Who Else Wants Strategies To Get Paid What You Are Worth? by Kim Schott
Do you wring your hands at the thought of raising your prices and having to tell perfectly good clients that you’re going to have to start charging them more?
Is your biggest fear that some of your prospects will walk away if you add a small increase to your current fees?
At the start of a new year, this is a key time to get your business in order, focus on your pricing strategy and ensure your business will not only thriving this year, but experiencing a steady stream of cash-flow that comes in every hour of every day, without any
maintenance whatsoever.
Of course, earning the money you deserve for the value you add to your clients is a big part of that and many self-employed professionals often don’t charge nearly enough.
Raising rates for self-employed professionals can be a really nerve-wracking thing. I think there are a lot of fears and questions that come up. Will I lose local or global clients? Will prospects not sign up with me? Will I be nervous? How do I deal with a sliding scale or currency conversion? Should I discount? They’re afraid of asking too much and scaring perfectly good customers and prospects away… and they’re equally terrified of asking too little, and leaving money on the table.
Now, I know from experience that great small business marketing has no regard for price. Want to hear the good news? The good news is that you have different options to raise your client prices.
Let’s first look at five reasons for wanting to raise your rates.
Number One – Perception is reality. If you’re giving your item away, you better be doing it because you have a client attractive backend product or service. And, you better be able to do lots of volume. When you’re rates are too low, I find that it creates a perception of poor service in the global marketplace. You may be doing a fantastic job; you may be the best at what you do but if your rates are too low, people will not think that you have anything unique to offer.
Number Two – You have too many clients and not enough time. This usually resulted from my clients not charging enough, so basically the answer from just about every prospect was, ‘Hey, I might as well work with them. It’s not a lot of money.’ Which was great at first, but the problem with that is when you are at full client capacity, you still want the money so you keep taking clients on. Then you discover that you have no life with your friends or family whatsoever.
Number Three – Catching up with the marketplace. You may have been in business for a while and feel comfortable with the prices you are charging, but because you haven’t increased your rates, the entire marketplace has moved beyond you and yet, you’re still using the same prices you were at a year ago.
Number Four – Creating exclusivity in the marketplace. What I mean by that is if your service or product is expensive, you work your soft-sales pitch around that fact. If you are asking the big bucks, quids in, then you need to justify your expense in your client communication. Don’t make your client justify your cost for herself/himself. If you think your global clientele is going to gasp from “sticker shock” then you need to set them up with a client attractive headline, “Before I tell you how much this is, let me ask you a question. Would you spend one dollar/euro/pound a week to add 25 miles an hour to your golf swing?” People will begin to assume that you have this exclusive service – this perception of real quality – and that really can become very client attractive. It depends on who you are, when you do it, and how you do it, but this could be one reason that you want to raise your rates.
Number Five – You want to make more than you’re making now within the hours that you have. And I find most of my clients fall into this category. They want to make more, they know they need to be making more, they want to spend more time with the people they love and they’re just not sure how to charge more.
People are sensitive to price in an absolutely crazy way. They’ll shop clear across town to save 30 cents on a six-pack of bottled tap water, and then drop an insane amount of cash for a new car that loses half its value the second it’s driven off the lot.
Why do adults from every culture around the world do this? Clients who rave about my Keys to Client Communication System know. It’s in our mental software, which shapes our cultural values. Finding a store with cheaper bottled water feels like a small victory. Buying a new Mercedes or Rolls Royce is more like joining a special club, or adopting a new identity.
Use this lesson in your Client Attraction Marketing. In terms of raising your prices, I want to point out that your current rates have more to do with your mindset than anything else – Please write this down and hang it above your computer: YOUR MINDSET affects how much you charge; what YOU believe you are worth and the value that YOU believe you bring to your clients. I find that once I begin working with clients on their mindset and self-worth, immediately we can raise their rates and start attracting local and global clients that are willing to pay more. People will pay what it costs to get what they want. And it’s not the deal you get… it’s the deal you think you get. All we need is a good reason, and we’ll buy your stuff. With 100% clarity, you need to be confident about the results you bring your local and global clients. Then raising your rates is not a big deal.
This week, consider these three tidbits from the trenches:
The quickest and easiest way to raise or even set your rates is to model your prices after a successful colleague in your industry. Look at what others are charging and whether it’s on the high end or the low end, and actually pick a middle price point on the scale. Now, that’s a valid way to start, but after a while when you need a better reason and a better rationale for charging more, you’ll notice that the problem is most people don’t charge enough in your industry.
Try bumping up your prices incrementally. Let’s say, just for a round number, if you’re charging $400 (or, 300 EUR) a month or $400 a session, then maybe you just bump it up an extra $100 every three months.
Try offering three different programs or infoproducts with three different prices. My clients know this option like the back of their hand, because I talk about it in great detail within my Keys to Client Communication System. If you are a Direct Marketing, Network Marketing, or independent consultant, consider using my system to create a infoproduct around what you sell. For example, if you sell financial products, then create an audio CD or downloadable document that contains 10 reasons why the average person needs to become financially savvy. What I want you to understand is that people who want to pay more, people who when offered 3 different prices automatically go for the highest one because they feel they deserve it. The minute you let that sink into your mindset it’ll be much easier for you to raise your rates.
Ok, you are ready to take action and increase your rates incrementally, but what if you are not sure how to communicate the rate increase to your clients? Then sign up for one of our Client Attraction programs. My clients know that with every call they are offered many more scenarios on how to increase their rates, when to increase your rates, when to “grandfather” in clients at the old rate, why you should avoid discounting your services, how to create scholarships to your programs, create programs and infoproducts that are client attractive, the proper culturally intelligent language, and all the letters and templates you need to let clients know the rationale behind you increasing your rates. Within my Keys to Client Communication System, I reveal my simple-to-implement secrets, step by step, and give you an opportunity to create the same results in your own business, faster than you thought possible. Get more details on our programs by visiting www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com. I learned Client Attraction Marketing the hard way. Why bang your head against the wall, when you can just model yourself after my proven client communication system?
Kim Schott, your Global Client Communication Expert, is the author of the Keys to Client Communication System, the step-by-step, paint by numbers client attraction program to attract more clients in less time. To receive your weekly how-to articles on consistantly attracting more local and global clients in less time, visit http://www.SchottCulturalConsulting.com
Article Source: http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/Who-Else-Wants-Strategies-To-Get-Paid-What-You-Are-Worth-/276459
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