Knowledge catalogue / Sales

What to say when a prospect asks for a ballpark price

The ten seconds when a warm prospect asks for a number is the highest-leverage point in the whole sale, and it's the one most owners fumble.

The three fumbles

• Freeze. You go quiet and take a day to "put something together", and the heat drains out of the lead while you do.
• Refuse. "It depends, every project is different." Technically true, completely useless, and it reads as evasive.
• Blurt a low number. You anchor the whole deal below your worth before you've even understood the job.

The move

Give a real range, make scope the variable, and use the number to open a conversation instead of closing one: "Projects like this usually land between X and Y, depending on scope. The big variables are how many deliverables you need and how much shooting is involved. Tell me a bit more about what you're picturing and I can get specific." The prospect isn't trying to trap you. They're trying to find out if you're in their world at all. A number tells them that. Silence tells them nothing.

Try this

When a warm prospect asks "roughly how much", notice what comes out of your mouth right now: a range that opens a conversation, or a version of "it depends" that quietly kills the lead.