Last post, I described two of my clients and how they each reacted to the concept of charging what they are worth.  Client #1 embraced it and raised her rates by 25%.  Client #2 struggled with feelings of guilt about raising her rates. Now let’s look at the outcomes.

Client #1 states that she shows up more fully and that her clients get better results because she wants to give more because she’s charging more. Did you get that? By charging MORE, she was giving MORE. It’s surprising that even though you think you are giving a lot, simply by raising your fees, you have to grow into a person and deliver a service worth of what you are charging, so you will improve your outcomes.

Sadly, client #2 is feeling some resentment toward her clients because she knows she’s giving it away for too little. (But thankfully she’s fully committed to changing this so is doing the mindset work necessary to make the shift.)

Let me give you a couple more examples of how this sneaky and creepy feeling comes in if you haven’t set your fees according to your value.

One client who was a VA found herself really angry when her client always complained about not being able to pay her fees, yet would spend $1500 buying jewelry and stuff from QVC! My client continued to keep her fees low and even allowed late payments from this woman! Definitely a place for resentment to begin to fester.

A colleague of mine who coaches chiropractors realized that he had charged a doctor $5000, but because of his suggestions, his client was able to grow their bottom line by about $200,000! It was at this point that he decided to shift his model and move to a profit sharing fee – something I have just begun to play with as well.

Do you see yourself in any of these examples? If so, let’s now look at how we can shift this.

The first place I want to start is with mindset.

Three questions here –
Is there a little part of me that is resentful now, or am I at risk of being resentful in the future because I am not charging the right fees?

What beliefs/inner dialogue is going on in my head that keeps me stuck? (This is where you look at your self talk. As an example, client #2 would remember the conversations she had where her clients complained about their financial situations and then hear herself say, “I can’t charge them more money….they wouldn’t be able to afford it and it’s not right of me to mess up their finances by doing that.”) Write down what you tell yourself to keep stuck in this loop.

What new belief would I have to install to be able to comfortably charge the fee that is right for ME? Some examples may be, “I give tremendous value” or “There is enough money out there” or “I only attract the clients to me who value my services and happily pay my fees.” Begin each day by looking at your new beliefs and repeating them until it becomes your natural way of being.

Now that we’ve visited what’s going on in your head, next time we’ll talk about what’s going on with your pricing.  You’ll see how being honest with yourself both areas will make all the difference in feeling great about being compensated for the value you provide.

Blessings,

Therese

P.S.

Have you registered for the Body Mind and Business Breakthrough Telesummit yet?  If not, take a minute to register at www.BodyMindandBusiness.com.  I’ll be speaking this Thursday, June 10th at 11 am Pacific about “How to stop the money sucking blocks in your business so you can make more money, have more fun, and help more people in the process”and would love to see you there!

She could have been pissed off at me.

In the beginning it was going that way, but by the end it all made sense to the client.

She was referred to me by the owners of the Big Blend Magazine where I am the Small Business Guru.  (A huge plug for them because it’s a been great way to advertise and get visibility!)

Her focus for buying the strategy session was to have help in creating a membership site.  So I began to ask her questions.  Loads and loads and loads of questions.  I could tell that she was getting a bit frustrated because she wanted to get instruction on how to build the site, but I needed to get the big picture.    That’s how my brain works….

You see, all that she thought of was adding a site onto her existing offerings.  It hadn’t occurred to her that maybe clients would enter at different levels of expertise or want a “do-it-yourself” vs. “done-for-you” option.  She didn’t get that there has to be a way to interlock all the parts in the client journey.

In the end, we came up with a beautiful FULL funnel of how a client could enter, what the special report would be to capture data, different levels the clients could get to, how to market to them, and how to get a whole lot more cash than she had thought of.  Oh, and of course all the mindset stuff that she’d need to pull it off.

As we were processing the session she did admit that in the beginning she was getting really frustrated because she didn’t see how all the pieces fit together as she was so focused on what the thing that she thought needed to be in place should have been.   But she was delighted with how it turned out!

Now for you….are you fixated on that one offering at the expense of the bigger picture?  Ask yourself the same questions I asked this now happy client -

Where do people enter when they work with you?

What skill level do they come with and what can you teach/offer in each level?

Have you surveyed them to see what they want and what they are willing to pay?

Who would you have to become to have a grander vision like this?

What can you outsource – cuz most likely you are the bottle neck?

What is your vision for your business in a year?

Answering those questions will help you take the big view and not get stuck making the mistake of trying to piece things together.

I guess sometimes its a good thing when your coach uses intuition!  Giving someone what they NEED versus what they WANT is often times much more kind in the long run.

