Successful Marketing and Business Building – Day 1 of 5

Knowing the Difference Between Price and Value

Do you know the financial value of a client to you?

Most of us don’t spend nearly enough time getting a clear answer to this question because, quite simply we don’t want to think of clients in terms of dollar value.

Such a high percentage of people in the helping professions undervalue themselves and the potential transformations they offer their clients.

And this is a big problem. You see, whether you like it or not, you are in business and you are a business person. I’m afraid it’s a cold hard fact that many other ferociously commercial businesses are competing with you to offer help to the same potential clients you would like to be seeing. Pharmacies, big corporate weight loss organizations, even fast food chains, are all busy selling things to make people ‘feel better’. And they all know how much an average client or customer is worth to them.

Here’s my take on this…

As therapists, coaches, practitioners and general ‘caring’ people, we need to stop worrying about the prices we charge and the cost of what we provide, and start looking at the profound value that we offer to members of the public.

I am in the privileged position of coaching and helping practitioners on a daily basis, so I get to see and hear about many of the most common obstacles we face. A awful lot of therapists, coaches and other practitioners are very uncomfortable with the concept of being ‘business people’.

The truth is that you ARE in business, and it’s a competitive world out there. This doesn’t mean that you have to become business person of the year or some kind of a cut-throat ‘Apprentice’ type character. You just need to get a little better at it than you are now. Getting better at business and marketing will ultimately mean that:

• You get more clients
• You earn more money
• You get more skilled and can pay for more training
• You can more rest and recuperation time
• You don’t have to worry about revenues any longer and you have more energy
• You are in much better shape to help clients so you get better and more consistent results

All of this means more value for your clients…

and more success for you. Neither of which are remotely unethical in my opinion.

I’ll give you an example. I run a life coaching and hypnotherapy business. One of the most common goals we help our clients with is quitting smoking. We currently charge less than $200 for that service.

Smokers using willpower alone are acknowledged to have a 1% chance of long term success. Our success rates with smokers are profoundly (and I mean profoundly) higher than that.

The average financial saving to someone who quits smoking using our services is $6000 or $7000 per year. Not to mention the longer term savings in health expenses, time off work for illness, etc. And you can add onto that the intangible value which is added to their life when they can:

• Feel more free
• Feel less guilty
• Spend more quality leisure time with their kids
• Enjoy getting fitter and building more energy

In short, helping someone who has struggled to quit smoking to get there can be worth at least tens, and probably hundreds, of thousands of dollars to that person over their lifetime.

So charging a couple of hundred dollars, or even charging $500, for that service, starts to look like awesome value.

Can you apply this way of looking at things to the work that YOU do with YOUR clients?

Think about some of your success stories. Think about where your clients started and where you helped them get to, and think about putting some kind of tangible value on that service for them.

Also, and far more importantly, what is the intangible value for them:

• Health
• Happiness
• Personal fulfillment
• Better relationships
• Success
• Emotional release
• Etc etc

I want you to spend some time today really thinking about this, because the sooner you get over your own limiting beliefs about price and cost, and start thinking in terms of value and client benefits, the easier the next few stages are going to be for you.

And just to round up today’s session, think about this:

What are you really selling your clients?

Most of you think you are selling them your tools, techniques or services. But the truth is, you are in the business of selling:

• Hope and optimism
• Possibilities and potential
• Comfort
• The chance to change and transform
• The opportunity to be listened to and understood on a deeper level than ever before

I personally teach marketing and business skills within our fields because I feel so passionately about the value that YOU offer. And I am constantly saddened when I don’t see you recognizing that value yourself.

I actually believe that once you make the breakthrough and grasp the implications of what you can truly offer potential clients, and the MASSIVE value that brings with it, you in fact have an ethical obligation to start shouting about it. In fact it’s my intention that very soon, you will feel so strongly about not letting your future clients end up going down an inferior pathway, that you will feel personally obliged to not let them do so.

Getting better at marketing is the quickest way to achieve this. And understanding your true value is the first step in getting good at marketing and business.

Tomorrow’s lesson is called :

Thinking (Just Enough) Like A Real Business Person

Look forward to seeing you then…

All the very best

Ed Lester

“The Secrets of A Highly Successful Website” – Do you wish you could get more clients online?