You: “Good afternoon. I just wanted to follow up on the proposal I submitted last week.”

Prospect: “Ah, yes. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to submit your quote. I’m afraid that we’ve decided to go with someone else.”

You: “Can I ask why?”

Prospect: “You were just too expensive.”

Shortly after your call ends, said prospect leaves the office for the day, drives to the mall in her Audi and buys a pair of $300 jeans.

You’ve just been schooled on the Art of Value.

As a proud, card-carrying member of the “you’ve got one chance to get it right” event industry, your customers have too much on the line to buy on price alone. So, if you take the “you were too expensive” rebuttal at face value, you just lost one of your business’s most important (and lucrative) lessons.

Most often people don’t have an inflexible budget range. Heck, if you ask 90% of prospects for a budget they don’t have one anyways.

They want to know who will give them the most amount of value for their dollars spent. That’s it.

Now let’s get down to brass tacks. If you’ve heard you’re too expensive you’ve likely fallen into one of the following dark and seedy caverns:

You have the wrong customer

If you think this is the answer to your problems, proceed with great caution. Many an event company has tried to convince themselves that ‘it’s not me, it’s you’. It’s easy to say that the reason why you keep losing out to people who “undercut you” is because the customer doesn’t know what they’re doing. But more often than not, your problem really lies with you.

However, sometimes you are, in fact, dealing with the wrong customers. In this case, the value you provide will most likely never align with what they need. So, it’s best to move on.

This, my friends, is why it’s so important to know who you do your best business with. Just imagine what you could do with your business if you eliminated time pitching projects you’ll never win.

I say magic.

You lack a value differentiator

If you’re the same as everyone else, why would someone pay you anything other than the lowest price?

Answer: They won’t.

Yet, this is the most common problem I see in our industry.

You must be able to clearly articulate the value you provide and how this value is unique in the market. To miss this step surely means a constant fight for every dollar you earn.

How do you do this? You need to know how the products or services you offer are 1) unique in the market and 2) meaningful and desirable to your target market.

You aren’t an effective communicator

Simply knowing your value isn’t enough. You have to excel in show and tell.

The problem is that many companies who actually have one simply include their value differentiator as a line item in their proposals.

Big mistake.

Bottom line is that you should be communicating and showing value from the first moment you engage a new prospect and at every touchpoint you have with them. You should be lacing your conversations (when relevant) with stories of how you’ve helped other people just like them, you should be very clear about how your business is different, you should be showing your client how you’re different (in the way you communicate, in your processes, in your proposal design and content) and you should be giving them a taste of your ideas…enough to keep them intrigued but not enough to devalue your work (aka a Baskin Robbins’-style Pink Spoon).

They truly can’t afford you

There is a small segment of the prospect pool who are bargain hunters. The voraciously hunt for the elusive lowest price option. Then, they draw back their bow, aim, and take you down.

There are others who have a clearly defined budget and no wiggle room to go above it. If you have somehow missed this all-important criteria and you recognize that this is the type of customer you could do awesome things with, you’re in a proverbial slip knot.

But you can pull a Houdini.

Prospect: “You’re quote was too expensive. I have a budget and I can’t go above this number”

You: “I totally understand. Why don’t I tell you what we can do for you within your budget.”

Game (back) on.

Are you going to take the red pill or the blue one?

Your choice.

The red pill takes you to the land of mediocrity. A place where companies are just average. They go about business doing what they’ve always done and selling like they’ve always sold. They are in a constant battle over pricing. They often drop their pricing to get the job. But they pay the bills (sort of).

The blue pill takes you to the land of value – where companies roam in green and fruitful pastures. They are distinctly different in what they offer and how they act. They can charge more and so they get to be selective about who they choose to work with.

Which pill will you choose?

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Not sure how to break through your value barrier? Contact me to schedule a complimentary 30 minute consult and we can see if one of my consulting packages is a good fit for you.