Blessings!

p.s.  Feel free to leave a comment about how you take the long view.

Today I don’t have the answers.  I am not going to give you three quick tips or five easy strategies.  I’m sitting in the question.  So today I’m going to pose for you some deep questions that need to be asked.…….

If you read this blog from a couple of days ago, you will remember that I am conducting a survey, asking for people’s opinions about what they would like to see in a marking makeover program.   (The survey is http://bit.ly/8gkwb here by the way if you want to add your two cents)

It’s been really awesome to see the answers as they roll in.  I’m so grateful to all who have participated, but the last response that came in is the one that really struck a cord with me.

This person talked about taking another coaches very high end program.  They got great content, but after it was all over, the person was left feeling like, “Now what?”  The foundation was in place, ideas were generated, but there was no follow system or next steps in place, so after spending tons of money, the writer doesn’t feel like they are moving forward because they need more support.

It got me thinking.  As I work to design my program, what happens three months after the program ends?  What do my clients get if they have a questions down the road?  Am I going to avail myself to them, or will they have to wait till the next program rolls out?  It really is a discussion about what our role as information marketers or service providers is.  When people entrust us with their confidence and make investments in themselves through working with us, how much do we owe them?  I know myself and the folks that I like to hang out with tend to ‘give away the farm’ a bit, but then there are those who you can only get some face time if you are paying BIG BUCKS to.

It’s a tricky question, that’s for sure.  Is there a way to do a 90 day program but then offer three more months of some kind of additional support?  Is that for free, or for a fee?  (Maybe its kinda like the warranty on your car – “six months, six product launches, or 6 sales pages later….here’s what you get…” )

The question becomes when is a program enough?  And when should clients pay to keep getting more of you?

Probably more questions than answers, but I’d love your ideas to how you have handled this situation.

And thanks so much for the writer who shared (anonymously) with me on the survey.  May your words inspire us all to do a better job serving the people we are blessed to serve.

Blessings!

While that was an amazing movie, and I usually love the concept of building first in your mind, as a marketer I have to warn you that it may bite you in the butt!

I was recently talking to one of my mastermind buddies, Natasha Allrich, about this very concept.  We were sharing the programs we were providing, and I told her about one I had done earlier in the year that truthfully, didn’t get the results I wanted.

Natasha asked one powerful question….

“Did you ask your market what THEY wanted, or did you just create a program based on what YOU wanted?”

OK, she busted me!  That is exactly where I went wrong.  I loved my concept, wrote killer copy, threw in loads of value….but never did the research to see if the offering and price point were what my fun lovin’ business owner types would want.

Have you ever made this mistake?  More than likely, yes.  We all do.

The secret is to go to your ideal clients and have them tell you what they would pay for.

I want to give you some tips on how to survey your audience.

1.  Online Survey – I use www.SurveyMonkey.com – Super easy and very low tech!  Make it short, but ask a few questions about price, content, and how to best deliver the program.  Example, would they like a day time workshop live or an evening virtual teleseminar?

2.  Pick up the darn phone – Calling your old (and ideal) clients about what they would want is a great strategy.  You have to stay away from folks who aren’t your market.  Example, your brother the plumber doesn’t get to tell you that you are charging too much….unless you are serving plumbers, that is!

3.  The power of social media – using Twitter or LinkedIn polls to get answers is another effective way.  You are getting access to way more people that you probably have in your neighborhood, so this is a no cost and easy way to gain some valuable information.

4.  Offer an incentive – you can add something to your newsletter or survey that if folks take a few minutes of their time, you will gift them with xyz.  It could be a free report, a $25 off coupon, entered into a drawing for a session with you, etc.

5.  Make sure you keep it short – no one is going to answer 47 questions.  But if you can come up with 3-5 questions that will get you the info you need, you are probably going to be able to get some good answers.

And finally…I’m gonna ask, because I’m not making the same mistake again!

Can I get your two cents?  I have a quick 3 question survey that I’d love you to answer to help me better design my 90 Day Marketing Makeover Program.  You can grab that here:

http://bit.ly/8gkwb

If you fill it out and email me telling me that you read this on the blog, I’ll enter your name into a drawing for a strategy session which is valued at $297 – cuz I REALLY appreciate you taking the time!

Now go out there and start asking your market what THEY want.

Blessings!

“What do you want to achieve in this session,” I asked.

“Can you review the new sales page that I wrote,” she said.

That’s where it started.  And fifty minutes later she had a completely different business model, had a plan to quadruple her income, and added a membership site for more leveraged revenue.

