Transcripts
Welcome to Live With The Pricing Lady.
Speaker:I'm Janene, your hostess.
Speaker:This show is all about helping you build a sustainably profitable
Speaker:business while making an unbelievable impact on your world.
Speaker:Learn from my 20 years of experience and from my guests as we discuss their pricing
Speaker:challenges, failures, and successes.
Speaker:Pricing is a way of being or behaving in your business.
Speaker:My mission is to help you confidently charge for the value you deliver.
Speaker:Pricing is either hurting or helping your business.
Speaker:Let's make sure it's helping you reach your dreams.
Speaker:In this episode of Live with The Pricing Lady we talk about when is the right
Speaker:time to talk pricing with your customers?
Speaker:And a sales discussion.
Speaker:Sometimes it can be really awkward.
Speaker:So let's take a look at what the timing is and how to go about
Speaker:doing it in the bright way.
Speaker:Sit back, relax and enjoy the episode.
Speaker:Our topic today is all about the conversation of when to talk
Speaker:prices with your customer and by talk, I mean, communicate, right?
Speaker:So this can be communicate in different ways.
Speaker:But we use talk here because most of us will be having actual
Speaker:conversations with our clients.
Speaker:You probably are aware of this, but I want to reinforce this message
Speaker:because it is very important.
Speaker:How you choose to communicate your prices can make or break a deal.
Speaker:Not only is the way in which you communicate them going to influence
Speaker:how much people are willing to pay, but it will often influence whether or
Speaker:not they are going to pay something.
Speaker:So it's important for you to take a step back from your day to day in your
Speaker:business and to think about, okay, how am I committing to educating my prices?
Speaker:And can I be doing this better?
Speaker:Before we get into the nitty gritty.
Speaker:I also want to talk about, you know, there's two different kinds of
Speaker:businesses that we're talking about here.
Speaker:And the first is your brick and mortar or your online businesses where prices
Speaker:communicated at the point of sale.
Speaker:What do I mean by that?
Speaker:So in a brick and mortar business, you have a, you know, a product
Speaker:on the shelf and there's usually either a price tag on the shelf
Speaker:or a price tag on the item itself.
Speaker:That's what I mean.
Speaker:So the price is compute.
Speaker:Communicated at the point where the customer sees the product immediately.
Speaker:And this is also a similar, if you have like a membership program or an
Speaker:online course or other online offers.
Speaker:You know, where the customer and you are not having a conversation in
Speaker:advance of them making a purchase.
Speaker:Then, of course the price has to be communicated at the checkout
Speaker:right there where, you know, they see the product, usually even do
Speaker:it one step before the checkout.
Speaker:So before they say buy, they actually see the price.
Speaker:And this is something that I think is really important because I
Speaker:often see that people don't put the price on their landing page.
Speaker:The price only comes up once you click buy and you go to the checkout page.
Speaker:And in my book, that's kind of a big, no, no, I think it's, it's good
Speaker:to communicate that to customers.
Speaker:Before they click on a buy button.
Speaker:I think that that is a, a good.
Speaker:Let's say a best practice in terms of transparency and
Speaker:building trust with your customer.
Speaker:I've tested out both.
Speaker:I find my customers, my clients respond better when they see the
Speaker:price a few times upfront before they get to the checkout page.
Speaker:So that's a little bit of a side note here because what
Speaker:we're really focusing on today.
Speaker:Is you our services and bespoke or customized offers for
Speaker:products and software, right?
Speaker:So these are the types of offers where you have to have a conversation upfront
Speaker:with the customer in order to be out of bill, to understand what they want first,
Speaker:before you can really even make an offer.
Speaker:So I've got five points to share with you today.
Speaker:Three of them are about timing.
Speaker:And the other two are a little bit more about how to do
Speaker:it in a more effective way.
Speaker:So let's dig right in.
Speaker:So for these services and customized offers.
Speaker:The first thing that you need to do is understand the
Speaker:client needs and expectations.
Speaker:So we call this scoping the offer.
Speaker:So you are going to have a conversation you're going to listen to them and
Speaker:what it is they're looking for.
