September 22, 2021

There is a trend in the business coaching world telling business owners to charge what they’re worth. But in the real world ‘because i’m worth it’ doesn’t fly as a price justification for potential clients.  If I was given this reason when challenging a price point, I’d end the call. And yes it is TOTALLY normal for people to challenge you on price. It doesn’t make them a bad person! Challenges usually arise from not fully understanding the value of what they are getting. That’s on you. In this episode, I’m talking you through how to price your services with integrity so that you can confidently state your prices and sell your services without feeling icky.  Listen on the player abover or read the blog below.

Pricing with Integrity for Feel Good Sales

Pricing has come up recently in external content and inside of my Elevate programme. In Elevate, I have a client who wants to confidently raise their prices. If you are looking to raise your prices for existing clients, you can listen to this extra episode here about how to raise prices without losing clients. So, I know this topic is going to be useful for you.

Charge what you are worth

I have noticed in the online space a theme of “you should charge what you’re worth”. I am all for charging your worth but I don’t think that gives the full story. It is missing some intergral elements and this can be damaging to businesses and consumers. It is a false egotistical wind that is blowing up your shorts. That you are worth the world and you need to charge it. The nice message is we should absolutely be charging our worth. However, it is also promoting an over-inflated sense of ego and we can start setting ridiculous pricing. To the point where there is no backing to the price. When you miss the backbone and substance behind your pricing, it makes it hard to articulate why someone should invest in your products and services. If I was on a call and looking to invest, brought up a concern about the price and they said “it’s because I’m worth it,” I would put the phone down. It is a defensive way of coming up with pricing. You get a business coach who tells them to boost the price and charge more – then when they finish and come back down to earth, they don’t know how to justify it. You are missing out on sales. And it doesn’t feel good for either party. You want to feel good about sales, to state your price with confidence and integrity. I will share some golden rules on how to state your pricing with integrity. Without having to fall back on saying you a worth it. We can undervalue ourselves but to raise your price, you need to do more than raise your mindset. And it is this part that is often missed.

Price what the product is worth

Rather than price what you are worth, it is about pricing what the product is worth.  You need to think about what goes into your product or service that warrants the price point. Stop charging time ofr money and start charging for the transformation. Why should you charge for time?  Firstly, it is not just time that you’re accounting for. When you only account for time, you will get into a pickle. You will quickly run out of time if this is all you charge. There is a limit to your capacity and earnings. It doesn’t make sense. You do have to take time into account. However, it is more about what they get from your product rather than how much time you spend. I could sit on a call with someone for an hour and have a lovely chat. I don’t charge my friends for that time. It is not how long you spend with someone, it is what they get out of it.

Return on investment and transformation

Instead of charging for time, you should be looking at the return on investment and transformation that your client will get from your service when they complete it. You should have a timeline and not open ended work. Plus, goals to achieve within that timeline so they can see the solid results they can gain within that period. When the time is open-ended, it makes the transformation vague. This is not to say you cannot do a retainer but for you main product-offering, it should be time-bound. If you are offering a long-term product you should be clear about when they will see results once working with you. For example, the first three months might be clarity and then the next three months will be support. This is a key thing to look at.

Articulate the results

Before you can give the timelines you need to be able to articulate the result they can expect from working with you. Some of the biggest issues people default to charging for time is because they don’t have a clue about what the outcomes and return on investment will be. The clarity on your end is critical to be able to price your products. If you don’t have clarity on the tranformation then how will you be able to price your product? This can happen when you are not clear on your niche. And understanding what they struggle with so what they will get out of it. If you are not clear on niche and transformation then you are not clear on the basics of business. In fact, not only are you unable to confidently state your pricing, you will be undervaluing what you do and not making many sales. If this is your issue, the messaging is the thing to figure out at this stage. When you know what your main outcome is that your solve, then you know the impact you have. Not just directly but across the rest of their lives. It could be their health, financials, mindset, relationships with family, to expand their network. How does what you do for people help them across the board in their whole life. The direct impact is really important for selling. You need to make it specific for that big, juicy want. You can also tap into the indirect impact. Take this into account when pricing.

Look at the complete view and ask:

  • Who are you targeting?
  • What are you solving?
  • Where are your ideal client trying to get to?
  • What goal do they want to achieve?
  • How does achieving this impact on their lives?

Take into account time and energy expended

Remember, this is not limited to the time you spend on calls or delivery. Think about the energy you use as well. For example, do you offer Voxer support inbetween calls? Take this into account. Also consider the prep time, on-call time and in between support. How much energy do you expend on these activities? I think about my client’s businesses all of the time. When I can, I think about ways they can improve and what they can do to step up. Or to create better messaging and USPs. My brain is always whirring. So when I take on a client it is a lot of energy I’m using. I’m always thinking about them, thinking how they can improve. I was on holiday in Scotland on a walk and had a brainwave for an idea about this particular client’s business. This is what I mean in terms of energy. Voxer support can take you away from your daily tasks. You need to price for this and limit the amount of spaces where people can access you to limit the risk of burnout. Consider the energy and how it feels. I encourage my clients to feel into all of these different things they have to do. The prep they have to do for their delivery. Imagine being called upon in the day and think about a response. Reading and replying to emails. I can get long emails that take a lot of energy to process. I get brain dump emails with questions. This takes time and energy to unpick what is going on. It is important to feel into all of this. Not just the specific time you are running calls. For example, I’ve worked with therapists who deal with trauma. This is time consuming but it is also emotionally draining. You have to take this into account when looking at your pricing. Account for all of this when you price.

Your unique expertise

You need to think about how your business is born from your genius. In Elevate, we come up with your solid USP. What makes your services entirely unique compared to anyone else. What makes it uniquely useful. This enables you to feel confident about your pricing. We need to understand this. Having confidence in pricing comes from feeling unique and knowing how you stand out. Think about the length of time you’ve spent training or worked through issues to get to the solution that helps others. Consider what you bring in terms of experience, qualification and your unique process. If you are thinking that you are not that different from anyone else out there – you need to do something about this. Otherwise, you are relying on you get to someone first or that you’ll hope and pray it will all work out. You don’t have a competitive advantage over anyone else. There is room for multiple businesses in the market but you all need to stand out in your own way. Your angle needs to resonate with someone more than another business’. What makes you stand out against everyone else. All the markets are saturated. So unless you want to be compared on price, you need to give them a tangible reason for your higher pricing. When you do this, you can reason and justify your prices. So when challenged, you can say why your product is worth it. What it offers that other people do not. Your solid USP is so important to charge what you want to charge. If you want help with messaging, niching and getting your solid USP to build the credibility to charge higher pricing. And to have the confidence to charge these higher prices, then Elevate is the best place for you to be. To elevate your status to be the number one choice regardless of what price you put on your product. Book a call with me here. 

Useful links: 

Book a Call with Jen  – bit.ly/claritycallpodcast

Download my FREE Seven Figure Market Leader Roadmap  –http://www.marketleaderleague.com/marketleaderroadmap/

Send your emails to jen@jen-hall.com

Available on Apple iTunes, Spotify & Stitcher (Just search Expert Unrivalled Podcast)

About the author 

Jennifer Hall

Jen Hall is Business Clarity Coach for Coaches, Consultants & Experts who want to become Unrivalled Go-To Experts.

Jen not only gets you clear on your micro-niche, message and what makes you unique and desirable, but she helps you to define what makes you an irrefutable offer to the market so you can position yourself as a high-end 'must have' option for your prospects.

She is a Multi-Award Winning Speaker and Best Selling Author of Expert Unrivalled.

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