I keep running across web sites on the Internet which tell all the exciting features of a product except the price. Either the price is missing or I have to fill out some form for a price.

I just want to reach out there and slap the owner upside the head. Holy Crap. What were you thinking? You spent money on advertising and marketing. You did all that research and planning to get me into your store. You told me about the benefits and why I needed your product right now, today.

And then refuse to sell me your product. I can only draw two conclusions. Either your price is to high and I won’t be paying it. Or you think your product is one-of-a-kind and no one else is selling something similar or competitive, with an on line price.

Guess what? You might be wrong. And you might be losing sales because of it.

I did some training once at Home Depot with a guy who excelled in selling custom kitchens. It was one of those hands on, one-to-one classes you wish you could get more often. I don’t remember the guys name, but I remember him saying at the end of the generic presentation that the last two steps to every sale was to tell the customer the price and to shut the heck up.

That was the key to his success. Tell the customer all the benefits, customize the kitchen just so, print a wonderful design and show it on the computer. Then tell them the price and shut up.

Consumers use price to gage value. Without a price my mind makes something up. My imagination is fantastic. I make up really huge figures. If you are too embarrassed to tell me what the price of your product is, I can only assume I’ll have to take out a bank loan to buy your product.

What touched this off? I was cruising the Internet looking for Raised Garden Beds and came across a web site about garden edging. It’s called Kwik Kerb (KwikKerb.org) and they advertise their web site on Google when I did my raised bed search.

I went over there and found a wonderful web site with really nice garden edging. It’s very unusual and really attractive. To get the price I have to go to a form which asks for my contact info and the best time to call. Holy Crap. They’re going to call me on the phone to give me a price on a product I am only curious about.

Now, here’s a neat part. The form is driven by PHP (kkorgus.php). Exactly why is it that the PHP programmer couldn’t ask for how much edging I need and give me a price for that on the spot? That’s simple. The price is so darn high that no one in their right mind would pay it.

So, Kwik Kerb is going to have some slick salesman call me up and stall me long enough to make the shock of the exorbitant fee sound like it is worth it. Yeah, just go ahead and wait for me. I’m going to fill out that form, guys. Sure, I am.