It does not hurt bad enough

I completely agree with you my friend. Where there is a will there is a way. A lot of people just stop in their efforts for success.

Love the Les Brown quote. A guy I used to know used to know didn't like being around whiners (who does?) and if someone would start complaining about something they had to do that they didn't like, or being somewhere they didn't want to be, he'd say, "If your head ain't happy where your @ss is, then move your @ss!" I loved it and use it myself.

Chris, you're correct. Now there is a factor that most people miss when they're selling; they fail to

Monetize the Problem.

If you say, "Oh, you want SEO? That's $1,000 a month," you've given NO real reason for the prospect to do business with you. And you've encouraged that knee-jerk "That's too much!" reaction.

Ask your prospect this:

"If I do everything I say I can, and everything's working the way it's supposed to...how many new customers a month do you think you'll get from this? Be conservative."

If they say something, it's true. If you say something, you have to defend it.

If the number they give you is too high or too low based on your knowledge, gently adjust it up or down. Get them to agree with the revised number. Make sure it's conservative.

If they throw it back at you ("You're the expert; you tell me!"), then advise them that they are the expert...this is their market and they know it better than you. If they won't give you a number, suggest one...but get their agreement that it's a conservative figure.

Then ask them:

"How much do you bill a customer, on average?"

This should be easy. And it's a qualifier. If a restaurant owner doesn't know their guest check average, should you be doing business with them?

Now you can get the visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads:

"So multiplying those two together, we're talking new revenue of <# new customers> X <average billing $$> = $$$$ per month?"

Hey, the prospect is really interested now!

"And X 12, that's $$$$$$ per year, right? All in new business?"

Prospect is EXCITED!

"Hmm...what would you do with an extra $$$$$$$?"

NOW they are involved! Now they see YOU as the one way of getting to that money!

So your high-end wedding videographer prospect tells you she expects a new mobile site will conservatively bring her 2 new clients a month. Her average bill is $4,000.

2 X 4000 = $8,000 per month. X 12 = an additional $96,000 in new revenue per year! Holy Macaroni! You've got their full attention now! What would they do with an extra $96,000?

And we move on to the investment.

"So...given that we're talking about $$$$$$$, how much do you think the investment would be for getting to that point?"

Let them give you the answer.

Prospects will almost always give you a figure that's 5-10% of the revenue. I'll bet you've been leaving big dollars on the table for years, telling them it's your much-lower standard rate. The price should be in relation to the size of the problem.

"You're absolutely right! The range for a project like this typically is between $slightly below the prospect's number$ to $slightly above the prospect's number$."

Your videographer prospect thinks about the $96,000. She slowly says..."Um...well..." <$9,600 is too high and she knows it>"...$4,500?"

You've been charging $1,500 per site and thinking you've been raking in the dough. Congrats, you just tripled your revenue.

If you're talking about SAVING money instead of bringing in revenue, say by making a process shorter, do the math for how much you lower costs per month. As in:

(#minutes saved in the process/60 X hourly wage)
X
how many times a day it happens
X
20 working days in the month
= $$$$$ saved.

Eg. You shave 5 minutes off a procedure by eliminating the need to flip between three screens to enter an order. So...

(5/60 X $12/hour) = $1.00 saved per process
X
100 times an order is entered per day
X
20 working days in a month
=
$2,000 per month! X12 = $24,000!!! Oh, you've got their attention now!

Ready to make some money?