What have you done to overcome a prospect saying they do not have the money to purchase your service/product?
My alignable response:
Client: “Tell me a little about yourself and what you do.” Me: “If it is OK, I’d like to learn more about you and your organization first. Afterall, what I do doesn’t really matter if it doesn’t align with your needs or vision moving forward.” Through discussion, get to what the value-add of the purchase decision will be – additional revenue, cost savings, or cost of not making the purchase. Ask and listen, the client will tell you.
Stephen Covey – first seek to understand before being understood. We don’t matter until the client feels like he/she does. Consider the emotions of making a purchase – how do you feel when you are ready to make a purchase? Understood, informed, excited, trust w/seller, etc.
Most of my clients know that they want to do some training or coaching work, that is why they called me. I simply ask, “What is your budget for this project?”. If they talk-around the question, I say “There are a number of tools, resources, assessments, etc. that can be delivered in a number of ways to maximize your investment, but I need to know what type of budget range you are working with for the project or a per person cost you are shooting for.” I usually get an answer or receive an email with the answer in the next day or so.
Money may be an issue, but it is not usually “THE” issue. If you understand the client, the client feels understood, your product/service aligns with their needs/wants and they still can’t afford you there are usually two options 1) provide an alternative solution within the budget they have or 2) say thank you, please keep me in mind if budget constraints change and I will be happy to refer another provider after reviewing my contact/network that may be able to help you out. You may land more work than you think by being willing to walk away.