Isn’t it just one of the most annoying things?
Everything lines up:
Your buyer needs your work, they like you, they trust you.
They have the budget, there’s an eagerness to get started, there’s urgency and an actual, true need.
You’ve even made a proposal, and they like it, and it seems like you’re about to land this client…
But then, they start hemming and hawing.
“It’s a large investment…”
“Your consulting programme is exactly what we need, but that $30.000 is the budget we’ve set aside for a new website and traffic campaign…”
All valid concerns, of course, but annoying because now your deal is stuck, and you can’t just go and lower your rates. I mean you could, but that would be a terrible idea.
Whenever you end up in a situation like that, where your price-tag becomes the reason a deal gets stuck, you need to give your buyer the "put up or pay up" message:
"The problem with problems is that we pay for them.
"Either we pay for keeping the problem, or we pay for getting rid of it.
"What would make most sense for you at this point?"
Like it or not, your buyer is going to pay for the problem – and having them make a conscious, rational decision about how they’re going to pay for the problem is helpful, it’s an act of service because it breaks their own stalemate.
They’ll either decide that for now, they’re going to keep putting up with the problem, or they’ll decide to pay you and get rid of it.
Either way you’ll have gotten your deal unstuck, and you’ll either be working with a new client – or, you’ll be free to focus on buyers who are fed up with the problem and who are indeed will to pay for getting rid of it.
Over to you:
Is your problem that you don’t close the sales that you know ought to close? Or is it that you struggle to get paid what your work is worth?
Because if that’s the case, I seriously recommend you consider the Sales for Nice People deal diagnosis coaching programme.
You get my personal help with your deals every week in coaching sessions, and every day on Slack, and it helps you sell more, with less ghosting, and less pricing pushback.
So the question is: if those goals sound good but you have the problem that your selling isn’t working…
Is it time to pay for getting rid of the problem…, or are you going to keep paying for putting up with it?