You’ve just secured a meeting with the “big guy”! You’ve got all your ducks in a row and all your references and samples ready to knock his socks off. You’ve got on your best “I got this” outfit. You sit down ready to launch into your spiel and before you can get a word out he says “Look – we don’t have that much money for this project. How much is it going to cost?”
Hands up if that’s happened to you.
Well – that or a form of it happens to me almost every time I sit down with a small business website prospect. Before I can even ask them what they’re even looking to do with their online presence (new website, content marketing, social media, whatever) – its straight to price.
I tackle this with a combination of two responses. One is based around this graphic – the cost can be anywhere between “free” and “sky’s the limit”, because as I’m just sitting down with them I have no idea what it is they’re even looking for so putting a price on such a nebulous concept is pretty much impossible.
Second I pull out a pre-printed sheet with a range of prices, ranging from the “beginners” package up to the “advanced” package with a middle package that’s likely to include most of what they need.
If they fall off their chair with shock then it’s likely that the conversation isn’t going to go very much further – we can shake hands and part as friends without either of us spending too much time and energy on something that’s unlikely to go anywhere. If they look at the price sheet and say “Ok – that’s about where I thought it would be” we can continue our conversation and I can start digging deeper to find out what they actually need. Based on the conversation I try and leave them with a reasonable budget price that will be +/- 20% to be confirmed when a formal proposal is completed.
Thinking of a new website for your business or just want to get an idea of how much one should cost for your specific situation? Give me a call at 973-234-5623 and let’s discuss.