If you sign up for a foreign language class you give them your money so that by the end of the course you’ll be able to communicate in that language. You don’t pay them because you really like their classroom or because of the books they use. You don’t even pay them because of the degree in teaching that their instructors may have. You pay them to give you the outcome you desire. In the end, the language school earns its reputation by getting their students results. Those results give you confidence to entrust them with your time and to pay them for their classes. You must sell an outcome. Your clients don’t want or need anything else.
Your offer is simply your solution clearly articulated and summed up with a price point. Your offer should show that you will take them from point A to point B. It should focus on the outcome they desire or need. It should not focus on your feature-set or what you operate, but rather how they or their situation will change. Time is a measurement of change and they’re giving you their time because they believe you can change them or their situation in some way.
Your price point should be directly related to the value of the outcome you help your client achieve. Do they actually reach their intended outcome while they are your client? How much do you help them in achieving this? How quickly do they reach their outcome? These are all good questions to ask yourself. If you don’t have the answers to these, then you need to determine what the answers are even if they change with each client. They have a right to know the answers to these questions if they ask them. They’re about to enter a partnership with you and your answers to these questions will greatly qualify the strength of that partnership and the likelihood of it being successful for each of you.
If you don’t have these answers then you will either lose the client or they will probably only work with you at an hourly rate and under a limited contract that allows them an easy out. So, be confident in the outcomes you promise to them and be confident in the value of those outcomes to them. Don’t settle for an hourly valuation of your time and effort. Your value is directly related to the value you bring to their table…the outcome they desire. If the outcome you will get them to means an additional $1M per year to their company, then consider carefully your pricepoint. If they believe in you then they’ll pay you exactly what you demand.
TCA, LLC 