What were they thinking...

They are just another businessman trying to get something for free. Many business owners and wealthy people in general act like this for the most part, not all, but some do. Just weed them out and keep it moving..

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just a couple of clowns freebie seeking. Just move on and don't let it affect your mojo.

I run into this from time to time and I find it hard to get snarky. I mean, I do ask "Do you work for free? Didn't think so, well neither do I, have a nice day" and walk away. But I really want to say "No money?? well you're screwed then huh??" and walk away. But I can't really bring myself to do that yet. Probably shouldn't anyway.

Find owners that are serious about promoting and building their businesses and don't worry about the freebie seekers they'll be stuck just chasing handouts and their competition will pass them buy because they were smart enough to hire you.

I usually decide who I want to work with, but this time I was at a loss for words. I couldn't think of anything nice to say except for thank you, excuse me and good bye.

In hindsight it can be taken like a rude attitude but can you really blame me?

P.S.
You are right on the money, some wealthy people are like this.

Lets take a look at the result of your approach. You successfully avoided being drawn into a deal with a client who would likely be a high maintenance, low return account. Congratulations!

On the other hand, hand, what if you could have changed their perspective, turning them into a high value, low resistance money-flowing asset who salivated at your service offerings like Pavlov's dog at the bell?

Now obviously the chance of converting 100% of those bottom feeders is rather low, but what if you could succeed with 1 out of 10? What kind of long term impact would that have on your portfolio?

IMO you would benefit greatly from some advanced sales training. While it is simply not possible to give you a "silver bullet", let me lay out some general thoughts for you:

1. Define the prospect's true desire. In this case, we can say that they desire additional revenue, at a very attractive ROI.

2. Understand this objection. If they are saying they have no money, it does not mean that they have no money at all. What it means is that they have no money to devote to your project.

3. Identify the simplest desired outcome. Right now you're selling the idea that your services are "worth it". That's a tough sell! After all your assertion is completely intangible. Who has the right to determine what the true value of your services really is? It is far more desirable to frame this decision in very relative, tangible terms. By comparing this investment to others they are already making or considering, we have an objective means of determining the value of your proposition.

4. Define possible paths of resolution. They could divert other marketing dollars, reinvest profits that are currently going to their personal income, find efficiencies in other costs to free up capital, or take out a loan.

5. Craft an effective rebuttal for this objection. For example, lets reduce to the absurd..."If you could earn $100,000 for every dollar you invested in great marketing, wouldn't you try to pour every dollar you could find into it? How about $100 per dollar? Let's agree that even $10 per dollar return would make this an absolute no brainer; that would be like buying a license to legally print money, wouldn't it?"

6. Plan your attack. By the time you're talking about your services' benefits, your prospects are already in "valuation/negotiation mode". Their defenses are up, and they're weary of agreeing to anything that could limit their ability to negotiate or object. If we want to effectively control the closing, we need to start weaving our rebuttal into the very beginning of our dialogue with the prospect. I might open like this:

(It is very important to hand out a brochure, flyer, sales sheet, etc., to your clients before starting. Make sure it is a vague salesy thing with no real detail, think of a squeeze page on paper, and give it to them in their hands, not on the table.)

"Now before I launch into my presentation, let's take a moment to talk about why we're here. You see, there are a lot of misconceptions out there about digital marketing, and the reason I've been so successful in helping businesses like yours is because I'm very selective in choosing only clients who are in a position to profit greatly from my services. What I'd like to do is ask you a couple of quick questions to determine if it's even worth our time to discuss our working together today. Would that be alright with you?"
...
"Now first of all, I have to assume that you already do some forms of advertising, is that right? And of course, digital marketing, just like the things you already do, has some costs associated with it. Now the great news is that my clients find that digital marketing can bring them far more profits than they get from other forms of advertising - that every dollar they put in gets them more money they can keep - more money that they get to take home at the end of the day. Is this what you're looking for today, more money in your pockets?"
...
"Ok, good. You know there's this movie out there - I don't know if you saw it? - about this guy that gets a sports almanac from 50 years in the future and he makes billions of dollars by always being able to bet on the winning team. Remember that he didn't become filthy rich by owning a book, but by actually going out and taking action - by making his money work for him by making smart moves with it. This is important because there are lots of people who miss out on huge profits by having 'inside information' but never actually taking advantage of it. If I can show you how to make your money work harder for you and bring you more profits, are you willing to take swift action with that information?"
...
"Ok, so let's talk about what success is for you today. If you could earn $100,000 for every dollar you invested in great marketing, wouldn't you try to pour every dollar you could find into it? How about $100 per dollar? Let's agree that even $10 per dollar return would make this an absolute no brainer; that would be like buying a license to legally print money, wouldn't it?"

