Pricing Your Services – Are You Charging What You’re Worth? š¤
If youāve been to any of my LinkedIn LoveIns you will know they are 30 minutes of online LinkedIn learnings that you can implement in your lunch hour.
But this monthās LoveIn was a little different . . . but equally important!
The reason for me going a little āoff-pisteā was a conversation I had with Alison Haill, a business mentor for female entrepreneurs, all about pricing and the challenges business owners have in charging their worth.
So much of it resonated with me. I struggle with pricing, choosing the right price, and whether putting my prices up will put clients off.
I could argue pricing is LinkedIn related, because pricing is a key part of your overall business strategy, into which your LinkedIn activity plays a part by helping attract your dream clients to you.
For me LinkedIn is about opening the door to a conversation with your potential dream clients. And as part of that conversation your potential client will be interested in the services you offer along with how much it will cost. And I know not many of us like selling!
I decided that it was so valuable that I would recap what Alison and I talked about (below) OR watch the reply here.
In summary we talked about how to charge your worth in order to build a sustainable and profitable business including:
ā Price positioning – why itās so important to get your pricing right
ā How to work out what you should charge for your services – the difference between value and price
ā Why you need confidence and courage to charge what youāre worth
ā Know your audience!
ā Alison’s top pricing tips to get you started
Let’s start with Price positioning
Price positioning is important as it reflects quality.
For example, compare Poundland with Harrods. The brand around each of these companies is completely different and their pricing strategy reflects that. What would it do for the Harrods brand if they priced the same way as Poundland? Their customers would soon go elsewhere. As would Poundland customers were Poundland to start charging considerably more!
The same goes for business owners. You are pricing your services to say, āI am an expert and I know what I am doing.ā Price too low and your ideal clients may not see you as credible.
Pricing is a lot to do with credibility. Which is why we need to price on value!
āItās the value your clients get that’s important, not price!ā
Price very much depends on how you feel about the service youāre offering and then making sure the value youāre offering is commensurate.
A big lightbulb moment for me in the conversation with Alison was realising that itās not about how much I charge for my services but the value my clients get from them.
Focusing on the value means you need to know your audience AND what they consider valuable.
It also means . . .
“If you want a business that pays you the income you want, working the hours you want then you need to be practical about choosing your clients.“
Charging what you’re worth in order to build a sustainable and profitable business starts with knowing . . .
- how much money you want to earn
- how many days or hours you want to work
When Alison started her business over 22 years ago, for her any client was a good client. But she quickly realised that working with low paying clients meant longer hours and ultimately wasnāt a sustainable way of working.
Charging too little for your services means you are going to need a lot of clients to hit your revenue target to make a living. Instead focus on those ideal clients who not only have the money to invest but VALUE what you will give them.
Charging What You’re Worth . . . It’s A Question Of Confidence!
As many business owners price within their comfort zone, putting up prices takes confidence AND courage. Especially for women who often feel they have to be nice and mustnāt be greedy!
Confidence comes from understanding your own value and the value of what youāre delivering. Those that believe in their own value and service can and do confidently charge higher prices.
What is value? It all comes down to Results!
Value is the difference you make to your clients. So focus on the RESULTS that your clients achieve by working with you.
- What will push your clients’ buttons? What’s exciting and attractive to them?
- What is it you’re promising them? Focus on benefits
- Build up your testimonials and recommendations – this all helps to increase your confidence
- Avoid being too vague about results your clients can achieve. Make them tangible AND importantly results that your potential clients care about.
Struggle with Pricing? Here’s Alisonās Top Tips
At the end of the LoveIn I asked Alison to summarise her top tips when it comes to pricing, where should business owners like me start when pricing our services.
- Stop charging an hourly and day rate
- Talk about the results of your services before price
- Start by listening – donāt talk about what you do until you know what your prospective client actually wants. What are they struggling with? What results they want?
- Make sure you understand what your ideal clients want. What is valuable to them; and then be clear on the results they can achieve
If you’d like more information or support with pricing your services connect with Alison on LinkedIn.
About Alison Haill, Business Mentor
Alison is a business mentor for female business owners. When Alison started her first consultancy, she quickly realised that being good at what you do isnāt enough to build a profitable and sustainable business. After 25 years running her own expert-based business, she now supports ambitious entrepreneurs who are passionate about what they do to build a profitable and sustainable business they love.
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š If LinkedIn isnāt working hard for you or youāre not sure where to start with using LinkedIn, email judy@judithparsons.com or connect with me on LinkedIn to chat about how I can help.
Or book a virtual brew here and letās make LinkedIn work for you . . . ā
