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Dont Use Yourself as Your Pricing Yardstick
"I wouldn't pay more than what I charge now." If you are not a member of your target market, toss this
thought about your own preferences out the window this very
minute. What you consider a reasonable price has nothing to
do with how they spend money. Even if you are a member of
the market you are selling to, it's a fallacy to assume that
everyone in that group feels as you do. Chances are, some
feel that your current rates are more than they want to pay,
some feel you're charging just about right and others feel
you're a real steal. You probably don't need to sell to all
three of those categories and can do well by aiming at those
who'd respect you more if you charged more. The belief that she couldn't charge more than she herself
would pay was a huge barrier for a friend of mine who was a
photographer. She had to do a lot of talking to herself
about her customers' enthusiasm for her work, her strengths
as a photographer and the fact that the few colleagues
charging more in her town weren't any better at their work
than she was. She also had to steel herself against customers trying to
bargain with her. She reminded herself that when she held
firm on her fees, most customers did pay what they'd just
objected to. Some people bargain mainly as a habit or a
game. Additionally, she joined a mastermind group of other
photographers and picked up a few pointers on subtle ways to
increase the average amount a customer spent with her. For
instance, photographers offering frames in different sizes
along with enlargements of family portraits always sold the
most of the next to largest size on display. By adding a
larger size frame to those hanging on the wall of her
studio, she sold more of the next-to-largest size,
previously the largest. Create a solid difference between yourself and competitors
to feel more confident about raising your rates. To
separate yourself from colleagues, you can emphasize
selectivity (you accept only a certain level or kind of
client), specialization (you possess more experience and
expert knowledge on one aspect of your industry), results
(your superiority consists of a spectacular success rate
that you can document) or concrete benefits of your work
(results that your colleagues also produce but never
explicitly point to). Pricing is a psychological phenomenon primarily, and the
road to higher profits begins with getting your own head
straight about what's reasonable to charge. Marcia Yudkin is head mentor for
MarketingforMore.com and the author of 6 Steps to Free
Publicity and 10 other books. As an author, marketing
consultant and coach, she has spent 22 years successfully
turning words into money. By going to
http://www.marketingformore.com/survey.htm , you can download
a free report, "Charge More & Get It," that discusses five
common self-sabotaging beliefs that stand in the way of
higher earnings.
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