Our seller explains: I talk to customers about their needs, and explain to them the process we go through. (Note: for this question the ‘product’ is a website but the same situation can occur for all products and services). Customer asks for a proposal. Upon receiving the proposal most customers think it is too expensive. I don’t think I do a good enough job of explaining the Return On Investment (ROI).

Answer: The core problem here is NOT setting the right expectations.

The proposal should be summarizing what was discussed during the sales conversation. The seller should be asking about the available budget (or at least discuss the customers expectations of what they should be paying).

This information is then formatted in the proposal. But the proposal should not be guesswork – and it should not catch the customer by surprise.

The best way to resolve this problem is to openly discuss budgets and likely costs as part of the sales discussion.

Fortunately website development can be broken down into various modules, depending upon the design and functionality required. So an experienced web designer should be able to discuss the cost/benefit (ROI) of including or excluding certain features.

Ultimately this means the web designer can discuss prices with the customer before submitting the proposal.

Don’t be scared of discussing price. Just make sure you first get a clear understanding of what the customer requires.

In some cases, for more complex processes or custom-designed products you may not be able to talk about prices on the spot. You may need (or want) to do some homework to get a clearer understanding of what is required.

So do the homework first, and then discuss it with your client before confirming it in a written proposal. Proposals are very difficult to ‘take back’ once you have submitted them.