Side Quests · Small missions. Real progress.
Time: 15–20 minutes | Cost: $0 | You’ll need: a notes app or document, and a few minutes thinking back on past price conversations.
When a prospect says “that’s too expensive,” most side hustlers either freeze, over-explain, or panic-discount on the spot. None of those responses are planned — they’re reactions. And reactions under pressure rarely do your pricing any favors.
The fix isn’t a sales script or a confrontation tactic. It’s three short, calm responses you write once, while you’re relaxed, so you’re never improvising your own worth in the middle of a conversation.
Your mission: Write three ready-to-use responses for when a customer pushes back on price, so you can answer with confidence instead of discounting out of panic.
Here’s how to do it:
- Recall your last three price objections. Think back to actual moments — a text, an email, a call — where someone said some version of “that’s too much,” “can you do it cheaper,” or went quiet after you quoted a number. Jot down roughly what they said, in their own words if you remember it. Real phrasing beats a generic guess.
- Write a “curious, not defensive” response. Draft one line that responds to pushback with a question instead of a justification. Something like: “Totally understand — can I ask what budget you had in mind?” or “Happy to talk through that. What’s the comparison you’re working against?” The goal is to find out whether they’re comparing you to a lower-quality option, a DIY approach, or just testing if you’ll budge. You can’t respond well until you know which one it is.
- Write a “hold the line” response. Draft one line that reaffirms your price without apologizing for it or over-explaining. Example: “That’s the rate for the full job, including [specific thing you include]. I keep it consistent so every client gets the same quality.” Keep it short — one sentence doing the explaining, not a paragraph defending yourself. The confidence is in the brevity.
- Write a “smaller option” response — only if you actually have one. If you have a scaled-down version of your service (fewer hours, fewer deliverables, a lighter package), write one line offering it as an alternative to a discount. Example: “If the full package is more than you want to spend right now, I also offer [smaller version] at [description, no need to invent a number].” This lets price-sensitive customers self-select into something that still pays you fairly, instead of you quietly shrinking your main price.
- Save all three in one place you’ll actually reopen. Put them in a note titled something like “Price Pushback Responses” on your phone or in a document you can pull up mid-conversation. The point isn’t to recite them word-for-word — it’s to have the shape of a calm answer already built, so you’re adapting instead of inventing.
Quest complete when: you have three written responses to price objections saved somewhere you can find in ten seconds, ready for the next time someone tells you your price is too high.
