You've just finished the website redesign.
New photos, new copy, new booking button.
Then you stall on whether to include that one question: "How much do you charge?"
Answer it on your website and you're worried it'll scare people off before they've even met you.
Leave it out and you're worried you look like you've got something to hide.
Sound familiar?
Here's the thing worth sitting with: answering that question isn't really a pricing decision. It's a trust decision.
Why advisers avoid it
Most advisers who skip the fees question on their website aren't doing it because they're overpriced. They're doing it because they've been trained to believe advice is too personal, too complex, to put a number on before a conversation.
And that's true, to a point. Your fee usually depends on complexity, ongoing service and what the client actually needs.
But "it depends" isn't a reason to say nothing. It's a reason to say something with context.
Because right now, someone is sitting on your website trying to work out if they can afford you. If there's no number anywhere, they don't book a Quick Chat. They just leave and try the next adviser in the search results, usually one who's told them roughly what to expect.
The website isn't where you close the deal
This is the bit that trips advisers up. You're not trying to sell your service on a webpage. You're trying to help the right person feel confident enough to make contact.
Nobody engages an adviser off a website. They engage you after a conversation, once they trust you and understand the value.
The website job is to filter for fit and build enough confidence that a good-fit prospect picks up the phone.
That's a very different job to "explain your entire pricing model in a paragraph."
Give a range, not a number, and always with context.
You don't need a price list. You need a range, and a sentence or two that explains why it moves.
Something like this in your FAQ:
"How much do you charge?”
Ongoing advice with us typically starts from $X,XXX a year, depending on the complexity of your situation and the level of ongoing service you need. Most clients pay between $X,XXX and $X,XXX. We'll give you an exact figure after we understand what you actually need."
That one answer does three things at once. It gives a genuine prospect enough to self-select. It signals you're upfront, which builds trust before you've even spoken. And it stops the time-wasting Quick Chats with people who were never going to be able to afford you anyway.
Compare that to an FAQ with no fees question on it at all. A prospect fills in the blank themselves, usually with a worse number than reality, and doesn't bother booking.
What if your model genuinely varies a lot?
If you've got a real spread, from a simple single-issue client to a complex multi-entity business owner, don't try to squash that into one number. Show two or three tiers instead.
"Getting Started" advice from $X. "Ongoing Advice" from $X a year. "Complex and Business Advice" from $X a year.
You're still not quoting a final fee. You're giving someone enough to know which bucket they're in before they call you.
The real objection isn't the number, it's what comes before it
If you're still uneasy, ask yourself what you're actually worried about. Usually it's not "will they think I'm too expensive." It's "will they judge the number before they understand what they get for it."
That's a fair concern, and it's solved by sequencing, not silence. Two things help.
First, where the fees question sits in your FAQ. Put it a few spots down the list, after questions about your process, your experience or what clients actually get. By the time someone reaches it, they've already picked up some context.
Second, how you open the answer itself. Start with a line about outcomes before you get to the number. What clients actually get. What changes for them. Then the range.
You're not hiding the price behind the value. You're just letting the value arrive a beat before the number, the same way you would in a real conversation.
Your challenge
This week, draft one FAQ answer for "How much do you charge?" that gives a genuine range and one line of context for why it moves.
Don't overthink the exact wording. Get it roughly right, add it to your FAQ, and see what changes in the quality of the Quick Chats you're booking.
A website that's honest about price attracts people who are already halfway to trusting you. Leaving the fees question out of your FAQ just attracts more tyre-kickers, and more of your time explaining what you already could have written down.
If you found this useful and want more support, tools and resources for growing a modern financial planning business, head to www.adelemartin.com.
