📄 When price is your buyer's objection, give the 'put up or pay up message'

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 site and traffic campaign…”

"Our budget is only half of the amount you're proposing.

All valid concerns, of course, but annoying because now your deal is stuck, and you can't just go and lower your rates.

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.

Which means:

If your buyer has a problem, they're going to be paying, one way or another.

They either pay you to make the problem go away...

Or they pay the cost of keeping the problem - or, what I refer to as problem-cost.

They'll either pay up and remove the problem, or they'll have to put up with it, and also put up with the consequences of keeping it.

This is a massively powerful tool for getting deals unstuck, because it re-centers the conversation on what actually needs to happen.

In some cases, what needs to happen is for the buyer to wait.

Wait until it's the right time, or wait until they're finally fed up with the problem, and ready to move forward, buy, and get rid of the problem.

And the "pay up or put up" message is terrifically useful for having the buyer see their options, and make a decision based on what the problem-cost actually is for them, and whether they should keep paying it.