Show them the door
Hard truth: Customers don’t hate anything more than “being educated” (especially by you). In the sense of “Hey, you, customer. I know better. Let me educate you.” It’s so obnoxious. Don’t educate them. When you choose to educate others, it comes as condescending. And in a disparity of power dynamic. Come along and understand where they come from. Then, give them the information to make their decision. Show them the door.
No fucking way!
“No fucking way!” That’s what you want to hear from your customers. As in: “No fucking way! That’s really what we wanted all along. After trying with other options, how is it you got it SO fast?! That’s amazing.” You get to that by delighting them. And asking the right questions. And —while having a broad range of understanding— with a deep knowledge of what you’re really good at. And willing to understand. To listen to get it, not to reply. And pushing them back on their thinking. And…
Hey, wanna play with fire?
Negotiation. How do you identify yourself in this case? Focusing on what’s important for them (your customers)? Or playing with fire? Check this vid out, and let me know.
Not their job
Customers aren’t supposed to “see” “find” “figure out” what’s that that you provide. It’s your job to help them see that. You’re the expert at what you do; they, on what they do (and want). Make it simple.
Your value is not important
Value pricing. There’s a big misconception with it. It has nothing to do with your value —or how you perceive your own value, or how your customers have to understand what you sell to show them how you justify your prices. Or how much effort you put into it. Or how cool you are. Or how great your work is. None of it. Take yourself out of the picture. Value pricing has to do with what your customer values —what they believe is important. Value pricing takes this factor and prices in alignment…
Misleading your customers is good for you
When you work in music, movies, or art. When you delight your audience with the unexpected. When you prepare them to expect the unexpected. Not in business, though. You don’t want your customers to be misled. You want to surprise them, yeah; yet with an idea they’re part of. There, you lead them. And that’s how you delight them. PS.- If you want some fun misleading and are into the MCU (Marvel), do watch Deadpool. Great misleading (and tons of swearing, just FYI).
Made up numbers
Pricing. Setting prices is grabbing numbers and making them up. You’ve been taught “formulas” for it, yet, at the end of the day, they’re still made up. Or is there a specific reason that you ought to make X% because “that’s the standard”? Now, while all of what your customers pay you are made up numbers, the approach to it is what makes them different. There’s the misbelief that because something “costed you X”, “took you years to learn”, “took you X effort”, “takes you X time to do”, your…
Shall we?
Wanna play a game? Same situation. You need to make an important decision on your business. A game-changer. And you approach 2 advisors —could be a lawyer, a consultant, an accountant, a fractional CMO/CFO/COO… up to you. Both will get you to the same information to make your decision. Adv 1’s response: Let me look into it, do some research. It might be around 5 weeks.I’m estimating 60 hours at $80 per hour. Approx total: $ 4800 Adv 2’s response: That?I can tell you right away. The price…
Charge what you’re worth
How many times you’ve been told that, and yet, you’re still underpriced? Or worse, “underpromising and overdelivering”… This thing of “you deserve to get paid what you’re worth” is nonsense. Your worth and what you get paid are not correlated. In a business setting (this means: if you’re working doing work for someone other than yourself) what you get paid has little to nothing to do with what you’re worth. Because if that were the case, you’d be able to charge whatever (made up) number you…
Same situation, 2 advisors
In yesterday’s daily the message kind of didn’t get through the intended way. I’m sorry. There were a few readers’ responses that made me realize that. Thank you. 🙂 Hopefully, this time it will be clearer. Imagine this. You need to make an important decision on your business. A game-changer. One that has the potential to change the way you’re perceived in the market you serve. You approach 2 advisors (Will and Joe). Your budget is 10K. In the future of this (imaginary) scenario, both of them…