How to Stop "Too Expensive" From Killing the Sale

The customer says, “too expensive,” and your tech hears a closed door. He packs up the checklist, rolls the truck, and writes the ticket off as a cheapskate who was never going to buy.

But he didn’t diagnose anything. He guessed.

In this episode of Windshield Time, Chris Elmore breaks down the Anatomy of an Objection… a simple drawing your techs can do at the kitchen table. One line for PRESS PLAY, one circle for the objection, and arrows for every reason a customer would ever say “too expensive.”

Because here’s the truth, Chris keeps coming back to: most objections come up from a lack of trust, a lack of value, or both. Build enough of each up front, and you weaken the objection before it’s spoken. Get one anyway, and you LEAP… listen, empathize, ask questions, problem-solve. You don’t fix a system without asking it questions first. An objection is no different.

Handle it right, and “too expensive” stops being the end of the call. It becomes the moment you separate the money from the recommendation, find the real condition, and move the customer to the next step.

-Service Excellence

Inside This Episode:

Why “too expensive” is almost never about the thing … and the one question that separates the price from the recommendation so you know which one you’re actually fighting.
The Anatomy of an Objection drawing your techs can practice at home: the PRESS PLAY line, the objection circle, and 15 to 20 arrows for every reason a customer pushes back.
How to troubleshoot an objection like a ceiling fan … “is there power?” is the tech’s first question, and objection handling follows the exact same diagnostic split.
Smokescreen or true condition … how to tell the difference with LEAP instead of guessing, because you can’t problem solve until you know which one you’ve got.
Which objections PRESS PLAY should have prevented … from a customer who doesn’t see the value (prescriptions) to a tech who, plainly, didn’t prepare.
What “handling an objection” actually means … not forcing a yes, but getting a clear future and moving the customer to the next step.

Episode Chapters & Summary

The Anatomy Metaphor: Slicing the Objection Open

Chris opens with a 10th-grade biology story about dissecting a rat and being told to “get in there” and find the pancreas. He uses it to set up the whole episode: today we take an objection apart and look at every piece of it.

The exercise is called Anatomy of an Objection because you slice it open to study it.
Chris has trained many listeners on this drill before through Service Excellence coaches.
The point of a visual is perspective… seeing it drawn changes how you understand it.

Draw the Objection: The Line, the Circle, the Arrows

Chris walks the listener through drawing the diagram on a sideways sheet of paper. A line with an arrowhead runs into a circle, with short arrows radiating out. Some say it looks like the coronavirus, or a medieval mace.

The line is the lead-up to the objection… the circle is the moment of objection itself.
Inside the circle you write the objection… the example used is “too expensive.”
Each arrow off the circle is a different reason a customer would give that objection.
Aim for 15 to 20 reasons… if you run out of arrows, draw more.

PRESS PLAY: Why the Objection Showed Up at All

Chris labels the line “PRESS P” and explains why. The lead-up to any objection is the PRESS PLAY process… Prepare, Relationship building, Evaluate with questions, Settle anxiety, System diagnosis, Prescriptions. The LAY comes after the objection, so it doesn’t figure into this drawing.

Objections come up most often from a lack of trust, a lack of value, or both.
Trust is the emotional side… value is the time-and-money side.
Do the first 15 to 20 minutes of RES well and you’re far less likely to get an objection at all.
Build maximum trust and value up front and any objection you do get is weaker and easier to handle.

Too Expensive Is Rarely About the Thing

Chris breaks down what “too expensive” really means. Customers spend three things with you… time, money, and emotion. “Too expensive” usually points to money, but it can mean too much time or too much hassle. And even when it is money, it doesn’t mean they haven’t already bought it in their head.

An objection is either a smokescreen or a true condition… one of the two.
A smokescreen is the little fib a customer gives to avoid saying the real thing.
Sometimes it’s just conditioning… they say it to anyone who asks them to spend money.
Money objections are sensitive because personal finances are personal and intimate.

Practice Like a Team Studies Game Film

Chris compares the drill to professional sports teams watching film. You study formations and plays so you’re ready when a situation arises. The rare trick play, the flea flicker, works exactly because nobody practiced for it… so you practice for everything.

You practice a skill before the game so it’s ready when you need it in the game.
With a real human on the other side, there’s variation, so you prepare for all eventualities.
This drawing is Service Excellence’s version of that practice and analysis.

LEAP and the Ceiling Fan: Troubleshooting the Objection

Once an objection lands, you LEAP… Listen, Empathize, Ask questions, Problem solve. Chris ties it to a tech’s real work: an electrician on a dead ceiling fan asks “is there power?” first, then splits the path from there. An objection gets the same first question: is it the recommendation, or is it the money?

L and E handle the person’s emotion… A and P are troubleshooting, which techs already do.
The move on “too expensive” is to separate the price from the recommendation with one question.
If it’s the money, the thing is already sold… now you solve for how they can pay.
You can’t fix a broken system without asking it questions… doing otherwise is just parts changing.

Own the Objection, Don’t Blame the Customer

Chris closes on responsibility. Once you get an objection, go back around the circle and ask which reasons PRESS PLAY should have handled. The tech who smells could have prepared. The customer who doesn’t see the value needed a better prescription. Some conditions, like a $1,200 repair on a customer with $100, you simply solve for.

The natural tendency is to blame the customer… “cheapskate,” “jerk,” “wouldn’t listen.”
Most objections trace back to trust or value you didn’t build in PRESS PLAY.
A true condition, like real affordability, isn’t a PRESS PLAY miss… it’s something you problem solve.
Handling an objection means getting a clear future and the next step, not forcing a yes.