What they actually mean
Nine times out of ten this arrives before the buyer has finished valuing what you sell. They are not telling you the price is wrong. They are telling you they cannot yet see the return, and price is the only vocabulary they have for that.
Which is why defending the price loses. The moment you justify a number, you have agreed that the number is what the conversation is about — and now you are negotiating rather than selling.
The move: Isolate, then quantify
Split the objection in two before you answer it. More than you planned to spend, or more than you think it's worth? Those are different problems with different answers, and only the buyer knows which one they have.
If it's more than planned, you have a budget and timing conversation. If it's more than it's worth, you have a value conversation and the price is a symptom. Answering the wrong one is how a winnable deal dies.
Once they have told you which, quantify — in their numbers, not yours. A price only means something next to the thing it buys.
How it sounds
“Look — I like it. But eighteen hundred is a lot more than I was planning to spend.”
You“Fair enough. Can I ask — is it more than you planned, or more than it's worth to you? Those are two different problems.”
Why it works. Nothing was contradicted, so there is nothing to push back on. The buyer now has to say out loud which objection they actually have, and most of the time saying it is what dissolves it.
What loses the deal
“I hear you — I've got some flexibility. What if we did fifteen hundred?”
Price was not yet the problem. Now it is the only thing on the table, and you have taught them that pushing back moves your number. Everything after this is a negotiation you started.
Practise this one
Reading it is not running it. Closer drills you on price against an AI prospect that holds its position and only opens when you earn it — then a coach walks the transcript back and shows you where the call turned. There are 24 price plays in the library, recast around your own offer and price.