#192: Communicating Your Value to Prospects — an Example You Can Learn From

We had a big scare in my business a few months ago.

Our website — which houses all of our training — went down.

When we took a closer look, we could see that malware was responsible. And it looked as though two team members would have to spend their entire weekend restoring the site.

Even so, some of the information would have been unrecoverable.

It would have cost a lot of money to fix. And it would have frustrated many of my clients. Many of them go through their assigned training on weekends, so having the site down would not have been good!

What does this situation have to do with positioning your pricing in terms of your value?

I explain in this week’s episode.

The notes that follow are a very basic, unedited summary of the show. There’s a lot more detail in the audio version. You can listen to the show using the audio player below. Or you can subscribe in iTunes to get this show delivered straight to the Podcasts app on your smart phone, tablet or iPod.

Two years ago, my team and I decided to hire a web hosting professional.

We’d had many problems with hosting in the past. And we were willing to pay good money for help that would help us avoid (and/or troubleshoot) those problems in the future.

We wanted good service and solid uptime — and were willing to pay for it. But most hosting companies aren’t set up for this. They are either super cheap (with horrible service) or too big (enterprise level).

It took a long time, but we finally found someone who fit the bill. He immediately saw the problems we were having and understood exactly what we needed.

But hosting through him AND having him on call was going to cost five times more than anything we’d ever paid in the past. It came to almost $600 a month. (Previously, we’d paid a max of $125 a month!)

But my business success hinges on having top-notch uptime. I saw the value. And this value was based on better performance and less risk.

So when our site went down, we knew we’d made the right decision. This guy responded within minutes, immediately found the source of the problem, and had our site back up in two hours!

My team didn’t need to spend all weekend working on this. And my coaching clients barely noticed we were down.

The Lesson: Your fees need to be presented in the right context. You can’t just give out a number. You need to communicate your value.

Your fees need to be presented in the right context. You can’t just give out a number! You need to communicate your value.

Your prospects probably aren’t thinking about the risk of making the wrong choice. What would happen if they go with someone who might cost less up front … but who doesn’t have your experience, track record, insights, or knowledge?

It’s up to you to explain this to them. Don’t assume they’ll connect those dots on their own.

So present your fees by providing that value perspective: “This is what you get when you work with me…. You don’t risk getting this bad outcome….”

Will that turn every prospect into a client? No. But when you do it well, it will help you convert more good prospects into clients at higher fees.

By the way … whenever you’re ready, here are 4 ways I can help you grow your freelance business:

1.  Grab a free copy of my book for ESTABLISHED writers/copywriters.

You’ll discover how to quickly and predictably reawaken dead leads, generate new client opportunities and convert not-yet-ready prospects into freelance writing clients. — Click Here

2.  Download a free copy of my new book for writers who are NEW to freelancing.

I’ll show you the 3 things you need to do to get your business off the ground safely and land your first paying client faster.  — Click Here

3.  Join my implementation program and be a case study.

I’m putting together a new implementation group this month. If you’d like to work with me to grow your income quickly with better clients (and become one of my new success stories). Just email me at [email protected] and put “Case Study” in the subject line.

4.  Get a 1:1 strategy call with me.

Are you a 6-figure writer who’s trying to earn more in less time with less stress? Let’s jump on a quick call and brainstorm some ideas for getting you there. Just email me at [email protected] and put “Brainstorm” in the subject line.