Speaker:Maybe they have some goals, maybe they have some objectives.
Speaker:Maybe they have some sort of transformation they're looking for.
Speaker:It really depends on what you're offering.
Speaker:But you need to understand first what it is they really was and what
Speaker:their expectations of how they're going to get there with you are.
Speaker:And that is going to be the first part of the conversation you're going to have.
Speaker:You're not going to bring up price at this point.
Speaker:You're going to focus on understanding their needs and expectations.
Speaker:Here's a problem.
Speaker:If you rush into the pricing discussion too soon, like that's the first place
Speaker:that you start with, then you're putting your offer in the position
Speaker:of being transactional, instead of focusing on building the relationship
Speaker:with the customer and with these types of services and customized offers.
Speaker:A large part of what you're doing is actually very relationship oriented.
Speaker:People are looking for a business partner for someone to
Speaker:work with them, to guide them.
Speaker:You want to stay in that relationship space and not present your offer
Speaker:in a transactional concept.
Speaker:And that's what you're trying to do here, aside from just
Speaker:understanding the customer.
Speaker:So, you know, it, the offer them right.
Speaker:The second thing that you want to do after you understand the client needs
Speaker:is you want to establish the value.
Speaker:What do we mean by establishing the value?
Speaker:Establishing the value is picking points that you heard them
Speaker:say are important to them.
Speaker:You know, if they said we really want this done fast, then you're
Speaker:going to focus on how your offer helps them get this done fast.
Speaker:That's what you mean by establish the value, you know, in fast means they
Speaker:save time, which means they save money.
Speaker:Generally.
Speaker:Also it can help them earn money quicker.
Speaker:So it comes down to finances.
Speaker:So you want to establish a value and here's some areas of value that
Speaker:are quite often, people are looking for when it comes to services, it
Speaker:could be the quality of your service.
Speaker:It could be the convenience of your service.
Speaker:It could be your experience, you know, for my clients, a lot of it is my years
Speaker:of pricing and business experience.
Speaker:It can be the personal attention that you give.
Speaker:My clients love the little videos that I send them from time to time.
Speaker:But when they, you know, when you join a program or you work with
Speaker:me, one-to-one you get nice little onboarding, welcome videos and it's fun.
Speaker:They (my clients) enjoy that personal touch and experience.
Speaker:So those are a few areas that, you know, can often make a difference
Speaker:when it comes to the value side or establishing the value.
Speaker:The third thing, then once you've understood the needs
Speaker:and establish the value.
Speaker:Then you have to time it, right.
Speaker:So you don't want to open with it as a, you know, it, as in pricing,
Speaker:you don't want to open with the investment first, because then you
Speaker:go into the transactional zone.
Speaker:It's kind of like the friends though.
Speaker:He don't want to go into the transactional stone, but if you wait too long, then you
Speaker:may appear to be avoiding the conversation and that will make your customer
Speaker:or client feel very uncomfortable.
Speaker:So timing it right.
Speaker:Is quite important.
Speaker:My opinion is you or my experience even is that if you understand the client's
Speaker:needs and you establish a value at that point in time, quite often, if you
Speaker:ask the question, okay, are there any other questions I can answer for you?
Speaker:A lot of times your customer will, you might say, well, you know,
Speaker:how much is this going to cost me?
Speaker:And you're going to respond with, well, let me tell you about the
Speaker:investment in order to reach your goals.
Speaker:Quite often, there's a natural transition there that can happen if you ask the
Speaker:right question at the right time.
Speaker:Then often the customer will say, okay, I'm ready to talk
Speaker:about the investment now.
Speaker:Now these next two points are really about how to, you know,
Speaker:talk about this in a better way.
Speaker:When the time is right and you're ready to talk about the price.
Speaker:A Really key element here is to be appropriately transparent.
Speaker:And what do I mean by appropriately?
Speaker:You may be laughing to yourself.
Speaker:So, of course we're not trying to hide anything from customers.
Speaker:What we're trying to do is we're trying to focus our transparency
Speaker:on the things that are related to the value that our offer brings.
