I was at my local Tuesday’s Together meeting and a photographer was talking about how she struggles with pricing because when people say they can’t afford her she feels bad for them and drops her prices. Do you feel the heaviness of this? She feels bad for them because she is compassionate, but then she devalues her work and takes money from her own family by dropping her prices. That doesn’t feel good either.
If you are regularly having people try to haggle you over prices you may be the root of the problem. Having clear prices on your website could repel people that can’t afford you and attract people that can. You can also increase the level of service you provide, your prices and have the work to support that you will attract a different level of clients who have the budget to pay. Another way to avoid these conversations is to send people a pdf that defines your services and prices before talking to them on the phone.
Add your response to this as part of your system. If they can’t work with you then have something to give them instead of a huge discount. You can offer them names of someone who would be a good fit for them. You could direct them to a lower priced digital product, your free content, or a smaller version of your product. This feels much better than just turning someone away and can keep you connected with them for when they can buy your product or services.
Know your numbers. I have a big piece of butcher block paper on my wall with my goals for money, social media, projects and onboarding new clients. It’s my motivator and my accountability partner because my mortgage company is never going to feel sorry for me. This also allows me to know what I can do to seal the deal with clients. Sometimes clients don’t need everything I am offering in a package so I know bases on my numbers what I can offer them. Based on my time and clients for the month I can add a service rather than to lower the price. Sometimes I just like to throw in something for free because I want to serve them the best that I can and let them know I appreciate them.