Early on in my career, I got checked by a business friend.
She was looking over my work and services and asked me a super challenging question about pricing: why are your prices so low?
At the time, I didn’t know how to respond. She went on, “If you have high-end clients and you want to teach other coaches and consultants the tactics you used to attract those clients, why are you charging them the bare minimum?”
Her line of questioning was the catalyst for me to realize that there were three big reasons I needed to increase my pricing.
3 Reasons You Should Think About Your Pricing
1. I Was Setting the Wrong Expectations
In trying to make my services affordable, I didn’t realize that I was doing my target audience a disservice by setting false expectations about pricing.
If I offered them low prices to learn a high-end skill, they would either do the same when the time came to start their own business or expect others to teach them high-end skills at low prices.
By increasing my prices, I am setting the proper expectations for my clients by making them understand that what I’m offering is of value and that they can learn this skill and apply it as a high-value service in their own business.
2. You Need to Spend Money to Make Money
The truth of the matter is: to make money, you have to spend money. Therefore, if you want to make even more money, you have to invest more money into your systems, craft, education, staff, digital products… The list goes on and on!
When I originally priced my services, I wasn’t thinking about this motto; I was more concerned with being viewed as “affordable”.
In reality, I didn’t realize that my services were not only worth much more than the previously listed price, but they were also going to be the foundation of someone else’s business or career.
Raising the prices of my services would make it much more likely to motivate my clients to act on what they learned sooner than later since they invested quite a bit to learn the skill.
3. I Wasn’t Projecting the Proper Image
The conversation I had with my friend really got me thinking about multiple aspects of my business. The price tag of my services was more than just that; it was the image I was projecting about myself and my business to others.
The prices I was setting were going to make my clients ask two questions:
- Are you charging too little?
- Or not offering enough?
And I know that my services are fantastic, and the idea that my clients would think that what I was offering was low quality because of the low pricing was very painful to consider..
Long story short, I raised my prices. Not because other people are charging more than me, but because my product is worth a higher price. I also increased the value and quality of my templates and guides as if they weren’t valuable enough. There is such a thing of giving away too much too soon, but by default I am an over-deliverer.
The reason why that one question was so mind-boggling to me was that my friend identified a mindset issue that had been affecting other areas of my business.
I’m glad she got real with me because I became a better writer, editor, and writing coach because of it!
I can’t expect my clients to reach for the moon when I’m barely reaching for the sky. I have to lead by example, and I encourage you to do the same.