Speaker:What people often will do is they'll focus on the number of
Speaker:days or the number of hours.
Speaker:And those things are rarely if ever related to the value
Speaker:that your offer brings.
Speaker:Your value is related to your experience.
Speaker:The value could be related to the deliverables that you bring, right?
Speaker:So when you talk transparency in your pricing model then you want to talk
Speaker:about the things that lead to value.
Speaker:What happens if you don't do that?
Speaker:So let's say you, you know, you line, I, you itemize everything in your
Speaker:offer and give everything a price tag.
Speaker:Then you're opening the door for the customer to say, well, we don't
Speaker:need this and we don't need that.
Speaker:And we don't need this, take those out.
Speaker:And then all of a sudden your price is reduced.
Speaker:You're quite often.
Speaker:For myself.
Speaker:I have two examples here for you.
Speaker:One . So I have an offer to help people, you know, set their pricing strategy.
Speaker:And a lot of people say, well, I don't need to do the first step,
Speaker:which is always the customer.
Speaker:Surprise surprise.
Speaker:If you follow me, you knew that that's all right.
Speaker:And they say, I don't need to do it.
Speaker:I said, well, we always look at it.
Speaker:And for some clients who have already done the work, it's
Speaker:just a, check-in a verification that you have all that you need.
Speaker:And for other clients who need to go more in depth, we spend more time there.
Speaker:But we do every step in the process.
Speaker:Some clients, we spend more time on one step than the other, but
Speaker:in the end, it all balances out.
Speaker:I don't put a separate price tag for each step of the process because
Speaker:we need to go through all steps.
Speaker:And that's a really important part of the learning journey and the
Speaker:process that my clients go through.
Speaker:So I personally wouldn't itemize those things.
Speaker:There are other aspects that I do itemize.
Speaker:So if people want to have more access to me, Then, you know, I have that either
Speaker:itemized or as an option on the offer.
Speaker:So you can see what I mean by, you know, focus on the things that are value.
Speaker:Be transparent, but be transparent in the right way.
Speaker:Another example that I want to give you here.
Speaker:Is it from a client?
Speaker:That I had recently where they wanted me to do some training
Speaker:for their pricing team.
Speaker:And they were.
Speaker:You know, a group of people who had.
Speaker:Who came into the job through other functions in their business.
Speaker:So they didn't have a lot of pricing experience.
Speaker:And they wanted to upscale them quite quickly.
Speaker:So they said, you know, can you make us an offer to do some, some training,
Speaker:like, you know, pricing basics.
Speaker:For pricing experts.
Speaker:So I started, you know, I made them an offer and then they came back
Speaker:to me, said, we liked the idea.
Speaker:We liked the concept.
Speaker:Can you do it for, you know, 30% cheaper?
Speaker:And I, you know, I sat back and I thought about that for a moment.
Speaker:And I said, well, what we can do to meet your budget is we can do the trainings
Speaker:Live, but I won't deliver any slide decks.
Speaker:And the beauty of this was that I knew that the slide decks
Speaker:were really important to them.
Speaker:I also knew that they take a lot of time and energy on my
Speaker:side to protect, to prepare.
Speaker:So by pulling them out, I could.
Speaker:I was willing to give them, you know, the training itself at.
Speaker:It's lower at a lower price or a price.
Speaker:It was closer to their budget.
Speaker:Let's say we didn't, we didn't go for the full, the full discount there, but
Speaker:I also knew that those slide decks were.
Speaker:Massive value to them.
Speaker:But I realized they didn't.
Speaker:Think of it that way.
Speaker:So by, you know, saying, yes, we can meet your budget.
Speaker:If we take this out, I was able to put them in the position to decide how
Speaker:valuable are the slide decks to us.
Speaker:And in doing so they realized, oh, actually we really want those.
Speaker:Not only for our own reference, but we can actually use that training and our pricing
Speaker:people can do the training next time.
Speaker:So it became very valuable to them.
