This has been around quite a while, but I think it bears repeating.

Often times a professional is asked about cost, as in, “How much will this cost?” One of the best answers I have heard goes something like this – “Customers of ours who have saved and/or seen an increase of $V, have spent $P, but unless we can discover $V we won’t even send you a proposal.”

I personally believe that V should be at least three times P. My reasoning is that in the rare cases the price ends up being 2P, the value is still greater than price.

This is not a perfect answer and does not always move the asker off the cost question, but it is the only way I have seen that has a chance in moving them at all.