“Just send me a price.  What are we talking? What’s the ballpark?”

I’ve been asked this plenty of times by all types of prospects.  It’s a totally reasonable thing to ask, right?  I mean, if someone is going to hire us to build a website or help with digital marketing, they need to know the investment, right?

Yes, of course they do.

But I always had a hard time answering this question especially if I didn’t really know what the scope of the project was all about.

What do you do?  The options kind of seem limited…

Option 1: Tell them a number that’s too high and I might scare them off.

Option 2: Tell them a number that’s too low and I might not make enough.

The truth was, I wasn’t ready to tell them the investment because I needed to know more about their project, yet I still felt pressured to give an answer. 

That was until I developed the perfect script to answer this.  

When a client asks me to estimate the investment for their project before I’m ready, here’s what I say:

“I’d love to give you the investment for this project, but to be honest I don’t know what it is just yet.  I’d love to set up some time to ask you some questions so I can determine what you need and from there I can make some recommendations.  But I can tell you that I’ll make it easy and provide some different options so you have some choices about how to move forward.”

This script has worked really well for me because it’s TRUE.  You can’t possibly know what the investment is until you’ve figured out what they need (and want.)  Anything else would just be a guess.

Believe it or not, our prospects don’t always understand that we need to diagnose the situation much like a doctor would.  I’ve found that the reason clients ask for the investment is more likely to be driven by them not understanding this than them just being pushy.

I believe that the main reason they want to know about the investment is that they are trying to avoid being blindsided by a number that they are not comfortable with.  That’s why I let them know that I’ll provide them with multiple options in different budget ranges so they can feel at ease that there will be something that works for them.

This is the same reason Best Buy stocks dozens of different TVs.  There’s one that will meet just about anyone’s needs.  Do the same thing for your prospective clients.

And, if they really pressure you, I respond with this:

“I understand you wish to know the investment, but I’ve made a policy of not discussing that until I’m confident I can stand behind it.  If we were to discuss the investment now, one of us would end up disappointed.  So, how is Tuesday at 2pm for you to start the process?”

Sometimes there’s prospects that still want to know the number and have a hard time moving past it.

This second script works because it takes a more direct approach by letting them know that if you were to discuss pricing that it wouldn’t be with integrity and that is a line you are unwilling to cross.  Holding boundaries with new clients is a quick way to build trust.

It also lets them know that you’re ultimately interested in their satisfaction and ends with you gently suggesting an opportunity for you to meet to discuss their needs.

The bottom line is that the right clients will understand this, and ones that don’t you should probably run away from.

If you want a copy of the script for what I say when a client asks me to estimate the investment just send me a DM and say, “give me the ballpark, mike!” and I’ll get it to you.