How do you handle push back?

This is a question I get asked quite a bit and I tend to answer, regardless of who I’m talking with in the same way.

When you first start out selling a recurring service, you’ll start to make it out be an afterthought in the conversation. You’ll focus on what the lead came to you with in the first.

What you want to do is re-frame the conversation so that the solution is the recurring service, not the one-off project.

How you do this really depends on you and your business, but there are a few things to keep in mind:

If you listened to the show way back in episode 12 you have heard the first 3 points before. They are crucial to framing the conversation so I going to go over them quickly for you.


1. Point out to them the path on why they are here talking with you in the first place.

   Whether that’s by referral or some other pathway. Then talk about the process and everything that they did with you so far to highlight the value that they’ve received. To put their mind in a frame of positivity.


2. Align you recurring service against the one-off project.

   Share with them the benefits of the recurring that makes it a complete no-brainer. Chances are that you came from doing one-off projects in the first place, right? You understand the hiccups and headaches that occur in the one-off projects. Explain why those don’t exist in your recurring service.


3. Lay out the path to move forward.

   They want to get the ball rolling. Plain and simple. The last thing they want to do is go back and forth for a week or two with NDAs, Scope of Work documents. Show them why starting today eases that and gets the ball rolling on the work tomorrow, not 2 weeks from now.

I’m not saying don’t define the detailed scope of work document. What I am saying is since you’ve define your recurring service offering, which is your general scope of work, but to lay out a roadmap for this particular project, kicking off tomorrow under your offering will get their project underway and moving towards their goals quicker.

If you’ve gone through all that and still getting push back.

Then you’ll want to share with them how the one-off project will work with you.

Share with them the negatives of making the project one-off. That it could take longer to see results, could cost more, could cost less until something is needed down the road which by then would cost more than all the recurring fees.

Since you are a business that is focusing on recurring services for your clients, one-off projects should be a last resort option.

As the last resort option, there is a different process to get things setup, there’s scheduling to be done, this becomes a custom service for that project. Custom projects cost more due to the added time and resources.

Share with them this.

Position your recurring services in a way that it makes your one-off option the wrong choice for them.

Now I’m not saying that all projects are meant for recurring. But if you are focused on building recurring revenue in your business, then those one-off projects and clients aren’t for you.

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