A Tale of Two Price Objections

Michael then added, “The Wall Street Journal is the number one newspaper in the country and the only one whose subscription is growing. (All true. I looked it up!) You, yourself, told me how much you enjoy reading it on a daily basis. (Yup. I’d said that. Dang it!) The newsstand price is $2. You are currently paying $.64. If you quit and come back later, you’ll do so at a rate of $1. Again, that’s if I can hold your current price. Let me talk to my Supervisor.”

And away he went.

Suddenly, rather than looking forward to a steep discount, I found myself fighting to maintain the crappy price that a minute ago I loathed paying! How on earth did this happen?

When Michael returned with the “good news” that I was grandfathered in to the old rate, I gratefully renewed. Whew! That was a close one.

Having lost the first game to The Journal and it clever, “Our product is worth every penny!” pricing strategy, I turned my attention to Sirius Radio.

Fortunately, my experience with them went as expected: I quit. They cut their renewal price in half to $94.20. I stayed.

For the record, The Wall Street Journal kept me on the phone for nearly 20 minutes, including hold-time of just under 60 seconds. Sirius Radio reverted to the fetal position, caved on price, and had me off the phone in 12 minutes, nine of which were spent on hold (this, after the system had predicted I’d only have to wait four minutes).

Is The Wall Street Journal worth 64¢ a day to me? Hell, yes! Will it be worth one dollar a day when my subscription expires? Probably, but don’t tell them that.

And what about Sirius Radio? Is it worth the price that I would’ve paid had the company not dropped its drawers? Hell, yes! Fortunately for me, it still believes in playing the game as titled: “Holy crap are you people stupid or what?”