[00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of success in mind. Today, we're going to talk about something that some of you might find controversial. We might push some buttons today. And you need to know that I'm totally okay with it because I think this is an important topic and it's one that as online business owners, we need to talk about this.
And what's that topic? Not devaluing your service just because someone else says you're too expensive. And let me tell you, this applies directly to pricing your services and standing firm in your value. So let's talk about the truth about pricing and perception.
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Here's the reality. When someone tells you that your services are too [00:01:00] expensive, often it has nothing to do with you, and it has Everything to do with their own mindset about money worth and investment.
Think about it. People who see value in something find a way to afford it. And I know, I know that some of you listening are thinking, but what about someone who really can't afford it, who just doesn't have the money, and that money really isn't in their bank account no matter how much they value it? Two things.
One, if someone really wants something, they will find a way to get it. If it is not important to them, they will find a way. And two, if they really can't afford it, like they don't have money in their bank account, they shouldn't even be considering your product or service because they have bigger problems.
They have bigger fish to fry, so to speak, and should probably be looking for other work, employment, other ways to get money. If [00:02:00] they really do, in fact, need the thing that you provide and value it, and they really do not have the money, which happens, it absolutely happens. But. That's also not your problem to fix.
And I have seen this time and time again. And I remember having this conversation with my coach many years ago, when I launched my coaching business. And I had people say to me, Oh, I can't afford it. It's just too expensive. And this was before I started with my coach. In fact, this is the reason why I started with him in the first place.
People would tell me, Oh, it's too expensive. I can't afford that. And I would, Lower my rates. And then the next person would still tell me, Oh, that's just too much money. I can't afford that. And my rates were not outrageous by any means. They were pretty standard for a new coach in my area. And yet I kept hearing the same message.
And so I hired my coach and I said, I don't know what to do. I don't know if I should maybe lower my rates even [00:03:00] more. And he said, absolutely not. You're going to double them. So think about this for a moment. People were telling me I can't afford your services. I was ready to cut them in half. And here's my coach telling me, Absolutely not.
You will double your rates. So what do you think happened?
Well, what happened is that by the end of that week, I had a new client. And by the end of the month, I had five clients. Now, this might not make sense to you, and you might be thinking, why did increasing your rates make a difference? Because now, what I was charging was congruent with the value I was providing.
You see, what happened was I was charging too little. I was charging too little for the people who legitimately could afford me to see value in what I was offering. And so the people who would value my coaching and my services would be thinking, [00:04:00] Mmm, I can't be very good. She must not be very good. Her rates are too low.
And meanwhile, the people who didn't see value in it were telling me I was too expensive. And every time I'd cut my rates down even further to try again, they would tell me, Oh, it's too expensive. I could have said I charged 20.
per session. So think about it. People.
Who truly value their health.
Will invest in organic food, supplements, or a personal trainer. They will make that happen. They will figure out a way, whether it's taking a second job, whether it's cutting back on other things that they don't need, or that aren't aligned with their health. Someone who values personal growth. They will buy books.
They will take courses. They will hire a coach. Someone who values convenience will spend money on delivery services, on house cleaners, and assistance. People pay for what they value. So when someone says to you, I can't afford that, or [00:05:00] that's too expensive, what they often mean is I don't see the value in this enough to prioritize it.
And that is not your problem to fix. Your job is to demonstrate value, but your job is not to make them see the value. Do you get the difference?
Now often, and this is why I'm talking about this today, because this is something I was thinking about just the other day. I was thinking about how people will project their own perception of their self value onto you. So if you have someone, and I've come across this before, where I have coaches who come to me wanting my coaching, but they're not confident in themselves to charge what they should be charging for their service, and because they're undercharging in their own business, when I tell them what my rates are, they say, Oh, that's too much.
I can't afford it. They immediately, I can't afford it. No, that's too much. And it [00:06:00] has nothing to do with what I'm charging or what I'm providing and everything to do with their own self worth, how they perceive themselves, that they don't feel worthy to make that much money. They don't feel worthy to charge that amount, so how dare I?
And you can't get into the trap of letting someone else's lack of self worth determine your own
and lowering your prices can actually hurt you and your clients. So many people, especially in the early stages of business, and believe me, I did this too. Even in my personal training business, I did this. They hear price objections and immediately think, Ooh, I should charge less. And I did that when I was in personal training.
I charged so little for my first few clients that it's embarrassing when I think about it now. And those clients were absolutely, to this day, 15 years later, the [00:07:00] worst clients I have ever had. So let's talk about why and why lowering your rates is a bad idea. Lower prices attract a lower commitment.
People who pay less often value the service. Less. They don't show up at the same level of commitment. They might not even show up at all if you were selling coaching or, in my case back then, personal training sessions. They would just miss sessions because they weren't paying enough for it to even matter.
So what? They lost a session. Big deal. And these people don't get the same results because they're not invested. They're not committed to the process. Now, What that commitment is might be different to different people. So it depends on your clientele. But your pricing needs to reflect commitment. So if you are working with six figure income earners, and you're charging, I don't know, 75 an [00:08:00] hour for your service, they will probably not take you seriously.
And in fact, if they even sign up with you, But let's say they do. They are less likely to show up or care about missing sessions because what's 75? What's 100? What's 200? They don't care. So you need to price your services at the level of your clients. If you're working with people who are lower income, maybe they're even unemployed.
