You Don’t Need to Charge Less. You Need to Add Value.

Let’s talk about lowering your price. Whoa. There’s a loaded sentence. I’m going to make a bold statement here, that I’m going to unpack in this blog post. “You don’t need to charge less. You need to add value.”

There’s this fear that all entrepreneurs have. “My prices are too high”, “No one will pay this much money”, “should I offer a huge discount to make it more appealing?” Look. I get it. COVID has thrown all of us for a loop. Maybe a few loops. But don’t get it twisted!

Don’t let that fear back you into a corner where you think that you need to slash your prices. There are ways for you to add value and stay consistent with your pricing. If you lower your pricing, you could really end up shooting yourself in the foot.

Here’s a few key points before we get started. You should know how much your services cost. I.e. Sit down and think through… 1) How much does my product cost 2) What amount of time do I spend on each item 3) How much would I like to be making on an hourly basis? 4) Are there taxes I need to add? 5) Shipping?

Once you know those things, the rest of this gets a LOT easier. With all that said, let’s dive into 7 ways you can add value to your customers WITHOUT having to lower your price.

Improve your Customer’s Experience.

I think I’ve harped on this before. Paying attention to the details can be a “make or break” situation for you with your customers. Think about the kind of experience you’d like to have.

Why does it matter? Let’s look at some statistics shall we?

• 60% of participants were willing to pay more for better customer experience in a study by American Express.
• 80% of companies participating in research conducted by Bain & Company believed their customer experience was great. Only 8% of customers agreed.

How’s that for eye opening??

What are some things you can focus on to improve the experience your customer will have with you?

1. Think about the experience you would want to have and then work backwards. Steve Jobs was a huge advocate of this way of thinking.
2. Personalization – can you write a personal note in your packaging?
3. Create several customer personas. I.e. Busy moms with 3+ kids who are stressed out already and then business owners on top of that vs. 65+ grandmas who have kiddos that just want to come over and play.
4. Consistency – your brand should be consistent. From the colors you use to the type of language you use, to your messaging.
5. Remind yourself who you’re talking to.

Andrew Hubbard, digital marketing consultant, says that tailoring the customer experience on a website based on past behavior is one way to raise the personalization bar. “This means different customer personas see different content, offers and sales messages that [are] carefully crafted to appeal to them specifically. This may mean tagging people inside the company CRM based on content they have consumed and using that to tailor future web, email and sales content to them.”

Give Away Free Resources

A hot button issue. So many people thing that giving things away for free makes you look like you’re not a serious business owner. Nothing could be further from the truth! Giving away free resources allows you to build that “know, like, and trust” factor that is so essential!

Those cold leads turn into hot leads as they tap into tiny segments of what you can offer them.

1. Opt in to an email list. You could send something monthly, or weekly!
2. Thank you gift for being a loyal follower.
3. Downloadable PDF or Resource List.
4. Webinars, Seminars or Invites
5. Facebook Group Community — > Here’s mine!
6. Product Samples
7. And more!

Find out what affects your potential buyers

Ask yourself the following:

“What are the top 3 things my customers are concerned about and what are the best companies doing to fix it?”

• Is there something holding them back from purchasing from you?
• Is the process too complex?
• Too little/too much information?
• Too risky for them to invest in?
• Is it urgently needed or not?
• Do they know you well enough to want to buy from you?

Tap into the learning resources you have right at your fingertips! There are blog posts, LinkedIn, Podcasts, YouTube and others that can help you keep that finger on the pulse. Here’s a few resources for you to take advantage of for your brand!

Make sure you are looking at current trends and staying on top of what might be changing in your industry!

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

There are two types of selling. Pain based selling and opportunity based selling.

Are you trying to sell rainbows and unicorns or are you pressing on a nerve?

I literally started out by marketing my own business first, so I know just how hard it is mixed with the complexities of trying to do all the admin, the promoting, the teaching, and the managing.

So when I tell my clients, “you need to scale back” and really try to help them see where they need to zoom in? That’s coming from personal experience. I have personally stood where they are standing right now, and I know just how intense it is.

Being ONE person and trying to juggle it all is incredibly tough.

If you haven’t walked a mile in your customers shoes to know where they are coming from when they decide whether to buy from you or not, how will you know what their pain points truly are?

You won’t. You’ll be guessing. You’ll think you know, and you might totally miss the mark, because you don’t want to take the time or haven’t ever thought about putting yourself in their shoes.

Ask the right kind of questions

IF you ask open ended questions like: “what’s your opinion on…” “how do you feel about…”, etc – you are getting them to name the pain point for you.

Have you heard of “Alligator selling”? I hadn’t either, and don’t Google it, because it’s not a real marketing term. I read a blog post recently where they referred to asking “closed” questions – like “Yes/No” vs being open ended and getting the customer to give them something. The idea behind alligator selling is that you don’t want to show your customers that you have a big mouth and small ears.

When you get a customer to open up to you, and they tell you what needs to change, there’s no selling involved!

Increase Convenience

This is so important, especially in light of everything that has happened recently.

Here’s a few ways to think about convenience for your customers.

Implement the 1-2-3 method:

Think about your systems or processes. For example, if I want to buy a pair of earrings.

1. I click on the link in bio
2. Check Out
3. Product is Delivered to my Home in 7 days.

vs.

1. Click the link in bio
2. I have to hunt for the earrings on a website
3. The checkout process requires a drop of blood from a virgin
4. I am waiting for my earrings for a week
5. I reach out to the customer service and never hear from another soul
6. 3 months later my earrings arrive in a package that looks like it went to Russia and back.

A little extreme, but you get the idea. If you have systems that have 5+ steps, it might be time for you to do a little evaluating.

The most important thing to remember with convenience: be accessible, provide excellent customer service, and ALWAYS put your customer’s first.

Be a thought leader or expert in your field

How? The answer is simple. Show up for your people. Listen more than you speak.

Put the work in to research what’s new. Share your heart.

Consistently seek out people who can mentor you.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… be more human.

Thought leaders and “influencers” are only effective if they are relatable and if their message resonates with the people in their sphere of influence.

To sum up…

Decreasing your price, in my opinion, is not the way. What is the way is adding tangible value to your potential followers and your community as a whole. And if you can’t commit to doing that, then you can expect to struggle with your brand as a whole.

Work through this list, and really ask yourself those introspective questions about whether or not you have taken the time and effort to add value into every fiber of your brand.