What a rewarding time!  Doing Strategy Sessions is one of my most favorite things because I can take the persons business, understand what motivates them, find what they desire, rip the heck out of their current model, then spin something really amazing out of all the pieces.

In this case we went from a business owner who sold only a $19 ebook, and turned it into a $97 Toolkit.  We then added a 90 day free membership for everyone who buys her  product so she moved from a one time purchase to monthly income.  How cool is that?!?  Let’s do the numbers – if she had 50 sales at $19 she’d be making $950/mo.  50 sales at the new price is over $4800!  Just one tweak and she’s rolling in the dough.

It got me thinking of how many creative entrepreneurs spend so much time energy and money, yet don’t have a business model that has the maximum revenue potential.

A couple of years ago I coached a woman who had a list of 22,000.  (Imagine that!)  She sold one thing – a $247 info product that she was getting ready to sink loads of money in to create videos and promotion for.  The problem was that this was a one time use.  So she had a huge list, worked her butt off to market, but once she made a sale, there was no other offering for those purchasers to get.

The solution?  We also created a funnel for her and added different levels of membership, and a higher end coaching program.   Finally, she could leverage that huge list and get loyal fans who kept coming back for more.

Now I want you to look at your business.  Is there a way to add more offerings?  Can you sell a upgraded version of your product?  Do you have a mechanism to have your customers return, or do they buy once and leave you?

An hour spent brainstorming these three questions can make your life (and revenue) a lot sweeter!  Think outside the box my friends……

And if you need some more support, get a hold of me and we’ll work some magic on your biz.

Blessings,

Did you ever just wish you could be a fly on the wall when great coaching happens?  People make shifts all the time in this process, so I thought I’d share one of my cool client stories with you so you get to ‘eavesdrop’ on the process and apply the questions to your own business.

A couple of days ago I did a strategy session with one of my newer clients, Karen Kanakanui of www.wordsareus.com.  Karen came to the call looking  to figure out how the info product she was working on would fit into her long term plans, but WHOA Nelly………..she got WAY more than she bargained for!

You see Karen is a copywriter who calls herself an “expert in using audio to grow your business.”  I often listen with an ear for how a consumer hears our ‘elevator’ pitches, so the first place I intervened was in suggesting to Karen that what she thought she was an expert in wasn’t really THE THING.  See, she’s really an expert in helping people drive traffic to their sites using copywriting, and then using audio to get them to take action.  (We call that magical concept conversion!)  We discovered that when Karen only spoke of the tools she used, her audience probably didn’t connect as powerfully with her because no one really cares about the WHAT….customers only want the RESULTS.  First big breakthrough……

Next we looked at Karen’s business model.  Oh, this is where it gets juicy for me!  She currently offers copywriting and voice over.  She has an idea for a product where she would interview people, then create an audio product (like an opt-in piece) do the technical stuff, write the ‘hooks’ and then get it back to them.  This is a good idea, don’t you agree?

But it came to me like a lightening bolt while we were discussing this………..

“How else can I consume you,” I asked.

Of course this is such a WEIRD question that Karen stopped and said, “WHAT?”

How else can I consume you,” I asked again…….

Let me put it a different way for you just as I did for Karen.  “If I were to want to buy some of your time or get more of you or your knowledge HOW ELSE COULD I DO THAT?”

See, as Karen was telling me the amazing things she was up to, I was getting really excited because I just happen to be her target market and could use her services.  But she hadn’t yet told me how I could! Do you see how big of a challenge this is?  Karen had one thing she offered – copywriting – yet she’s such an expert in so many areas that could help me as I design a new website and do marketing for my clients.

Breakthrough #2 was when I basically blew Karen’s business model apart and said, “OK, let’s look at all the ways folks could get access to your knowledge.”  We began with her audio product, then added two more components to it.  (Some folks are DIY’s – Do It Yourselfers – while others just want to hand it off and have it done.)  I then added a consultation level because there are some of us who may just want a few hours with someone who knows so much about traffic/conversion.

Karen started the call with the idea of adding a very one dimensional offering, and ended the call with about 5 new things!  It’s funny because when I called Karen the next day to ask if I could share this story, she said, “Yes, tell them that it was overwhelming, amazing, and mind boggling to walk away with all of this.”  I do have to admit that sometimes I get on a roll with these strategy sessions and it’s a bit like drinking water from a fire hydrant, but hey….it’s a gift!  What can I say. 

Your task, my dear reader is to sit in that question……….How can someone consume more of me? That one powerful question can literally generate thousands of dollars in new revenue.

I’d love you to comment on what you come up with as you ask yourself this wonderful question…

Go for it!