Practical Sales Training™ > How To Connect With Your Buyer > MLE
MLE
What Is It?
MLE stands for Minimum Level of Engagement. It’s simply the least you’ll charge for your services, full stop. Below that number, you don’t take the work.
Why Does It Work?
It works because it removes all uncertainty around price. Setting a bar tells anyone who genuinely can’t afford you, upfront. You won’t work for less than a set figure. That single decision saves time, energy, and a lot of wasted conversations.
How Can You Use It?
As long as you’re comfortable publishing prices, being upfront works well. Just make sure it doesn’t put you at a commercial disadvantage. It works in two ways. Externally, you can use “from” prices in your marketing. That way, buyers self select before they even reach out. Internally, use the term MLE in conversations with your team and your buyers. Then everyone understands the floor without needing it re-explained each time.
If someone challenges the number or asks for a discount, simply cite company policy. You don’t owe anyone a justification or an explanation for where your MLE sits.
When It Works Best
This works best once your pricing is genuinely consistent. So the number holds up under scrutiny every time. It also helps when your team agrees on the figure. Then nobody accidentally undercuts it in a moment of pressure.
When It Becomes Dangerous
This becomes risky if your MLE is set arbitrarily, without real thought behind it. A number you can’t defend collapses the first time someone pushes back.
Common Mistakes
Discounting Below Your Own Floor
Don’t set an MLE and then quietly discount below it anyway. The moment you break your own floor once, buyers stop believing in it.
Over-Explaining Your Position
Never over-explain your MLE when challenged. The instant you justify it, it stops sounding like policy. It starts sounding negotiable instead.
MLE – An Example
A Consultant’s Minimum Engagement
A consultant sets her MLE at £3,000 for any project, regardless of scope. A prospective client asks if she can do something smaller for £1,500.
“I’m afraid £3,000 is our minimum engagement, company policy. I’d love to help if the budget can stretch to that.”
The client either finds the extra budget, or moves on. Either way, she never wastes hours negotiating an unprofitable project.
See also
- The Scope of your offering
- The Default Effect
- Ascension Model
- 150+ ways to connect with your buyer
- 140+ ways to be easier to buy from