For them, what will be a commitment and an investment is going to look a lot different than someone who's making half a million dollars a year. So keep in perspective, you need to price things based on the clients that you want to serve, but whoever it is, what they pay must reflect Value. What they pay must make them invest and make a commitment to the process, otherwise they're not going to get the same results.
Discounting undermines your [00:09:00] expertise. If you are constantly lowering your rates to accommodate people, you are signaling that you don't even believe in the value that you offer. And you burn out faster. Undercharging leads to resentment and exhaustion. You start to feel like you're working too hard for too little and that energy seeps into everything that you do.
I have been there. I have had clients go through this. In fact, one of my clients, one of my previous clients, was in a service based business. I'm not going to give you details because I want to make sure I don't give anything away that might break confidentiality. But she was in a service based business where she was trading time for money and her rates were so low.
So low. And through sessions and working together as she began to believe in herself and her confidence grew and her self worth grew, she was able to increase her rates. Now we didn't increase them from, let's say she was charging 20 an hour [00:10:00] to 100 an hour overnight. We did it in increments. For her existing clients, we just increased it 10%.
And you know what her clients said to her? They said, It's about time. You've been charging too little for too long. For her new clients, we charged her new rate. And do you know how many clients she lost in the process? Two. And do you think it mattered? No, because she more than made up for that income with her new business coming in, with the clients who were paying more.
And then after a few months, she increased again. And the last time she increased her rates, it was because one of her clients said, I think it's time you increased your rates again. and just bumped up what she was paying.
So you need to believe in the value that you are providing. And you need to charge enough that you feel excited to do the work, that you are also invested into the process. I know that I became a better [00:11:00] personal trainer as my rates increased. I mean, I also became better with experience and practice, for sure.
But the more my client was paying, the more I would show up and I would commit so much more to that client and getting results because I was invested. And that's when my clients started to receive massive transformations. And the same thing happened in my coaching practice, just as my coach, predicted.
Once I doubled my rates, I started to get I'm going to talk about how to get better clients, committed clients, clients who got phenomenal results. In fact, I remember one time I did a consultation with a client and when I told this client what my rates would be, They said, Oh, thank God, Teri. And I said, why is that?
That's an interesting response. And they said, if you charged any less, I wouldn't take you seriously. And I've really liked you on this call so far. And I was worried you were going to say that you only charge [00:12:00] 150 a session. And I wouldn't be able to go through with it because I wouldn't see the value in that.
I'm so glad you charge as much as you do, because now I believe you. The right clients, those who see and appreciate your value, they won't expect you to lower your prices. They will stretch themselves to invest in you because they know it's worth it. Now don't get me wrong, you need to show up for these clients and you need to work and you need to demonstrate that you can provide the quality of service and the level of service that meets their expectations.
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So now let's talk about how do you respond to price objections with confidence. So what do you do when someone says, well that's too expensive? Well, there's a few ways you can respond. One is to acknowledge it. You can simply say, I agree that this is an investment. And I also know that those who make it see incredible results.
And if it's not the right time for you, I completely respect that. So notice, I'm not apologizing for the price. Validate their perspective, but don't waver. If it's not for you, it's not for you. You can reframe the value. You can say something like, I get that this [00:14:00] feels like a big commitment. Let's talk about the transformation you're looking for because what you'll gain from this is so much bigger than the price
and you can offer payment options but not discounts. You could say something like, I appreciate that finances can be challenging. If I can offer you a payment plan to make that easier, would that work for you? And this keeps your price intact while making it accessible. So I will often offer payment plans to people.
Another thing that you can do, and this I'm hesitant to even bring it up because so many people overdo this, but it's something I will do in the right circumstances is I will barter. I will make a trade. So if I'm working with another business owner, and they do something that I want, and they can't afford my rates, I will offer to trade for what they do.
Here's the caveat to that. If you are going to trade [00:15:00] services, It has to be something you want, something that you see value in. Don't let people pay you in, I don't know, handmade soap, unless it's something you really value. If you want boxes and boxes of soaps made for you, and you love that, then by all means, do it.
But if that's not a value to you, Don't do it. I had a client once who traded with someone for a product she already owned and I said, don't you already have a lot of that? It was like a, a skin product, like a skin cream. And I said, don't you already own a lot of that? And she said, yeah. And I said, do you like this product?
Well, I prefer what I'm using. Was this a value to you? Not really. Did you want it? Not really. I'd rather be paid. That's not a good trade. That is not fair value, but you know what I will trade for? I will trade [00:16:00] for photography services all day long. I will trade for any sort of like website services all day or a product that I use all the time and I love.
If you want to exchange and give me that product for what I do, happy to make the trade. So that's another workaround, but it has to be a value to you and it has to be of equal dollar value. So if you take one thing from today's episode, let it be this, you are not expensive. You are valuable and the right people will recognize that your worth is not up for negotiation because someone else doesn't see it.
And The best thing that you can do for yourself and for your business is to stand confidently in your pricing, knowing that the people who need your services will step up when they are ready.
So thank you for tuning in to this episode of Success In Mind. If today's episode resonated with you, take a [00:17:00] screenshot, share it with me on social media, tag me on it. I would love to hear your thoughts. And if you haven't already, make sure you subscribe so that you never miss an episode of Success In Mind.
And until next time, remember confidence is not about convincing others, it's about knowing your own worth. Bye for now, my friends.
