"We Can't Afford It" Is Never Really About 💰
I was on a call with a founder last week when she mentioned something that probably sounds familiar to many of you:
"I got an email back from a potential client saying they really like our product, but they have budget constraints."
My immediate response? "When pricing is “the issue”, the value isn't clear enough to them."
Because here's the deal: people afford what they want to afford.
If I offered you a brand-new Ferrari for $10,000, you'd find the money – even if you claimed to have "budget constraints" five minutes earlier. Why? Because the value proposition is blindingly obvious. You know you could sell it tomorrow for 10x that amount.
This principle applies to your product too, just in a less extreme way.
The Real Problem (And It's Not Your Price)
When potential clients say they can't afford your solution, what they're really saying is:
"I don't see enough value in this to justify the cost."
It's not that they literally don't have the money. Most organisations – especially established ones – have budgets they can tap into when something is truly valuable.
What's missing? Crystal-clear communication of how your solution connects to what they actually care about.
The painful problem is that your value is buried under jargon, features, and explanations that make perfect sense to you but land as alphabet soup to everyone else.
Here's What This Looks Like
