In this blog post, I’m sharing what to consider when pricing and how to overcome some pricing limiting beliefs.
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One of the things I work on with my 1:1 clients is their money mindset. I’ve spent the past few years working on my own mindset and I know that when it’s good, my business is good. When it’s not, my business can feel tougher.
A couple of weeks ago we were having a conversation with our 17 year old daughter, Natasha, about veterinary bills. Our little dog, Lulu, was supposed to have an operation for removal of a cyst last year and on the day of the op it miraculously disappeared. We’re into the Law of Attraction, so we jokingly said she’s been manifesting it to clear up. The operation would have cost £600, but it ended up being nothing.
Natasha, who is doing her A-levels in preparation to go to Uni to train as a Vet, said “It seems like a lot of money, but you have to remember that you’re not just paying for the operation. You’re paying for the medication, the time of the operation, the years of studying the vet has undertaken and the Vet’s experience. All of those things have to be factored in.”
Now, that’s my girl! A super healthy money mindset, at the age of 17.
What I see in my business, on a regular basis, and I’ve been guilty of it in the past too, is that we charge for the hour, we feel awkward asking for what our services are worth, because we discount all of the things we’ve learned/experienced/overcome over the years. We charge for that service but don’t think about how much time, money and energy we’ve invested to get the knowledge over the years that will ultimately help our clients.
If we want to be successful in business, this has to change.
Charging for your services by the hour will potentially mean two things, one you get exhausted and two, you will hit a ceiling with your income. Now the beauty of running your own service-based business is that there doesn’t have to be a ceiling. Unless you create it of course.
It’s important to think about what you’re offering and how you can maximize that offering, so that you can deliver great service, without it burning you out in the process.
All sounds great so far, but how do you do that?
Well, you add value. You need to think about how you can package up your expertise.
I talk about several areas a lot in my business, so let’s take one of them – niching, or finding your dreamie clients. I can spend time going through this with my 1:1 clients or I can share a pre-recorded training video and worksheet so they can go through it in their own time. Then we come on the call together, it’s not me hashing over the same content (which let’s be honest can become a bit tedious) AND the bonus is then I can work with my client on delving much deeper to get even more juicy nuggets of clarity.
Here’s a list of ways that you could add value to what you offer:
- Digital downloads, eBooks, 7 top tips, reports
- Access to group calls
- Free extras that are low cost to you, but of great value to your client, i.e. the Accounting video I mentioned
- Pep talks in between sessions up to a maximum amount of time
- A free fringe cut
- Some sample content/templates etc.
- Useful resources, documents, tools, links, videos
- Teleclasses, webinars, podcasts you’ve recorded
- Audio or video responses – if a client asks a question about something you could answer with a recorded response, a bit like my Bit.ly and Pinterest videos where you share the screen to teach them something or it might be a pep talk video a bit like my inner critic style of video
- Pre-work questionnaires or exercises, i.e. mini workbooks
- Post- work questionnaires where your client might answer a series of questions to consolidate their coaching and learnings
- Typed action list that you send after each session
- Accountability – contacting them between sessions to ensure momentum
- Constructive feedback between sessions to support them
- Discounts on other programmes/packages that you offer
- Access to a library of resources that you’ve built
- Access to a Facebook group or other community group that might be of support to them
- Access for a set period of time into a group
- Email support
As you build your business you will start to create tools/exercises to support your clients – save them so that these can be things that you use in various ways.
When you think about your pricing you need to think about what you want to portray overall – value or premium? Either is fine, but it needs to be relevant to your ideal clients. Do not price based on your feelings of self-worth, think about the value you bring, the transformation.
Pricing is as much about confidence as it is about charging for your services. Start to answer the following questions and turning some of your beliefs around. If you need to do more work around beliefs then it might be worth buddying up with someone or working with a coach to help boost your confidence in charging at the right price point. It could be the difference of make or break for your business.
It’s possible that you’re holding onto some old beliefs around pricing that don’t empower you so your call to action this week is to write down the answers to the following 6 questions. Worried you’ll miss them where you’re just listening? Don’t worry, I’ve turned them into a quick cheat sheet for you, and you’ll also get the list of values too so you can refer back to it as and when you need it 
What’s important to you about your pricing?
What beliefs do you already have about pricing your services?
Do these beliefs support and empower you?
What impact is holding these beliefs having on you?
Do you want to hold onto them now that you know the impact they’re having?
What would be a better way to think about these beliefs? (If you like affirmations then use one or two to support you in this change)
Start to gather evidence for your new belief. Set up a journal or notebook and note all of the new things that come up to support your new belief.
So don’t listen to me if you don’t want to. Listen to my 17-year-old instead and when you have doubts about your offerings, remember what she says:
They’re not just paying for the services. They’re paying for your time, the added value, the years of studying you’ve undertaken and your overall experience. All of those things have to be factored in.
Pick up the freebie that accompanies this post, and get access to lots of super useful resources in my Fabulous Resource Centre, just follow this link.
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