Overcoming the "I can't afford it" objection

Pre-qualify ahead of time and continue to qualify and tie-down
throughout and you never get that. - Ever!

Unless your just looking for pithy canned rebuttals ... in which case.

• you can't afford not to
• use your credit card and make monthly payments instead of all at once
• What do you mean you can't afford it? This is ...

In case you're interested:
Here is a thread with hundreds of rebuttals


Nice - that's pretty strong

I hope you got/get them to give your reviews/ testimonials AND referrals.

Its all about showing them more value then that particular amount of money is worth to them. You also need to make sure your talking to the person that has the power to buy. If they think its too much ask what price they had in mind before the met you. Prospect: " I cant afford it" You: I understand, in other words you feel it cost too much right?" " That's fine Jhon, obviously you had an idea of price in your head before we met, can you tell me how much too much you think it is?" Once you get this you can do a number of closes like the reduction to the ridiculous, ect BUT you shouldn't have to hard close on price you should be creating enough value so price isn't a concern. ALSO there might be times when they honestly cant afford it, they have no money and no credit. In that case its your fault because you didn't qualify them good enough.

I just say, "Oh?" and let them talk. Eventually, we would get to what they are really thinking.

"I can't afford it " can mean so many things;

"It's my go-to objection I say to every salesperson"
"I don't have the cash, right now, to pay for it"
"I have terrible credit, and don't want you to find out"
"I want a lower price"
"I just don't want it, and don't have the nerve to tell you that"

But I always give them the price up front. At least give them a ballpark (if your service costs vary).

If you get, "I can't afford it" at the end of the presentation, you are now in arguing mode.

It's now a contest of wills. What a complete waste of energy.

Follow what Ken Michaels told you.

And, although I would never say, "I can't afford it" (which to me, is a statement of low self image)....if a salesperson ever said, "You can't afford not to buy"..I would laugh in his face, and say "Honest. Really....has that ever worked? Have you ever turned a sale around by saying that?"

What do you do?

Threads that have covered this question:

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-how-much.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-response.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-business.html
(yes, this one talks about building VALUE)

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...prescence.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...ive-price.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...-rebuttal.html

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...questions.html

Notice how a lot of these are about building value.

I have a saying: "If they say it, it's true; If you say it, you have to defend it."

So you can jump up and down about value, how many customers your solution is going to bring in, etc. etc., but it is nowhere near as effective as getting your prospect to say those things ("I think you can get me X # of customers"; "I think this is worth $5000 to me.").

Money is rarely the real reason for not going forward. Money can almost always be gotten. The problem is usually in the perceived value equation: your prospect simply doesn't think it's worth enough. If your prospect believes your solution is worth $50,000 they will happily invest $2,500 in it. But if your prospect really does have a financial issue, as in they are a financial basket case, then you really should consider whether you want them as a customer at all.

Loads of lousy sellers and inexperienced salespeople are out there trying to turn absolutely everyone into a customer. This is wrong. And the moment you have your first Client From Hell, you'll know why.

Recently I read an article about how lots of potential customers are being turned away from Hermes stores after almost begging the assistants to pay $10,000+ for a Hermes handbag. Not only will Hermes not sell them a bag, they won't even take contact info to inform them when they might be willing to sell them a bag. These women even have online groups to support each other in their joint desperation to pay Hermes over $10,000 for... a bag. So, stop selling products or services you are desperate to sell and start selling products and services people are desperate to buy.

I'm so wise it's ridiculous.

Another thing about hearing "I can't afford it".

If you tell them the price up front, you are much less likely to hear "I can't afford it" than if You give them the price at the end. Why? Because them saying "I can't afford it" is usually a conditioned response.

They are used to this; (at the end of a presentation)
1) They ask the price
2) You tell them the price
3) They tell you "I can't afford it".

And they are conditioned to say that at the end.

I would ask "If you like what you see, and decide that you want it. The price is $3,645. Assuming you want what I show you, is the price going to be a problem?"

Usually, I get a question like. "That's a lot. What do you have?" or "What do I get for that?" But rarely a buying objection.

At worst, I'll get "Do you have payments I can make?"

Why? Because to them, I'm not asking them to buy, I'm asking them to prove to me that they are qualified to buy. And now, their instinct is to brag, rather than claim poverty.

It's the same defensive impulse, it's just the timing that changes the response.

It's all about how they want to defend their self image. In the beginning of the presentation, they are more prone to try to prove that they qualify, so they are included in the people that can buy.

And at the end of a presentation, they are far more likely to defend themselves by claiming an inability to buy. And they will keep their self image, because that reason for not buying, will be a reason beyond their control. Thus, they save their self image....and keep rapport.

See, to them, saying "I can't afford it" is a way of saying "I don't want this". And it's hard for them to say they don't want something, before they know what it is.

You already got some great answers to run with from Claude and Jason but just to add on top of it, my initial reaction, just from what I have to go off of here tells me, these are 3 very different situations

First do you have a sales process or cycle that is your go-to? Its much easier to identify strengths and weaknesses when you can eliminate the variables, there are no two conversations that are the same but if you really know what you are doing, you should be able to guess what your prospect is saying before they even say it.

"if prospect balks when you quote them" Usually a good indicator that you have not conveyed or more importantly demonstrated enough value to the client, and what may be obvious to you, may not be to them.

if they say they have the money but have concern, thats just a complaint, and not a real objection, usually they just need more information, however if they say that and you continually do not walk away with a sale it could be trust or something you are saying that raises red flags, this should not be happening very much, only if you are new to an opportunity do I see this with new sales people I train that are likeable or have charisma but lack the track record or experience.

the times you've had clients want your services so badly, you really want to break down everything you are doing, consider all possibilities, some things may be helping you that you dont even realize, it really helps if you can get someone to record or film you, its best if both you and prospect dont really know when it is happening so everything is genuine. Recreate this as much as possible but i do just want to say one thing. Be focused on the process instead of falling into the trap of being outcome dependent.