Speaker:So again, if you're going to be transparent, We're in this case, if
Speaker:you're going to adjust the price, then you know, be focused on adjusting it
Speaker:based on, on things that are a value to the client, so that they're in a position
Speaker:to make decisions based on what level of value they want to get out of things.
Speaker:So when is the time is right.
Speaker:Be transparent, but be appropriately transparent.
Speaker:The last point I want to make here is that when you get to that point
Speaker:and you're talking price is you want to position your price as part of
Speaker:the solution, not something they have to suffer through and endure.
Speaker:Now, this might seem like a really silly.
Speaker:Point to make, but it has a significant influence.
Speaker:So one of the things that drives me batty, and I'll tell you,
Speaker:Madam, or sir, if I hear you call your prices, cost is a thousand.
Speaker:Lashes with a wet noodle for you, right?
Speaker:Your prices are not cost, but when you refer to them as cost or talk
Speaker:about them as cost to your customer, Then they perceive them that way.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:Listen to these two phrases.
Speaker:And tell me what you think sounds like.
Speaker:Something better for you.
Speaker:So if I were to say.
Speaker:The cost of this offer is 5,000 francs.
Speaker:You know, for a package for this package that I'm offering.
Speaker:Versus, as I said, for 5,000 francs, you'll get this coaching
Speaker:package it'll help you to achieve.
Speaker:Your goal of getting a job within the next three to six months.
Speaker:What sounds better to you?
Speaker:Positioning it as a cost or positioning the price as part of the
Speaker:solution that they are getting to.
Speaker:I think it's a very clear in the second case that positioning
Speaker:it as part of the solution.
Speaker:Puts it in a much better context that, okay, this is something that I
Speaker:need to do in order to get to what.
Speaker:To my goal, to what I do, what I want.
Speaker:So that is what I wanted to share with you today.
Speaker:If I had to summarize this or boil it down, I would say
Speaker:it's all about the timing.
Speaker:Yeah, so scope.
Speaker:Understand needs and expectations, then establish the value because you can
Speaker:actually use what you learn from the expectations and the needs to focus on the
Speaker:correct value points to establish a value that's really relevant to your customer.
Speaker:And then you want to start talking about your price in the right way,
Speaker:be appropriately transparent, but also then make sure you position
Speaker:the price as part of the solution.
Speaker:That it's something of value that they need to do.
Speaker:You know, something that they need to take on in order to reach.
Speaker:The goal that they have in mind or reach their outcomes.
Speaker:Leaving with your client's needs establishing the value of your offer
Speaker:and being really clear and honest helps you approach pricing conversations
Speaker:in a way that fosters trust.
Speaker:And leads to more successful transactions in your business.
Speaker:Actually, I would even replace that word transaction with relationships
Speaker:and partnerships in your business, because that's really, when you're doing
Speaker:this sort of bespoke and customized offers or solutions for your customers,
Speaker:it's really about the relationship.
Speaker:And less about the transaction.
Speaker:That is all for this episode of Live with The Pricing Lady.
Speaker:I hope you enjoyed it and have some great ideas for your business.
Speaker:I look forward to hearing from you soon and as always enjoy pricing.
Speaker:Thank you for listening to this episode of Live with The Pricing Lady, the podcast.
Speaker:If you enjoyed the episode, rate, review, and subscribe to it, then share
Speaker:it with your friends and colleagues.
Speaker:I love hearing back from you listeners.
Speaker:If you've got comments, questions, or topic ideas, go on over to thepricinglady.
Speaker:com and contact me there.
Speaker:Not sure where to start when it comes to improving pricing and profits?
Speaker:At ThePricingLady.
Speaker:com you can download a copy of my Self Assessment Pricing Scorecard.
Speaker:Find out where it's going well and where you can begin improving.
Speaker:Or just simply book a discovery call with me.
Speaker:There we can discuss what's up with pricing in your business and
Speaker:how I might be able to help you.
Speaker:Thanks once again for joining.
Speaker:Remember, pricing can hurt or help your business.
Speaker:Let's make sure it's helping you reach your dreams.
Speaker:See you next time and as always, enjoy pricing.