Big Deal Energy

Responding to the "I Can't Afford It" Sales Objection

• Laura Khalil

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Ever wondered why prospects say they can't afford your services? Discover the untold psychology behind this common objection and learn why it might signify more than just financial constraints. We'll reveal how this objection could indicate a need to better demonstrate value or even prompt you to elevate your client base. By understanding the true essence of this pushback, you can transform it into an opportunity to refine your market targeting and enhance your service appeal.

Get ready to shift your mindset on sales rejections and objections. Learn to view each 'no' as a stepping stone towards a 'yes' and leverage this perspective to stay motivated and driven. We dive into the critical importance of persistence, the power of an empowered mindset where clients must prove their worth to you, and the benefits of continuous sales training. This episode is packed with strategies to turn objections into growth opportunities and master the sales cycle, with additional resources available at bravebydesign.net to help you build a thriving client pipeline.

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Laura Khalil:

Hey everyone, I want to welcome you to this episode of Big Deal Energy. I am your host, laura Kalil, and today we are going to discuss one of the most common objections that solopreneurs and consultants face in their business, which is I just can't afford it, right? So let's talk about this objection. I want to do a few things here. I want to go what's really underneath the objection. I also want to ask sort of share, how you can respond to that objection and just giving you some ways of looking at that objection differently in the future. Okay, so here we go.

Laura Khalil:

So I actually just got off a call with a prospect who came via referral, who typically, when we have a referral, that's like a pretty hot lead. The sales should be easier in many cases. But in this case, when I was speaking with the prospect, we have great rapport, we totally get along. But then when I ask if they want help, they throw the objection of I just can't afford it. Now, mind you, I haven't even said the price. But whatever the price is maybe they heard it from their friend, maybe I don't know, they found it somewhere they just can't afford it. And so what do we do with this? What does it mean? How do we understand it? Did we do something wrong?

Laura Khalil:

So the first thing I want to talk about when just analyzing this objection is that there are certain individuals who see spending money in their business as a pure expense that is, taking away something from them. And there are other individuals who see spending money in their business as an investment, as some kind of shortcut, as a way to get them somewhere faster, and that is a mindset that you can learn, but it's typically a mindset that most entrepreneurs don't necessarily start off with. They think, well, that's a cost, that's an expense, I'm going to have to pay that off, rather than that investment just like when I invest money, you know, into stocks and bonds et cetera is going to pay off and is going to bring me more money in. So that's the first thing is kind of understanding. You get to understand the psychology of how people think about spending. Now there is also within their embedded that they may not want to spend the money because you have not done a good enough job of showing the value. So for certain individuals, it's true that, like, maybe you could work on how do you show the value better. In other cases, there are people who literally just don't have the money to spend and, you know, maybe they need to put that money towards their mortgage, for example, in which case, like they're just probably not the right client at all, because we don't want to work with people who are in that level of desperation. That's a pretty challenging place to work from and I wouldn't recommend it.

Laura Khalil:

The other thing it may suggest to you is that you're working with a target market that just can't afford you, so we are always going to be too expensive for the wrong target market. You will not find with larger organizations. Very rarely will a large organization say to you we just can't afford it. That's not an objection that they're going to throw. Typically, they will say things like we have to put it into the budget, we need to work within this sort of budget range. It's going to appear differently. Right, it's not going to appear as we just can't afford it, because they understand what it means to make the investment. So often when I see the we just can't afford it objection, we're typically working.

Laura Khalil:

We may be working with a market that is actually too small for us, and it could actually be a sign to you that it's time to level up who you sell to. It is not an indication of that. You should cheapen your rate. That is definitely not what that means. It means level up who you sell to. You are less likely to hear that objection. You're more likely to hear different objections from larger organizations. That is for another episode and the last thing we want to do when somebody throws the objection OK. Now I want you to imagine we're at, we're at a bar, we're single, we're at a bar and you know we all have or can empathize with that experience of like a guy trying to get a woman's number and she says no. So the creepy guy will keep pushing, all right, the suave guy will back off. And so what I recommend? If you do feel that this is a client or prospect you do want to work with, if it is a matter of them coming up with the money, if it is a matter of them doing something else in their business, literally don't be thirsty.

Laura Khalil:

What's so important about this is it takes us out of the dynamic of being the chaser in the sales relationship to being the one who is chased. Instead of me chasing you down because I'm not going to chase you down, my mindset becomes well, are you worthy of working with me? That's a very different energy than oh my God, I need to sign this person. I need to sign this person. Well, are you even worthy of working with me? Are you even worth my time? Does this make sense for me? Learning how to embody that energy, learning how to make that shift it's one of the key things I work on with my clients completely changes how you work with the clients, how you determine who is going to become a client Because, remember, you are in the driver's seat, all right, it is not the client who gets to decide if you're the one to work with them. It is a co-created relationship, and so owning your power in that dynamic is really important.

Laura Khalil:

Do not be thirsty, do not push them, do not press them. One question you can ask is like so what's your plan for that? How's that working for you right now? What are you planning to do to find the money to make the investment? Often, they're not going to know the answers to that, because they don't have a path, they don't have a strategy. I would then back off, because the more you push, the more it repels people. So we stop pushing entirely and instead what we do is we say totally, get it. I'm not going to try to like push anything on you. In fact, I'm actually taking the offer off the table.

Laura Khalil:

When someone will pull the I just can't afford it thing, I'll say, well, I'm not actually selling you anything, I don't. I'm not trying to offer you anything, I'm just trying to learn more about your business. And that changes the whole dynamic of the call. I like to get off every call that I've had. I like to analyze one, what I could have done differently or what I could have done better. I also like to really assess is this the right person? Is this the right market? You know, maybe it's not. And then the third thing I'll do is I'll keep in touch, because it's never a no unless they say absolutely not, it's just a not right now. Okay.

Laura Khalil:

So understanding those keys is, I think, a pretty critical component to responding to the I just can't afford it objection and remembering that if you have a pipeline right that has a very robust amount of leads within the pipeline, it doesn't really matter. Remember let's again zoom out for a second If you have, if you are consistently having sales conversations, it doesn't really matter if people say no to you, because the next person will get you closer to the yes. You know, when I was younger, I remember at my first sales job which, by the way, I was terrible at, I actually got fired from. I was selling magazine ads, and my mom used to be in the sales world. She's like a natural born saleswoman. I am absolutely positively not whatsoever, to be really honest with you, not at all. And so my mom was trying to help me make more ad sales and I was terrified. I was terrified of selling.

Laura Khalil:

And she said something to me. She said, laura, I want you to remember that it takes nine no's to get to one yes. And so every time I would get a no, I would think to myself I'm at least now closer to getting my yes. And so, using that rule of thumb nine no's to one yes your close rate may be different. Maybe for you it's four no's to one yes or three no's to one yes. That's all things that can be improved on with sales training and support. The point is understanding, instead of seeing it as like, oh, they don't want me or oh, I'm not good enough, saying, well, that's just actually getting me closer to my goal. So thank you, because now I'm one step closer to getting my yes.

Laura Khalil:

I hope that's helpful for you today. I want you to stay inspired. I want you to be driven. I don't want the objections to throw you off. Let people object. You're going to learn more about them. You're going to learn more about how to respond to objections and how to move through the discomfort of objections by experiencing them. So I want to wish you really good luck with this and if you want more help learning how to go through the sales cycle, how to sell more, how to have a pipeline full of people who are excited to learn from you, meet with you and they're people you actually really want to work with. I would love to help you. You can learn more at bravebydesignnet.