The best way to handle emails asking, “What do you charge?”

Most business owners have experienced this common situation. You get an email inquiry asking about your fees as the first or only question. If you have responded with your pricing, you probably never heard from the person again, right? This is not the best way to reel in a potential client.

People may be interested in working with you but fear they cannot afford you. When you send your pricing right off the bat, you prevent the sales conversation and you haven’t built in any value. That’s why I recommend you should not send out your prices when requested.

Instead, the best way to handle this is to let the person know you have many packages and programs. Say something like, “Most likely you can afford working with me because I have different packages to fit any level.” Then, suggest you have a phone conversation to better understand their situation and discuss the different programs to find out which one fits best.

This is the way to open a conversation that allows you to build rapport and trust, which helps prospects start to feel comfortable. Your prospect will let down some of his or her defenses so you can really connect and help. Once they figure out how you can help and understand that there is an affordable option, closing the deal to get new clients becomes much easier.

In addition, if you are familiar with my methods, you know I also recommend a written interview with you in which you directly answer many of the expected objections potential clients may have. These include:

- Will this work?

- Will this work for me?

- Is it expensive?

- Will I get results?

- How fast will I get results?

- Can you prove your system works?

Be sure to answer each of these common objections in your written interview so prospects can find answers before they even contact you or while waiting for your ‘Get Acquainted” call.

One last point – it helps to get comfortable with the idea that it takes time to describe all the different packages. If you have fear about this and fumble, that gives people the feeling you are not comfortable and erodes trust. Tell people who email asking for prices that discussing your packages and prices takes more than a quick answer by email. This encourages them to get on the phone with you for 15 minutes so you can learn about their situation, talk about your programs, describe how they work and explain the fees. It’s simply not something that can be answered in one minute.

Your Assignment:
Have you written and posted your “Interview with…” on your site yet? This is a valuable tool that you share with a potential client before the Get Acquainted call. Ask the person to read the interview so that many of the potential objections are handled before you even speak. This can work wonders and help you get clients for sure.