How to overcome a prospect saying I can’t afford your services?
Any Business Owner who sells to clients/customers (B2C) or businesses (B2B) has heard the response, “I can’t afford your services”. After conducting an excellent meeting, spending time carefully crafting the proposal, and being genuinely excited to work with this customer or business…you deliver the proposal and receive the response of “I can’t afford your services”. Talk about having the wind knocked out of your sails!
Our businesses are built on receiving a “YES.” We wrote a proposal based on “YES.” We delivered the proposal very eloquently and timely based on hearing “YES”. And now, here we are with a big, fat “NO” because the prospect SAYS they can’t afford your services.
When the prospect delivers this phrase, it usually has NOTHING to do with the money. However, it’s human nature to avoid being uncomfortable and take the easy way out of the conversation. Many times prospects feel that if they use this as a reason, the business is not going to press the close because who wants to have a client that can’t afford to pay you. Right?
All too often, our immediate reaction is to lower our prices. Resist this urge! Do not give in because the true reason most likely has NOTHING to do with money. Remember, when someone REALLY WANTS something, they will move Heaven and Earth to find the money. It becomes a matter of prioritization.
An article in Entrepreneur magazine written by Jenny Shih, Founder of JennyShih.com and Make It Work Online, provided the following insight for when you hear “I can’t afford your services”:
“The first step here is obvious: Listen for this objection. The second step is harder: Don’t take their words at face value. ..The third step is to decode their real objection and respond accordingly. The good news is objections usually boil down to just 3 options.”
This article provides more guidance and is very similar to the lessons I learned in my work with Tracy Bianco, Leadership Coach. You may hear these same 3 if a prospect say that they need more time to make a decision.
1. I do not believe in your product/service or the results. (Ex: you haven’t demonstrated enough value in the conversation)
2. I do not believe in you as the provider of the product/service. (Ex: you need to talk about THEIR wants and how you can eliminate their pain with examples/stories)
3. I do not believe in myself. (Ex: you have done as much as you can, but THEY don’t think they have the time/ability to do what’s needed or are scared of change)
If you craft questions (specific to the prospect) using the above objections, there’s a pretty good chance you will get to the true objection to continue the sales conversation.
Parting thoughts. . .Just another example of how you can stop leaving money on the table by overcoming objections.
Bonus thoughts:
“If you are worried about the price of getting started, you should see the cost of staying exactly where you are.” –Author Unknown
