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're talking about why you struggle
Speaker:to tell your clients what you charge.
Speaker:Sit back, relax and enjoy the episode.
Speaker:Today, we're here to talk about pricing.
Speaker:As usual when it comes to me, we're talking about pricing.
Speaker:Specifically, we're here to talk about why you struggle to tell
Speaker:people the Price of Your Offer.
Speaker:I'm assuming if you're here, it's something that you've
Speaker:struggled with yourself.
Speaker:Let me paint a scenario.
Speaker:You're talking to a client or a prospect.
Speaker:The conversation is going really well.
Speaker:It's flowing nicely.
Speaker:You can tell them what you do and talk about your offer and the benefits of it.
Speaker:But there's a point in that conversation where you start
Speaker:to get a little bit nervous.
Speaker:Maybe you start to lose your focus on the conversation because you know, at some
Speaker:point you're going to have to talk about the price and it doesn't feel good to you.
Speaker:It makes you nervous.
Speaker:Maybe you feel a little bit constricted in your chest or your
Speaker:breathing tightens, or maybe you feel a little Ill in your stomach.
Speaker:And then it comes to that point where you have to say the price
Speaker:and either you freeze or you stumble or you say something.
Speaker:You didn't mean to say.
Speaker:And the question is, does that sound familiar to you?
Speaker:I, I know I've struggled with that at times, even being The Pricing
Speaker:Lady, yes, there are always clients who want something bigger and
Speaker:something that I haven't done before.
Speaker:Of course I've been faced with that myself.
Speaker:And for me, I can fall back on My skills and competence in the area of pricing.
Speaker:But for a lot of people, they haven't built and nurtured those skills yet.
Speaker:For most people, what they understand about pricing is from
Speaker:what they know, being a consumer.
Speaker:And in the retail industry, specifically, there's lots of sales
Speaker:and things going on, and there's not a whole lot of conversation.
Speaker:You don't really learn the skills and tactics of pricing for your type of
Speaker:business, but you also don't necessarily learn how to have those conversations.
Speaker:That's part of what I want to talk to you about today.
Speaker:The first part is going to be about why we Get So Nervous.
Speaker:Then we're going to talk about what you can do with it because I want to make
Speaker:sure you leave here with some tips.
Speaker:Let's take a look at why we get so nervous or why do we freeze when this happens?
Speaker:One of the main reasons that people freeze is because they fear rejection.
Speaker:We've already decided in our mind that this person has to be a customer.
Speaker:This person has to buy something and oftentimes we don't even
Speaker:know anything about them enough yet to really make the decision.
Speaker:It's like when we go into a job interview thinking, We have to have
Speaker:that job, but we actually don't know anything more than what they've
Speaker:written on a page of paper, right?
Speaker:Or a website page, or when we date someone, we see someone across the room
Speaker:who's interesting, we start talking to them and we've already like gone 20 years
Speaker:ahead when we're old and retired, we assume that that's the person that we want
Speaker:without knowing anything more about them.
Speaker:And so we put all this power and onus on the other person, and then we get afraid.
Speaker:They're going to reject us.
Speaker:That's one of the main reasons that people freeze when it
Speaker:comes to talking about pricing.
Speaker:Is they're afraid of that rejection.
Speaker:Along with that comes a fear of being perceived as greedy.
Speaker:This is especially true for women.
Speaker:They tend to think that if they have too high a price, that everybody else will
Speaker:think they're greedy and then they want to go hide somewhere and not be seen.
Speaker:So there's also an element of that.
Speaker:Oftentimes the fear also will come from not really understanding why
Speaker:you have the price you have or not feeling confident about that price.
Speaker:If somebody just told you, well, you should charge 2,999
Speaker:for that, and you did it.
Speaker:You actually don't know anything more than that person told you that.
Speaker:You don't know why that price is right for your business.
Speaker:You don't know why that price is right for your customers, or
Speaker:even if it is in either case.
Speaker:So how can you feel confident about telling someone what you
Speaker:charge when you don't even really understand the why behind that price?
Speaker:It's almost impossible to feel that confidence.
Speaker:It could also be that you're not really certain about the value.
Speaker:Or how to communicate that value.
Speaker:So sometimes it's just a matter of you being better at
Speaker:communicating it, but other times you don't really understand it.
Speaker:And one of the key elements here, when we're talking about value is understanding
Speaker:the difference between benefits.
Speaker:of let's say functions or features or benefits of coaching and the value.
Speaker:Benefits are not value.
Speaker:Benefits actually are the step before value.
Speaker:So let me explain.
Speaker:Your mobile phone has lots of functions and features on it, lots
Speaker:of functionality on it, right?
Speaker:And they have lots of benefits, but not all of those
Speaker:benefits are important to you.
Speaker:So they're not of value to you.
Speaker:It's the same with any other offer.
Speaker:You know, somebody could say, well, buy this from me.
Speaker:I'll get you quicker results.
Speaker:Maybe I don't want quicker results.
Speaker:Being able to understand the value, but also communicate it effectively is
Speaker:also a reason that people feel nervous about telling people what they charge.