7. If they balk at any of these questions, or they show any real resistance, physically take your squeeze sheet back from them - right out of their hands - and tell them how it is:

"Well I'm glad we had a chance to talk about this today. The internet is a very competitive place, and the most visible, valuable "real estate"- if you will - is very limited. It's a time consuming endeavor to generate that kind of exposure for a company, and it's very important that I only invest my talent in clients who are serious about taking full advantage of this kind of explosion in new business. Let me know if I can be of further assistance. I only work with one business of your industry in any one area, so I'll be happy to work with you further if I can."

You'd be surprised that about 25% of the time my prospect will stop me from leaving, and we end up having a very productive (and usually lucrative) meeting.

PS Sorry this turned into a mini-novel, hope it helps.

af7850

Thanks for going into detail with your comments, I really do agree with most of your points, I only have one objection, I don't really think these people are worth my time and effort to convert into customers at least at this point and time when they told me they had no money.

They might come around a few months in the near future and ask again but this time they will be willing to at least have a meeting with me and we can discuss some of the points you mentioned above.

I was just caught off guard on both occasions and I was wondering a smarter way of saying thank you comeback when you have money without making them feel bad about themselves for asking.

Of course if they don't ask again I will still be happy having avoided high maintenance low account customer.

Turning an unqualified lead into a qualified one, takes a lot of effort and time, both of which could be better spent on other activities. Not to say that it is impossible or that shouldn't be tried by anyone.

What can I do to get more customers is code for, I don't do anything to recapture business from my existing clients and or, my marketing isn't working.

I don't have any money is code for, I don't have a lot of money to spend on this. So you could have thought about less expensive options in an effort to help them see the value and potential ROI for the money spent.

One of the first things I would have asked is, what are you doing to get your existing customer base back into the business? Taking advantage of existing or past customers is one of the cheapest ways to help the business get more revenue.

From there you can move to more services once the owner sees the light.

Good for you. Work should be fun. You can't get them all.
Find the nice guys. Fire the jerks.

Hugh

It's the Net...99% are Knuckle heads.

Many people fear being "sucked into" a sales pitch. They don't believe they have the power (or belief in themselves) to resist so they throw up a blanket safety or "fire"wall statement to "protect" themselves just in case you're really convincing and they spend too much. I would like to think I would have said something quippy like "we all have money and no one likes wasting money but if you can "invest" in something that will make money by bringing in more clients or brining back some old clients that would be worth it, that would be smart - kind of like what you're doing in business already." Once they feel they are talking to someone who treats them like an equal and not like a money tap they might relax enough to hear what you have to offer.

First, don't take the prospect's word for it. Whatever they say is probably a lie.

All prospects lie. This includes us when we're prospects. We do it to protect ourselves from getting ripped off.

Think you don't?

1) We don't share how much money we really have (our true budget). Because as soon as the salesperson knows our true budget, we fear the price will get jacked up.

2) We don't share how bad the problem really is. Because as soon as the salesperson knows this, we worry they'll hike up the price.

So whatever a prospect says in the opening phases of a conversation, you can pretty much figure it's BS. They won't even tell you the truth about what's actually going on.

This is why you have to probe for pain.

Second, money can almost always be obtained.

If you and the prospect can work out a business case where your solution makes a lot of sense to implement, they'll almost always be able to get the money.

Most salespeople are so bad at showing their prospect how their solution creates value, their proposal never gets off the ground.

So what they were thinking is: I need help, but I don't want to share how bad I really need it, because I'm afraid you'll charge a lot.

It's your turn to qualify the prospect. Do they have a real need for what you offer? Can you work with them to create a business case for them getting your solution? Can they actually afford it, or are they in such financial trouble that you should not do business with them? Once you've figured these things out, then maybe you can work on selling.

Thank you guys all of these answers have helped a great deal in understanding why they would approach me with the "I have no money but still want your consulting". That I encountered the other day.

I guess it is normal to hear this in one shape or another. I guess I sort of got used to going after the clients that meet my criteria and those clients either politely declined or where a joy working with. Not everything for nothing mentality.

With the wealth of information learned from this thread I will be better able to handle similar situations if and when they happen or like the opportunity suggested be happy to not have to deal with these people (high maintenance low profit accounts).

Well, you raise some pretty fair questions. Quite frankly I have no idea what they were thinking. Interesting what people do.

I would KINDLY say, I can help you, but that will cost time. Time I'm now spending or have "in stock" for other clients who pay me a certain amount for that time. So if you want my time, you have to at least equal the amount of money I will LOOSE by helping you or even top it to start working MORE hours than I do already since I cant stop serving my current clients.

Or something in that order.

All rich people are like that, thats how they got rich. Spending less means more profit