I used to be a member of a Facebook group for high-ticket sales where people were CONSTANTLY posting about how their prospects on calls were shocked at their price, and how stressed they were about it.
Like, multiple times per day people would say, “I’m so tired of doing hour-long calls where it all goes well and they say it sounds great and they’d love to do the program and then I finally say the price and they gasp and say they had no idea it would be that much. They say they’re not prepared to pay that much today and I use all the objection-handling scripts but I can’t move them. Help!!”
And they’d get all sorts of complicated advice, like “put more financial qualifying questions on the application form!” “Agitate the problem more, get them to open up about their pain so they really will have to admit at the end that they need you and have to come up with the money!”
Here’s the thing: sometimes an “objection” doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Sometimes “I’m not prepared to pay that much today” really does mean “I’m not prepared to pay that much today.”
And it DOESN’T necessarily mean “I will never pay that much even if you give me a month or two to get resourceful” or even “I don’t have access to that amount of money.”
It definitely doesn’t necessarily mean “I don’t have a problem and don’t see the value in getting your help.”
I’ve been on sales calls for programs that I really saw value in, and was pretty sure I was a “yes” before even getting on the call – but I didn’t have ANY idea what the price would be.
And then when we got to the end of the call, and they said a number that was higher than the amount in my bank account or the limit of any of my credit cards, I had to say “I can’t pay that much today.”
But in most cases, I could have come up with the money if they had given me 2-3 months to do so.
And if I had known the price ahead of time, I would have simply waited the 2-3 months and saved the money and THEN booked the call.
Or maybe I could have liquidated some investments and done it even sooner than that.
Either way, it’s much nicer for both sides, no? 😉
Sometimes the simplest solution to a problem is the best one. And, after years of debating what my position should be on this, I’ve finally come to something firm:
Put your price out there ahead of time.
Yep. Do it.
If saying the exact number is challenging because you’re gradually increasing it or because it varies, at least tell people a range so they have an idea (like “this package is between $15K and $25K depending on which options you select” or “This offer is just under $10K right now, we may be raising it to $10K by the end of this year”).
This is the absolute easiest way to make sure you only get financially qualified people contacting you about your offers.
Tell them the price. 😂
(If anyone knows an easier way to never get a price objection and never get anyone shocked at your price, I’d love to hear it – genuinely.)
I can’t think of a better financial qualifier than saying, “This program costs $20K. Please only sign up for a call if you have the means to pay that.”
Or if you’re doing DM sales, like so many of us do… “This program costs $20K.” Full stop. And you can be pretty sure they won’t message you at all if they don’t have the means right now.
Simple and direct.
Now, a lot of people are scared to do this because they think their inquiries will cease.
And that might be true if your content doesn’t explain your methods well and show people that you really can solve their problem.
Here’s an interesting anecdote: In a much much earlier iteration of my business, I tried the “put the price out there” strategy.
And indeed my inquiries DID cease – for my high-ticket offer only.
(At the time I had a $500 offer and a $5,000 offer)
People still inquired about the $500 one, but not about the $5K one.
At the time, I was writing really vague marketing content, basically saying “I will help you with your messaging to attract clients” and never saying HOW I do that or breaking it down at all to show that I had a real method.
My interpretation of this situation is that my vague content was enough to get some people thinking, “Hmm, she MIGHT know what she’s talking about here, I can risk $500 to try her out. But $5K is too much.”
Then, because I was all up in my head and switching strategies constantly, I took all the prices down again.
And inquiries resumed for the $5K offer (and they continued for the $500 offer).
But, interestingly, no one EVER said yes for the $5K one after inquiring and then finding out that $5K was the price.
(I talked about the offers as a “one-time session” for the $500 one and a “3-month program” for the $5,000 one.)
Zero takers in over 2 years for the $5K offer. How’s that for demoralizing?
But, now I’ve come full circle. And I now have BOTH pieces of the puzzle: (1) I put my price out there AND (2) I do a good job of explaining my results, methods, and processes so that people see that the high-ticket fee will be worth it.
Feels good to see it all fall into place. 🥰
If you need help with refining your marketing content so that it does a stellar job of explaining your results, methods and processes so that you can feel okay about the incredibly gutsy act of posting your prices (or a hint/range) publicly – DM me on FB. This is one of the big pieces of what I work on with folks in my 30-day 1-on-1 intensive.
More information on that program (including the price! 😉 ) can be found here.
If you want help with articulating your results/outcomes ONLY (which is the first piece of what I do in the 1-on-1 program mentioned above), I provide that help in my group workshops that I hold a couple of times per month.
More information on those workshops can be found here.
You can always check this page to find out when the next workshop dates will be.
If you’re interested in attending a workshop, you can also DM me on Facebook. We’ll make sure it’s a good fit and then, if yes, we’ll get you signed up and started with the pre-work!