Look for These Two Cues When Delivering Your Fee
TranscrIpt:
Hi! Welcome to this week’s training! I’m Sherri Wilson, owner of Genius Communication, the place for all things business. And, today, we’re going to talk about one of the scariest parts of your pitch—sharing your fee! Doesn’t it feel like a test? Or maybe for you an embarrassment? Why is that?
If you think about it, your fee is the value you place on your product or service; therefore, it’s a value of you as an individual (or that’s what it feels like). Us entrepreneurs cannot be separated from our product or service because it’s an extension of who we are. And within our business rests all of our aspirations for our future, dreams we want fulfilled, and for some of us, the very reason we were born. We have a lot of investment in our business, too. Emotional investment. Time investment. Money invested. All of those things create a lot of pressure on our pricing and then delivering that price to a potential client.
Some of you listening to this might be at the place where you’re trying to figure out what to charge. Here’s a general rule of thumb for pricing: write down the price you think is fair then bump it up until you start feeling uncomfortable and set it there. You see, most of us just starting out battle imposter syndrome (that feeling that you don’t really know what you’re doing and who are you to think you can actually charge anyone). Setting your price out of imposter syndrome is a bad idea. Set it too low, people will think you’re not high quality. Set it too high, people will think you are too expensive. I have found pushing past my comfort zone just a touch gets me just right as far as pricing.
The cues
Now that you have your price, it’s time to test that sucker out. And I want you to look for two cues—the surprise micro expression and the shame cue.
The surprise micro expression will flash across your client’s face right after you deliver your fee if they think it’s too high or too low. Micro-expressions last about 1/10 of a second so it can be easy to miss. Google the surprise micro-expression and study it so you can see it easier.
When I sat down with my very first potential client in 2017, I knew to look for that expression. I’m trained in body language, so it wasn’t too hard. Now, I wasn’t going to go down because I knew I was priced very reasonable; therefore, I had my response to any objections ready, which is a good idea to have ready by the way.
Sure enough, I delivered my fee for some staff training using my course material and the surprise flashed big time across his face. He whipped out his phone, did some quick calculations, and then said, “You’re too low.” He told me that I should be charging $100 and hour not $75. I told him that I quoted him $75 and that was going to be the fee, but I gave myself a raise right there! That was a good turn out. If you have the opposite happen and someone says that you’re too expensive, ask them to explain why. Many have no idea what they’re even saying. And that can be on you to persuade them about the problems you’ll solve and the benefits you’ll bring. Others are just cheap.
The other cue is the shame cue. This is when the hand goes over one eye on one side of the forehead and sometimes they’ll look down and even rub that area. This is a sign that they want your product or service but can’t afford it. If that’s the case, offer them a payment plan.
If everyone (and I mean everyone) is telling you that your prices are too high, only then consider going down. But I’d be more interested in finding out why they think that. Is your product or service not something people want. Are you not really that good at what you do? If so, you can hone your skill and quality. Either way, I can’t think of a single time where I’ve ever had to lower my prices because everyone said that my prices were too high. In fact, I’ve heard the opposite more than anything. But there might be some of you that encounter this, and I’d use it as an opportunity to get better or tweak your product or service until it’s something people are beating your door down for.
IN SUMMARY
Let me end with this. My daughter-in-love is a makeup artist. When she first started her business, she didn’t charge enough. As a result, she’d get no-shows, complainers, or people that wanted her to do way more than she was hired for. I told her to raise her prices. One of her peers said to raise her prices. We all knew that if she did, she would attract her dream client. It was scary, but she did it. And, sure enough, she made more money and had dream clients that appreciated her work, had lots of money to spend, and referred her to others like them.
Don’t allow fear of rejection stop you from earning the level of income you know that you are worth and need to fulfill all of your goals and dreams.