Saying enough about money to sort your enquiries

Silence about cost is not neutral. It attracts people with no budget, deters serious buyers who dislike being kept in the dark, and guarantees that a share of your conversations are wasted before they begin.

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You can filter by cost without publishing a price list: state a minimum where you have one, explain what drives cost up or down, describe what a typical engagement includes, and say what happens on a first call. Each of these lets a reader place themselves, which is what qualification actually is.

What silence actually produces

Businesses withhold cost information hoping to start conversations. What it produces is a mixture: enquiries from people who could never afford you, and absence from people who could but who dislike being sold to blind.

The serious buyer is not trying to trap you into a fixed price. They are trying to establish whether talking to you is a use of their afternoon, and a reasonable indication is enough for that.

Four signals, in increasing order of commitment

You do not have to publish a price to give a signal. These are ordered from the least binding to the most, and any of them beats saying nothing.

  • What drives cost: size, complexity, urgency, condition, materials, finish.
  • What a typical engagement includes, so scope is visible even if price is not.
  • A minimum, where one genuinely exists, stated plainly.
  • A range with the reasons it moves, which is the most useful of all where scope varies.

The minimum is the strongest filter

If small enquiries cost you significant time, a stated minimum removes most of them before they arrive. It is blunt, and it works better than anything else on this page.

Phrase it as a fit statement rather than a boast. Most of our projects start around a certain level; below that, a local generalist will usually serve you better and faster.

Ranges work when you explain the movement

A bare range invites the reader to assume the bottom of it. A range with the reasons attached teaches them where they sit, which is far more useful and produces better-informed conversations.

Say what pushes a project toward the upper end: scale, difficulty of access, speed required, level of finish, or whatever genuinely drives your costs. This also does much of the work of your first sales conversation before it happens.

Describe the first conversation

A surprising amount of hesitation is about the call rather than the cost. People imagine a pressured sales conversation and decide not to risk it.

Say what happens: how long it takes, whether it costs anything, what you will ask, and what they will leave with. That reassurance recovers enquiries at no cost, and it belongs directly beside the contact prompt.

Keep the signals current

Whatever you publish about cost has to stay true. An out-of-date minimum or range is worse than none, because you either honour a figure that no longer works or open the relationship by explaining that your own site is wrong.

Review cost language whenever your prices change, and prefer descriptions that survive small movements over precise figures that will not.

How Licheo does this

We do not publish a figure for our own work, because scope genuinely varies and a number on a page would anchor a conversation that has not happened yet.

What we do publish is what the work includes, what shapes it, and exactly what happens on a first call, which is the information a serious buyer needs in order to decide whether to raise their hand.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of Better clients, not more. The other parts:

Questions people ask

How can I filter by budget without publishing prices?
State a minimum if you have one, explain what drives cost up or down, describe what a typical engagement includes, and say what happens on a first call. Each lets the reader place themselves, which is what qualification is.
Is a stated minimum a good idea?
It is the strongest filter available, and worth it when small enquiries consume real time. Phrase it as a statement of fit rather than a boast, and point smaller enquirers somewhere more suitable.
Why do ranges often backfire?
Because a bare range invites the reader to assume the lowest figure. Attach the reasons it moves, so people can see where they sit and arrive at the conversation already understanding the answer.
What if my prices change often?
Describe what drives cost rather than publishing figures you cannot maintain. Descriptions survive small movements; specific numbers go stale and then force an awkward conversation about your own website.
Why does describing the first call help?
Because much of the hesitation is about the conversation rather than the money. Saying how long it takes, whether it costs anything, and what they leave with removes a fear that stops people at the final step.

Let money sort your enquiries

The agents write cost signals that place a reader accurately without pinning you to a figure you cannot maintain.

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