deferred payments - 16%
- Present scaled-down versions of the solution that fit within their current budget - 27%
- Identify additional budget sources or departments that could contribute to the investment - 22%
- Focus on quick wins and measurable ROI to justify budget reallocation - 14%
- Suggest timing the purchase with their next budget cycle while maintaining engagement - 11%
- Qualify whether they're the right fit if budget constraints make success unlikely - 11%
Frameworks + Strategy