I heard this story recently. The speaker was talking about wanting to hire a well-known speaker for a conference. The guy said, “You can’t afford me.”
Maybe he was right, but it was the height of arrogance. If you are expensive, say so, but tell your price.
When I sold windows, I made a sale because I told the price. A prospect wanted a very expensive window arrangement. I was mentally going, “Gulp,” but I was ready to measure and quote.
The prospect asked me, “Will you give me a price on these windows?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Good,” she said. “The last sales person told me it was too expensive and I couldn’t afford it. I told him to just give me the price and let me decide. But he refused.”
Stupid salesperson. I quoted the windows. They were expensive. But she bought, and when she filled out the financing paperwork, I saw her income. She was a single woman, but she made six figures. Never tell a person like that “she can’t afford it.”
The moral of the story? Don’t make assumptions. Maybe you are expensive. Fine. Tell us your price. Let us decide what we can afford. We might surprise you. But if you are arrogant and tell us we can’t afford you, I guarantee you won’t get the business. And you’ll leave behind a lousy reputation.
That way leads to business failure.
