2 Simple Ways to Increase Value
Everyone wants to know how to charge more for their services. I mean EVERYone. Well, I don’t know anyone who wants to charge less.
Recently, I talked with a wedding pro who said that she raised her rates because she was booking a ton (good) but increased them by over 30% (not so good). She’s gone from having the best year ever to the worst on record.
She thought she was charging too much for her market and I disagreed with her. I personally know two people doing the same thing she is in the same market she is – and they’re charging more than double what her entry price is.
The real issue isn’t price, it’s value
You see, people don’t want cheap. (They also don’t want expensive.) They want a good value. They want something that meets their needs and feels reasonable compared to what they would expect to pay for it. And what others are charging.
So, a couple of things are going on here:
- If you’re charging more than others in your market then you have to show more value than they do.
- If you can’t find a way to show more value you have to lower your rates until you do.
I want to point out the operative word here:
Show
It’s not what you do that matters as much as how you show people what it will do for them.
How do you show them? Well, I’m really glad you asked!
We’ve been talking about it these past several weeks. (Go back and read the blog posts from February and March if you’re on the blog.) You do it in the sales process. You connect with them. You make them feel heard. You help them identify their own needs. You take what they’re feeling and thinking, and then you translate it into the vision they couldn’t articulate themselves.
2 tips for your next conversation with a client
Want a simple approach to show your value without much effort or training from me?
1) Take notes on your next call with a client or buyer. And actually tell them you’re taking notes. “I may be a little slow in responding to some things, because I’m taking notes so I get all the important stuff written down. Is that okay with you?”
Boom. They immediately feel heard and valued.
2) After the call, send an email recapping the most important points. Put in how great it was to chat, thank them for sharing, and then highlight the biggest takeaways for you. If you can connect what they said “on the surface” with what you felt was really going on “down below” then you’ll score big bonus points.
Give it a try. These kinds of tactics allow you to charge more for your services. Not 30+% more, but a fraction here and a fraction there starts to add up.
