Lesson 8 · 20 min
The last lesson closes the cycle: what to say when they ask for the price too early, why the people who haggle the most tend to be the worst clients, how the objection changes with the stage, and which numbers in your process turn luck into method. And the work that starts after the signature: the ongoing advisory.
Start the lesson
Goal: answer the price early, give up scope and not price, and measure the 4 numbers of the process so you can attack one step at a time.
Four steps and what comes after. Tap each stage.
Look at the percentages between the boxes, not the totals. The stage with the lowest pass-through is where you work this month.
A commodity is being chosen on price alone. The price table lives in courses 2 and 4; here the focus is the conversation.
At the end of the conversation, it is a buying signal: answer directly. In the first two minutes, it is a request to turn you into a line in a comparison.
Counter-question: "so I can answer you properly, is price what will decide this, or is something else weighing on it?".
I could tell you a million right now and we'd wrap up here, but you'd see how pointless that is, because I still don't know what's going on over there. Let me understand the problem first.
Give a wide range and say what makes the number move: scope (how many processes are included), integration (how many systems it connects to) and ongoing advisory (how long I stay with you).
"Some clients spend US$ 40 and some spend US$ 40 thousand" is true and brings the conversation back to the problem (illustrative values: adapt to your market).
Legitimate negotiation: "that's above what I can do right now, can we start with a smaller part?". Reduce scope, not the price for the same work.
If you give in on price, give in on scope too. A pure discount teaches them your number was inflated.
Top: fear of getting it wrong, teach. Middle: comparison, set yourself apart by your understanding and by what you don't do. Bottom: timing, reduce scope or set a future start with a date.
The question that separates them: "Expensive compared to the budget, or to what you think this will return?". Basic objections: course 3.
Where monthly advisory begins and where AI helps.
Agree on a start date, send what was agreed and make a small, visible delivery right at the beginning. A new client is an insecure client.
"Got it, I'll look at it today and get back to you by tomorrow" settles a good part of the anxiety.
Keeping a client takes delivery and communication; winning one from scratch takes prospecting. The second is always more expensive.
After the 90-day mentorship, monthly advisory keeps the metric reviewed and the trust alive.
An automatic reply like "got it, I'll get back to you by tomorrow" is useful. A delivery done on autopilot, with no one looking at it, is the start of a lost client.
It helps a lot with: pre-conversation research, scripts by sector, simulating a difficult client, and analyzing your notes and your pipeline.
It doesn't replace you: noticing a change in tone, waiting three more seconds in silence, admitting a limit of your service in front of the client.
Find the bottleneck and leave with a single experiment.
You are my sales process auditor. Be specific and avoid generic advice. MY NUMBERS FROM LAST MONTH - Conversations started: <n> - Became a real diagnosis: <n> - Became a proposal presented live: <n> - Closed: <n> - Average ticket: <value> HOW I WORK TODAY - Opening: <what I do in the first minutes> - Root questions I usually ask: <list> - How I talk about price: <describe> - How I end conversations: <describe> Deliver: 1. Where the BIGGEST bottleneck is, with the math that supports that conclusion. 2. The three most likely causes of that bottleneck, tied to what I described above. 3. ONE experiment for the next 2 weeks: what to change, at which stage, and which number has to move to say it worked. 4. What I should NOT touch right now, so I don't confuse the results.
The four deliverables of the whole conversation. Click an exercise to see the "done when".
Three levels and rapport
2 exercises
Three literal phrases and listening practice.
View the lessonSmoke, fire and the number
2 exercises
A one-page script and the simulated conversation.
View the lessonSignals and biases
2 exercises
Reading of the five signals with a quote.
View the lessonThree steps and the date
2 exercises
Closing statement with a metric and a review.
View the lessonThe foundation of everything: the client talks most of the time and you leave with their words.
Requires listening. Five milestones, root questions, and the pain as a number stated by them.
Requires the diagnosis. Read voice, verbs and resistance, and use biases only with facts (lesson 6).
Requires the previous three: recap, tie in to the goal and lead to the 90-day mentorship.
Calm sale (lesson 1), decision stage (lesson 4), biases (lesson 6) and process (lesson 8) go into the plan generated below.
Choose the start date and how much time you have per week. The plan includes the course's 16 exercises.
Close the course with your numbers and your plan.
Write down the four numbers from the last month (conversations, diagnostics, proposals presented, closed) and run the audit prompt.
Done when: you have the 4 numbers, the narrowest point identified with the math, and 1 single experiment for the next 2 weeks, with the number that needs to move.
Use the generator above with your start date and your time per week. Save the plano.md and import the .ics into your calendar.
Done when: the plan with dates is saved and the exercises show up in your calendar.
4 questions. The explanation appears after your attempt.
Question 1 of 4
The client asks for a 30% discount on the same work. What is the best response?
Question 2 of 4
In the first two minutes, the client asks "how much does it cost?" What does that usually mean?
Question 3 of 4
Your pipeline: 20 conversations, 15 diagnostics, 4 proposals, 3 closed. Where should you work this month?
Question 4 of 4
Why does ongoing advisory after signing matter so much?
Pick an answer. The explanation appears after you try.