Continued from Part 1...

4. You May Not Be Building in a Sufficient Cushion

Human nature is the same everywhere. People want to feel like they are getting more for their money -- they want to feel like they got a good deal.

You have to become proficient at making your clients feel good about the deal you are offering them, while still maintaining your profits.

One way of doing this is to build enough of a cushion into your fees to absorb discounts when they are needed. For instance, when you are trying to bring on a new client.

That way you can provide clients with a discount so they feel good about the deal, but still get the fee you need to be profitable.

When I used to take on new marketing consulting clients, I would spell out that my monthly services were 'worth' $3,000. But if they would sign up within 10 days, I would provide them with a very favorable rate of just $2,000 a month. A savings of $12,000 annually.

Now imagine if I had just said, my rate is $2,000 a month. Period. (Even though I knew my services were worth at least $3,000 a month.)

Which presentation would make my client feel better? Obviously, the one in which he or she was going to save $12,000 a year.

Of course, I knew that my services would be more than worth the $3,000 a month, and many in my field would have charged them much, much more than that, for less than I would provide to them.

So this was a 'real' discount offer.

Also, once I made an agreement with a client, I 'never' increased or cut my monthly rates with that client.

The issue 'never' came up after the agreement was made. And most of these clients signed on for two or more years.

Make your clients feel like they are getting preferred treatment from you, and you will eliminate resistance.

5. You May Not Be Spelling Out the Value of Your Services

Never assume that your clients understand the value of your services. You must spell it out for them, in writing if possible.

Again, whenever I made my offer to a prospective client, I spelled out in writing everything that this client would receive.

I would spell out how much our service would save them over other methods.

Once I had the account and was into the actual projects, I spelled out the value of each project. If we helped them put together a new marketing system that made them an additional $500 profit a month, we spelled out that value over a 10 year period. $500 a month times 12 months = $6,000 times 10 years = $60,000 in increased profit from that one project that they may have paid $2,000 for. Always in writing.

You see, a client will never do that. They never look at things like that. But that is reality. So we help our clients see the 'total' value of what we just provided.

You can do that in any profession, and you should.

You can spell it out in increased money, money savings, time savings, increased productivity, etc.

6. You May Not Be Making Use of Perceived Added Value

When you purchase our Give to Get Marketing course, you receive additional Bonuses at no extra charge.

Adding value to a purchase is a standard way of increasing the perceived value of that purchase.

Include something additional with your services that your clients will perceive as highly valuable.

Perhaps a free report, or a book, or an additional service, etc.

Of course, you must ensure that your prices are high enough to absorb any additional cost that you may have in providing the bonus. This is where cushioning comes in. This is part of your marketing costs and must be built into your business.

If you want to eliminate resistance to your prices, you have to give people what they want.

They want to feel like they are getting a deal, that they are receiving preferential treatment. Do it with honesty, and sincerity and their resistance will melt away.