Lots of people in the high-ticket coaching world are nervous that prospects won’t be able to afford their fees.
And they’re also nervous about how to handle that part of the call when the prospect finally finds out how much it costs, and want to do it SO badly but they just don’t have access to that kind of money.
And when I see the advice that’s often given for this situation, it makes me want to bang my head on my desk repeatedly.
Like, “Just get better at helping them see their pain! Then they’ll work harder to come up with the money!”
Or, “Make sure to ask on the call application whether or not they have funds to invest!”
Or, “Make sure to memorize the objection-handling script for ‘can’t afford it’ and practice it every day!”
Or (my personal favorite), “Work on your mindset and beliefs! You need to toss out the belief that your price is too high and that people can’t afford it! Anyone can afford it if they want it badly enough! You need to install THAT belief and make it your reality!”
No. Just no.
I mean, some of the above advice is moderately helpful some of the time. I won’t deny that.
But it completely ignores the fact that not all prospects are going to be in the same financial situation. And for some, it’s going to be a lot harder to access funds no matter how badly they want your program.
Ironically, the people who need funds the most often have the hardest time accessing them.
(I was just sharing with a Chicago friend the other night about how I’m now getting all sorts of lenders approaching me with pre-approved offers for big loans, mortgages, credit cards etc. because my business is performing so well and I’m doing so well financially. And of course the irony is now that I’m doing well, I don’t actually need any loans! Back when I really needed money and had almost none of it, that’s when I could have used the loan. But of course when you have no money or income, most lenders won’t lend to you.)
But anyway.
No matter how many times (or ways) you ask on your application if they have funds to invest, or how well you get them to see their pain, or how strongly you believe that your price is NOT too high, the fact remains that some people will be surprised at how high your fee is, will not have that amount of money available right now, and will have a difficult time accessing it.
And that’s not your fault! If you’re getting some prospects who are in this situation, don’t let anyone make you believe it’s because there’s something wrong with you or that there’s something you need to change about your sales approach or mindset.
Some people are just in a bad financial situation. And there’s no need to overanalyze that. It is what it is.
And it’s completely reasonable that you’d feel bad about saying your price and then hearing them start crying because they want it so badly and can’t pay that amount. That’s called empathy.
Please don’t question your feelings here. It feels bad because it is bad.
I was talking to another friend of mine recently about this way of doing sales and she (wisely) compared it to when you’ve been dating a guy for a REALLY long time and he doesn’t define the relationship between you and you’re feeling insecure and then you end up finding out that he’s never been exclusive with you.
In other words, it’s a shitty thing to do to someone – to set them up for embarrassment or shame by putting them in a situation where the parameters are not clear.
If you never want to be in this awful situation with a prospect again, here’s what I suggest:
Share your price publicly.
Either the exact price or a range, like “this program will be priced between $5K and $7K for this calendar year.”
Imagine that!
It’s funny… a lot of people have told me that they’ve tried “everything” to weed out prospects who can’t afford them, and they still get broke people on the calls and it’s so painful.
Then I’ll ask them, “Have you tried sharing what the price of your program is – before someone does a call with you?”
And then they’ll be like, “Well, no I haven’t tried THAT…”
If you haven’t tried that then you haven’t tried “everything.” 😉
It’s funny how people twist themselves up into knots trying to figure out the solution to something and then they overlook the absolute simplest solution of all.
Publicly sharing your price (or an estimate) honors your potential prospects. It lets them know what the parameters of the coaching relationship will be before they make the decision to approach you and take up your precious time to discuss working with you.
It creates a feeling of safety and security and protects them from potential future embarrassment – just like a guy defining the relationship and letting you know that he considers you his girlfriend and that he isn’t seeing anyone else. (thanks to my dear friend for that great analogy)
All the other ways of supposedly screening out broke people don’t quite hit on the real issue, which is why they don’t work as well. Asking “are you committed” or even “do you have funds available” just isn’t the same as asking “do you have 5k to invest.” After all, that’s what you REALLY want to know.
I’m well aware that a lot of people won’t like this post, and may argue that they can’t share their price publicly because people will think it’s too high and won’t book calls and they need that sales conversation to explain why that price is worth it.
And that’s actually correct… your price WILL seem too high and people WON’T book calls IF your marketing is vague and you’re not really being clear about what problems you solve or sharing how you solve them so it’s clear that you’re an expert.
But if your marketing/content make clear what problems you solve and that you have a real method for solving them, then the people you’re meant to work with will not be turned off by knowing your price before they speak to you.
In fact they’ll more than likely think, “Yep, that price makes total sense given what an expert she seems to be, and what amazing results her clients get.”
And they’ll still reach out to you.
And you’ll be cool as a cucumber because you’ll know that they already know the price so you won’t need to do any pain points agitation or objection handling or try to deal with it when they’re sad or otherwise emotional about not having the money when you quote the price.
I know all of this because it’s my reality!
This calendar year I’ve enrolled over 50 clients who knew either my approximate price or my exact price before reaching out to me.
Sharing the price didn’t hurt me at all. In fact, I’m getting the same number of clients now as I did in previous years when I was less specific about the price (or didn’t share it at all).
The difference now is that I’m fielding fewer inquiries (as many of the inquiries I used to get were just people wanting to know the price).
And I consider that a GOOD thing. It saves time, both for me and for those who would have reached out.
If you want help to shift your marketing content so that it explains your program and methods well enough that it’s “safe” to share your price publicly and people won’t be turned off, that’s what I do. 🙂
Here’s my favorite training on how to make sure that you’re positioning your services as solving a big problem (that’s part of what makes people see the high-ticket value).
And here’s my training on how to write content that displays your methods in such a way that people see you’re an amazing expert (that’s the other part of having them see high-ticket value).
And here’s a page about my 30-day 1-on-1 program where I work closely with you on your content, as well as your organic lead generation and sales process (DM me on FB if you’re interested in working together in this program).
Enjoy, and let me know if you have questions. ❤