What’s the answer to the objection “The price is too high.”?
You’re so eager to onboard this prospect!
You felt good chemistry during your discovery calls and what they want is exactly what your firm does.
So you make them an offer with lots of details and they get back to and say…
“The price is too high.”
Your stomach sinks and your head spins.
The questions flow fast and furiously…
- What did I do wrong?
- How could I have missed their price point?
- This is such a good offer. I’ve included so many things and we do great work.
And the biggest question of all: What do I say in response?
Some advisors who value the quick buck above all else will tell you to ask what price they were thinking. They’ll tell you to meet that price if at all possible.
Don’t worry about the loss of net profit! Or that your staff will be overworked for so little money.
Just get the customer, they’ll tell you, and make up the loss over time.
All other advice is equally bad.
- Take away some stuff for a lower price.
- Give a discount for “just this one time” to get started.
- Add more for the offered price to give them a great deal.
You don’t need me to tell you why all of these responses are awful.
My recommendation
My recommended response to “the price is too high” is to say simply and with confidence:
“I’m sorry you feel that way. If you change your mind, we’d welcome you to inquire again.”
In other words: Let them go!
Letting prospects go is not a profitable long term approach, however.
Transition to Choices
The number one tactic to increase acceptance is to give the prospect choices.
All behavioral science research says that when people have choices three things happen:
- They feel powerful. They are in charge, not the seller.
- They feel confident. They did their own personal analysis about the pluses and minuses of each option, and they chose the one that represents the price-to-value ratio that’s right for them.
- There’s no regret about their purchase, and they will participate effectively in the work, as needed, so your firm can deliver the promised impacts.
The Choice Framework
Clients, including accountants, bookkeepers, subject matter experts, lawyers, fractional CXOs, web designers, and business coaches have adopted my Choice Framework.
Why?
It’s logical: you design three options with prices or fees proportional to the impacts promised in each option. Place them in this order: IMPACT PLUS, IMPACT, IMPACT Light.
It fits nicely into a proposal structure. I offer my own Choice Framework structure. You can also use the choices with a proposal platform. If you go this route, choose one that automates billing and payments.
CAUTION: Some proposal platforms are based on inputs or deliverables. That means they tell you to put a price on each task/input and/or deliverable. Then you add up the prices of each discreet item and that becomes your fee.
THAT IS NOT THE CHOICE FRAMEWORK I AM ADVOCATING.
Choices show your firm’s breadth and depth. When you design three options that range from IMPACT PLUS to IMPACT Light, you are highlighting your firm’s capabilities across a broad range. “We can deliver massive life changing differences, or we can deliver one life changing difference that’s important to you now. The Choice Framework proposal is a marketing tool as well as a sales tool.
Many of my clients tell me that when they offer the IMPACT PLUS option, their prospects say, “I didn’t know you could do that!” With the Choice Framework, now they do.
How Hard is the Transition to Choices?
It should take about a month to make the transition from a take-it-or-leave-it offer to offering three options using the Choice Framework.
List all the various impacts your firm delivers.
Look at similar recent work to get a sense of the proportional fees.
Design or re-design your discovery call to elicit the prospect’s needs, wants, and desires plus the significance of getting those met.
Create a proposal structure with 7 simple and straightforward sections.
And you start!
Looking ahead to 2025?
Some owners and CEOs need a rationale to make a change, and they often look at the calendar to help.
Well, 2025 is 6 weeks away, so there’s an incentive for you to learn the Choice Framework and start using it.
Let’s get started now and by January 6, the first Monday in 2025, you’ll be ready to use it.
Text YES2025 to 703-801-0345 to start the transition.
