Help me save a deal

This was an inbound lead for a big ticket service line - custom NLP model development

The folks on the other side don't seem to hold positions of MAJOR influence (one is a manager, while the other is her subordinate). However, they were pretty clear with the scope and everything, and we had the NDA signed and routed via their legal department.

I tried multi-threading and getting others involved in the process, but they were adamant that there's no one else needed or involved here. We get around to defining the overall scope and outlining what development plans look like (this is over the course of 2-3 calls, with one of them involving the development team from our side).

Timeline has been very aggressive with them, and I was equally persistent about moving things along so we can go to development quickly to meet said timelines. I knew who else was competing with us (I was lucky that I got a wrong NDA attached in the email and that's how I knew who we were competing against). On our last call, I did drop the numbers - a rough range since they were persistent on pricing and the scope wasn't laid out till then.

I suggested an approach that has worked best for our clients in the past where we have a scope assessment phase, and that was convincing for both of them. I even spoke with the subordinate to get a better sense on where we stand, our approach and how comfortable they are, and what their process looks like.

Anyway, last week the manager tells me to share an offer as we're at that stage now. I share one, and get this reply -

Thank you for your evaluation. We have gone through it and decided that it is more than we have budgeted for. So unfortunately, we will proceed with other vendor.

Thank you for your time.

Couple things -

• They might have been only stringing me along and this project isn't a massive priority for them since it is for the marketing department of one category of their products, and hence not something of major value for the entire company.
• We're obviously not cheap. Our pricing is significantly higher than the company we are competing against.
• I have it recorded on call that they see the value in our process and how we are approaching developing this model for them, so it definitely isn't a case of "you didn't show them the value".

I'm also looking to learn as to what's the best way to set budget and deal ticket size expectations here? During our first call, I asked them what kind of budget do they have in place for this, and she was vague with "the budget is there, and it is flexible but we cannot share the number with you". How do you get a number out of a prospect?

During my calls with them, when I shared the range - I made it clear that it'll cost anywhere from 60K to 90K depending on the scope.

I sent this as a reply -

Pricing aside, do you see any reason to not work with us? This is extremely helpful for us. I'd appreciate your honest feedback on this.

This way, if pricing is the only barrier then we can work something out. Obviously, I haven't received a reply yet which is why I'm losing my marbles over this deal.

Anyway, how do you folks see it? Do you think there's something I could have done differently, or something that I can do now to salvage this?