Getting Potential Clients to Say Yes to Your Higher-Value Offer

4/7/2016

Do your potential clients get crazy excited about working with you, but then balk at the price? Here's how to overcome this roadblock and make the investment a no-brainer for them.

Does it ever feel like your prospective clients are all talk and no action? You’ve revamped your messaging, content and copy to resonate with the right folks. You’ve validated that what you have to offer is both needed and super valuable. But you’re still struggling to get potential clients to commit to your higher-investment service.

Because you know your work is worth the amount you want to charge for it, you'll be damned if you adjust down the price by even one cent. Still, after hearing “I can't afford this” time after time after time, you're starting to wonder what in the actual hell could still be missing.

When folks get excited about working with you, but then balk at the price, it means what you're offering isn't aligned with their current priorities. That makes it hard for them to justify the investment.

In other words, they may value what you do and be dying to work with you. But they won't commit, because you haven’t addressed what they need the most right now. To be fair, this isn't always an easy thing to figure out. People know what they want, but they don’t always realize what they need (so good luck getting them to articulate it to you).

The good news? Overcoming this roadblock and getting potential clients to commit comes down to changing the way you present your offer to make the investment a no-brainer.

Focus on selling an immediate win

Unlike knowing what potential clients really need right now, the immediate wins in what you offer are not a tough thing to figure out. These can be found right in your core process. That is, your end-to-end approach to delivering the desired outcome your ideal client is looking for.

Let's say, for example, you're an interior designer who helps busy consultants create the perfect home office. Your ideal client wants a completely custom solution that reflects their personal style and aesthetic. And, short of approving the overall design concept, they don't really want to have to be too involved in the project (they're busy enough with their own work). So your process to give them precisely what they want might look something like this:

Capture client style preferences, workspace requirements and limitations
Create design and layout concept for client to approve
Complete construction and install fixtures
Shop for/source furniture, accents and accessories
Clean up, move in, setup and polish space
Reveal beautiful, completely finished home office

Your offer—let’s call it the “Done-For-You Home Office” package—is the perfect, end-all solution that covers everything your potential client would need to have a completely functional workspace in an insanely reasonable time frame. There’s even a super-flexible payment option to make the total cost easier to digest. Yet they still balk at your pricing, saying it's too much to take on right now. But that isn’t really true.

The truth is they can't see the immediate win that would make it easy to spend the money at this point.

So let's look back at your process and see where you could lower the barrier to entry:

Steps 1 and 2 cover the groundwork of your project—capturing preferences and requirements and coming up with the perfect design solution. It’s obvious that these steps are essential, because you’d be flying blind without them. But consider what else comes out of this part of your process … by understanding their preferences and requirements, you can also help them see the incredible things that will be possible for their new workspace space and the work they'll do in it.

It seems simple, but it’ll be a complete game-changer for your client. Rather than just imagining themselves using the space, they’ll now be able to see how much more creative and productive (and successful) their work will be because of it. That’s a win!

Now, let’s look at how that affects what you’re offering:

We’ll say your end-all package costs $10,400, a value that you’ve assigned based on the current market, real costs, a decent percentage for profit (‘cus you’re smart like that), as well as the level of expertise and energy you’re pouring into delivering a high-quality solution that’s precisely what your ideal client is looking for.

If you’re dealing with an “I can’t afford it” situation, you can now redirect potential clients to a lower-commitment, entry-level service that’s focused on getting them in the door.

Your entry-level offer could be the “Ultimate Productivity Workspace” package, which includes an assessment of their productivity goals, work style and aesthetic. It could feature a one-on-one design consult to get your hand-selected, expert recommendations for the perfect solution—shared via private Pinterest board.

By focusing on the immediate win, you’re actually accomplishing a few things:

Turning a prospect into a client with less effort
Giving them a taste of what it’s like to work (and win) with you
Getting a chunk of the prep work for the bigger project out of the way

Your client’s heart will be set on experiencing “ultimate productivity” in their new workspace, with a custom-crafted plan for making it happen right at their fingertips.

Suddenly, it'll no longer be a matter of affordability for them, but figuring out how soon they can kickoff the project and get into their awesome new workspace. Then, paying you to implement it will be a total no-brainer.

Boom.

"When your prospects won't commit to your big-ticket offer, make it a no-brainer for them to say yes."
TWEET IT

Over to you

Do you offer your prospects an easy win that will help them see the value in your higher-investment service? If not, what can you start creating right now to get them in the door? Let’s chat about it in the comments.

Nela Dunato link

4/7/2016 12:46:50 pm

This is super relevant (and useful!) to the conversation we've had a little while ago about funnels.

But I've been reading the Win Without Pitching blog and what the author says had me a bit worried about this approach.
Some key points of the WWP approach:
1. Strategy is the most valuable part of the consulting work. Giving it away for free (via pitches) or cheap (through one-off consulting) is undermining your value.
2. Strategy is the most profitable part of the gig, since it's not necessarily tied to time. Implementation requires time and materials, so profits are lower.

So basically, with an introductory strategy offering, we might be giving away 50% of the value for 10-20% of the price. This may get us the client, but if they don't proceed, we've actually lost money on that deal.

I guess that this offering would be time-limited (60 min consulting, plus 30 min pinteresting), but still, strategy is more valuable that 90 minutes of your time.

That's what I'm worried about - sending the completely opposite message of what we want. Sorry to play the Devil's advocate here, but I see you're thinking really deep into this, so I'd like to hear your thoughts :)

4/7/2016 02:37:01 pm

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Nela! I want to clarify that this approach is not about "giving away" anything, nor is it about offering a cheaper service.

Notice that I didn't mention how much the entry-level offer should cost. That's because the *price* doesn't really matter as much. It's about helping clients see the value of *prioritizing the investment*.

So instead of focusing on the end-all solution (which doesn't show an immediate win for them and basically turns them off from buying), you're selling them the solution that meets them where they are right now in the buyer's journey and makes it an intuitive, easy yes for them. You're also empowering them to be ready for the next step(s) in the process to getting to their ultimate, end-all outcome ;)

If you have more Qs, or want to discuss further, let me know! xx

4/8/2016 08:12:42 am

I see what you mean, thanks a lot for the clarification :) makes sense.

Kathryn link

4/9/2016 09:05:08 pm

Awesome post, RM! I love your point about focusing on the immediate win. That's such a helpful way to think about our sales conversations!

4/14/2016 12:36:51 pm

Thanks, Kathryn! I'd love to hear what results come out of this for you ;)

Amber link

5/8/2016 05:35:30 pm

So. Many. Ideas. I definitely have a higher priced offer that I can apply this to, as even though it's worth the investment it may be hard for them to see that value with people who create a website and brand for as little as $200. Thank you for this absolutely amazing article!

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