You’ve probably had that moment...
The conversation goes well.
They nod, they agree, they seem genuinely interested.
You send the proposal and then comes the silence.
Or the polite reply: “It’s more than I expected.”
It’s easy to assume it’s about money, but in most cases, it’s not.
When someone says, “It’s too expensive”, what they often mean is, “I can’t clearly see what changes for me once I’ve paid for this.”
They can’t connect the cost to a clear, meaningful outcome.
And until they can, the safest choice is to stay exactly where they are.
People don’t buy clarity, they buy certainty
No one likes risk, especially when it comes to money.
Even if their current situation isn’t ideal, it’s familiar.
That’s the trap, because staying the same feels safer than stepping into something new, unless the result is so tangible, so visible, that staying the same actually feels like the bigger risk.
That’s where communication changes everything. You don’t sell by explaining your process, you sell by helping them picture what life looks like after it.
The power of “what happens if nothing changes”
I worked with a business owner before, who struggled to increase her prices.
She told me: “I don’t want to scare people off”. But the real problem wasn’t her pricing, it was how she framed the decision.
When we reframed the conversation from cost to consequence, everything shifted.
She stopped saying: “This is what you’ll get for this price” and started saying: “Here’s what changes if you move forward and what stays the same if you don’t.”
Suddenly, prospects started seeing the investment as a way out of their problem, not a financial stretch into a 'nice to have'.
Because once clients see what will change, and what won’t if they don’t act, the decision stops feeling risky and starts feeling necessary.
It’s not about convincing. It’s about connecting.
When you communicate value well, you’re not trying to change someone’s mind, you’re helping them see themselves in the outcome.
They begin to justify the investment naturally, not to you, but to themselves. And that’s when selling stops feeling like pressure and starts feeling like partnership.
Your next client conversation
If a prospect hesitates, don’t rush to defend your price. Just slow down the conversation and show them what’s really at stake, not just the gain, but the cost of standing still.
That’s what helps people make decisions with confidence.
Because “too expensive” rarely means they don’t have the money, it usually means they haven’t yet seen why they can’t afford to stay where they are.
This is exactly what my coaching programme BOOST helps you master: communicating the real value behind what you do, so clients can see the cost of inaction just as clearly as the benefit of saying yes.
Your turn
What’s one part of your offer you could describe differently to help clients see its real value and the cost of not taking action?