Counterintuitive as it may sound, cheap products are the hardest to sell — for both businesses and their salespeople.
The assumption that “lower price equals easier sale” is a dangerous myth.
Salespeople who blame price for poor results will be surprised to know they’re not entirely valid. And businesses that focus on being the cheapest often get stuck in a race to the bottom, killing their profits and chasing away loyal customers.
The customer says “cheap” but doesn’t mean it
Customers will tell you they are looking for a cheaper alternative. “We are looking for value for our money,” sometimes means just that.
And yet paradoxically, those same customers will instantly slam on the brakes of suspicion when you start the pitch with, “We are the cheapest in the market.”
With a raised eyebrow they wonder: “Why?” “Something must be the matter.” “What is she hiding?” “Are we being ripped off?” “Have you checked the expiry date?”
And then, the most ironic question of all: “Does he think we are cheap?” Low pricing can actually increase resistance — a hard truth for price-focused salespeople to accept.
Selling cheap products – when being the cheapest actually works
Yes, there are times the informed customer is genuinely looking for the cheapest option out there,
Commoditised, zero-risk, legally mandated purchases are the primary examples.
Marine insurance is one such example. By law, in Kenya, cargo arriving by ship must buy local insurance. It is ridiculous and adds zero value, as the customer already has global insurance from the goods’ origin. But the law is the law, so the only question is: who is the cheapest? There is zero risk.
The same applies to a bid bond, which must accompany a tender and expires the moment the bid is opened. If you win the tender, a performance bond then kicks in — carrying significant risk to the issuing entity and so, priced accordingly. Another example is a certificate of compliance required purely as a tick-box exercise.
In these narrow, zero-risk corners of business, being the cheapest works. Everywhere else it’s a losing game.
Low price invites suspicion, not trust
When a salesperson leads with a low price, they unintentionally invite the customer’s most defensive instincts.
The customer stops listening. They stop trusting. And crucially, they stop imagining the product in their own life. A cheap price tag does not open the door to possibility; it slams the door on perceived value.
Selling cheap products – The cheap label is expensive
Once a product is positioned as cheap, the customer begins to anticipate failure. They assume shorter lifespan, poorer materials, non-existent support, or hidden fees.
(Yes, I know, banks are notorious for successfully selling ‘cheap’ loans while hiding fees and other costs. Borrowing customers’ desperation lends itself to that.)
But, as I was saying, even if none of those things are true, the assumption alone poisons the sale.
The salesperson now has to fight an uphill battle against a story the customer has already written — a story where cheap equals regret.
The social risk nobody talks about-like cheap toilet paper
Then there is the problem of social risk in B2B buying. No buyer wants to explain to their boss, their team, or their procurement department that they chose the cheapest option and it failed.
Like the thousands you spent on the plumber to unclog the toilet from the “but it’s cheaper by 2 shillings” roll of toilet paper.
The memory of a cheap purchase gone wrong lingers far longer than the memory of the money saved. Salespeople chasing the low-price strategy are not offering savings; they are offering a gamble. And most decision-makers are fundamentally risk-averse.
Competing on price trains customers to expect cheapness
Worse still, competing on price alone trains your customers to expect cheapness. Today’s low price becomes tomorrow’s ceiling.
You cannot raise prices without losing everyone. You cannot introduce premium offerings without confusing the market. You paint yourself into a corner where the only way to grow is to sell more of the same cheap product to the same price-obsessed customers — a treadmill that leads to burnout, not profit.
The hidden cost of blaming price
And here is the final, most painful downside. Salespeople who believe “price is the problem” stop improving everything else. If that’s you, you stop refining your pitch. You stop understanding customer needs.
And you stop building relationships. Why bother, if they believe the only thing standing between them and the sale is a lower number?
That thinking is a career killer. It turns a professional salesperson into a discount vending machine — replaceable, forgettable, and easily undercut by the next person willing to go even lower.
Selling cheap products costs you
So no, cheap products are not easy to sell. They are the hardest. They carry the heaviest baggage, the deepest suspicion, and the bleakest future. And the salesperson who blames price alone has already lost something far more valuable than the sale — he has lost the discipline to sell anything else.
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