"Your Commission Is Too High": How to Answer It Without Discounting

"Your commission is too high" is the objection agents dread most, and it's the one they handle worst. Most either fold immediately ("I can do 2%") or launch into a speech about everything they do. Both lose. The first costs you thousands of dollars per deal for the rest of your career. The second tells the seller you're defensive, which confirms their suspicion that the rate is negotiable.

The way out, and it's the thing SalesGo's coach flags most often on commission role-plays, is to realize you are not hearing one objection. You are hearing one of three, and each has a different answer.

The three objections hiding inside "too high"

1. "Another agent offered less." This is a comparison. The seller has a number from someone else and wants to know why yours is different.

2. "I don't see what I'm paying for." This is a value question. They don't understand what an agent does between the listing agreement and the closing, so any number feels high.

3. "I just want to keep more money." This is a negotiation. They understand the value; they'd like a discount anyway, and they're testing whether asking works.

Your first move is always the same: find out which one it is.

"That's fair, and I'd rather talk about it now than have it be a thing later. Can I ask, when you say too high, is it compared to another agent you've talked to, or does the whole thing just feel like a lot?"

Then answer the objection they actually have.

If it's a comparison

"Got it. So the other agent's at [X]. Here's the honest version: they might be great, and if they are, you should hire them. But the fee is the last thing I'd pick an agent on, because the fee is 1 or 2 percent of the price and the agent is the whole price. The difference between a good and an average listing agent on a $600,000 house is a lot more than the commission difference. So the question I'd ask both of us is: what's the plan for getting you the highest number? Then pick whoever's plan is better."

You've reframed from "who's cheaper" to "who's better," which is the only frame where you can win without cutting. Then, critically, you have to actually have a better plan, and describe it specifically. If you can't, the discount agent deserves the listing.

If it's a value question

Don't list your services. Listing services sounds like a brochure. Instead, walk them through what goes wrong when the job is done badly:

"That's a completely reasonable thing to wonder, because most of what an agent does is invisible if it's done right. Here's what it looks like when it's done wrong. The house gets priced off a Zillow number, sits for six weeks, and takes a price cut that costs more than the commission ever would. The photos are taken on a phone, so the online traffic that decides everything never shows up. An offer comes in and nobody knows how to hold the buyer's agent to the timeline, so it falls apart at inspection. My job is making sure none of that happens, and the fee is what it costs to have someone whose whole job is that."

Then stop. Let them think. You've made the fee concrete by making the failure concrete.

If it's a negotiation

This is the one where most agents cave, because the seller is being pleasant and just asking. Be pleasant back and hold:

"I appreciate you asking, and I'll give you a straight answer: no, but let me tell you why, because it's actually in your interest. If I'll cut my own fee the first time someone asks, what do you think I'll do when a buyer's agent pushes me on your price? The thing you're hiring me for is to not fold. This is the first test of that, and I'd rather pass it in front of you than fail it in front of a buyer."

Said with a smile, this lands. It reframes holding your rate as evidence of the skill they're paying for. Sellers hire the agent who doesn't blink.

What not to say

• "I'm worth it." Everyone says this. It's a claim, not a reason.
• "My broker sets the rate." Even where true, it makes you sound powerless, and the seller wants a powerful negotiator.
• "Well, what were you thinking?" You've just opened a negotiation you didn't need to have.
• A speech. Anything over 45 seconds reads as defensive. Say your piece and ask a question.
• A discount conditional on nothing. If you do decide to adjust the fee (say, on a dual-side deal), tie it to something specific. An unconditional cut teaches the seller that asking works.

When to walk away

Sometimes the seller's real position is "I will only list with whoever is cheapest." That's a legitimate way to buy a service and you're allowed to not be that service:

"It sounds like the fee is the deciding factor for you, and that's okay. I'm probably not the right fit, then. If things change, or if the house doesn't move, I'm around."

Agents who can say that calmly get called back more often than agents who chase.

How to practice this

The commission objection is unusual because the words matter less than the composure. Sellers are reading your face and your pause, not your argument.

1. Practice the diagnosing question first. "Compared to another agent, or does the whole thing feel like a lot?" should be automatic, because it buys you time and tells you which script to run.
2. Rehearse the "no" out loud until it's friendly. Most agents can't say no to a discount without sounding either apologetic or annoyed. Record yourself. Aim for the tone you'd use to decline a second helping of dessert.
3. Have your practice partner push twice. The first "too high" is easy. The second one, after you've answered, is where people fold. Practice the second one.
4. Practice with a number. "I'll give you 2.5, that's my best." Say your response with the number in the air. It's different from practicing in the abstract.
5. Do it before listing appointments, not during. Ten reps in the car. It works.

SalesGo's seller personas will push on commission at some point in most listing role-plays, sometimes twice, sometimes with a competitor's number. The coach flags whether you diagnosed the objection before answering it and whether your rate held.

Quick reference

Diagnose: "When you say too high, is it compared to another agent, or does the whole thing feel like a lot?"

Comparison: "The fee is 1 or 2 percent of the price. The agent is the whole price. What's each of our plans for getting you the highest number?"

Value: "Here's what it looks like when the job is done badly..." (price cut, bad photos, deal falls apart) "...my job is making sure none of that happens."

Negotiation: "If I'll cut my own fee the first time someone asks, what will I do when a buyer's agent pushes on your price? You're hiring me to not fold."

Walk away: "If the fee is the deciding factor, that's okay. I'm probably not the right fit."

Related: FSBO script, where the commission objection shows up on the first call.