Speaker:There's two other things I'd like to mention in this.
Speaker:One is personal hangups around money, success, and worthiness.
Speaker:So that is another big reason.
Speaker:It's a little bit harder to, let's say, it takes a lot of work to be able
Speaker:to deal with some of those things.
Speaker:But when it comes to pricing, if you have the competence to know how to set
Speaker:your prices and how to communicate the value, you'll feel more confidence.
Speaker:Your money hangups might still influence you, but they won't influence you as much.
Speaker:If you've built that competence because you'll have more confidence already.
Speaker:While working on say money hangups is a, let's say a longer
Speaker:game, it takes more time to work your way through those things.
Speaker:You can counter that by understanding how to go about set prices so that you
Speaker:understand why those prices as well as understanding how to communicate value.
Speaker:And the last reason why you might struggle is due to simply lack of training when it
Speaker:comes to how to handle sales discussions.
Speaker:Now, most of us, a lot of women especially, don't like
Speaker:even talking about sales.
Speaker:Sales discussions, because it sounds icky.
Speaker:I know for me, for a lot of years, I had this image of a sleazy salesman with
Speaker:greasy hair and his shirt unbuttoned down to his navel, you know, trying
Speaker:to wheel and deal me something.
Speaker:Sales doesn't have to be like that.
Speaker:But if you don't have a process for how you're going to have that discussion,
Speaker:then of course, It's difficult for you to navigate and you'll feel that uncertainty.
Speaker:That is another reason why you might be stumbling.
Speaker:If those are different reasons, why what's helpful for you to do is try
Speaker:to think about, okay, which of those resonates with me the most, because
Speaker:then you can understand where to start doing something differently.
Speaker:Let's talk about some of the things that you can do.
Speaker:The first thing is when you're having, let's say that conversation with a
Speaker:potential client, your focus should be on the higher purpose of not selling
Speaker:them something, but on finding a solution that works for both of you.
Speaker:And sometimes the best solution for a potential client is to say, Hey,
Speaker:working with me or buying my product, isn't the right thing for you right
Speaker:now, but maybe I can recommend this.
Speaker:By doing that, you take some of the pressure off.
Speaker:If you're just focused on, I have to close the deal, I have to close
Speaker:the deal, I have to close the deal.
Speaker:You put so much pressure on yourself and the potential client that it builds
Speaker:that nervousness that you're feeling.
Speaker:Second, the way that you structure the conversation.
Speaker:A lot of times, what I try to do when I have these conversations with
Speaker:potential clients is I structure the conversation so that they ask me, how
Speaker:much I charge, rather than me having to just say it in the conversation.
Speaker:I feel by leading them towards asking me, they give me permission to say that.
Speaker:And that takes a little bit of the edge off.
Speaker:For some other people, they find it easier to talk about
Speaker:the investment upfront, first.
Speaker:Weed people out earlier.
Speaker:You need to structure your discussions in a way that works most effectively
Speaker:for you and for the types of clients or customers that you'll be working with.
Speaker:Another one is to understand why you're charging that price.
Speaker:So a lot of times I will meet with people and I'll ask them,
Speaker:okay, what do you charge for that?
Speaker:And they say, Oh, I charge, you know, 2000 francs or 2, 000.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So why 2, 000?
Speaker:And then they go,
Speaker:especially if they're service based businesses, they usually
Speaker:go, well, everybody else was charging, between 2000 and 3000.
Speaker:So I thought I'd charge 10 percent less because I'm new.
Speaker:But you don't know if those other businesses that you compare to are
Speaker:successful or how successful, or if they're offering the same thing
Speaker:or something different, right?
Speaker:So you have to be careful about what you base your prices on because
Speaker:that can influence how confident you feel about saying the price.
Speaker:It's really important to build that competence of knowing how to choose
Speaker:or how to define the right prices for your business so that you have the
Speaker:confidence to be able to communicate it.
Speaker:Practice.
Speaker:This is a highly underused tactic in pricing, let's say, is to
Speaker:simply practice saying it out loud.
Speaker:Sit down with a trusted friend and say, ask me what I charge for this offer
Speaker:until I can say it, without laughing or without stumbling or without cringing
Speaker:or you know whatever it is that you do.
Speaker:And to say you know repeat it to me ask me what I charge.
Speaker:Ask me what I charge and you repeat and you go back and forth and then there's a
Speaker:point where you start to feel comfortable and it's really good then for the other
Speaker:person to then change the conversation.
Speaker:By the time you get comfortable, you might change the response to,
Speaker:wow, that's really expensive without telling you they're going to do it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Or when they're going to do it and it throws you off your game.
Speaker:And then you practice the conversation up to that point
Speaker:until it feels comfortable for you.
Speaker:That practice can really help you.
Speaker:The last thing I want to share is you want to know how you're going to handle the no.
Speaker:I have a whole guide online that you can purchase about handling pricing
Speaker:objections, but one of the things that I want to share with you today
Speaker:is most people don't think about how they're going to handle that.
Speaker:So they leave it up to chance.
Speaker:When somebody gives them the feedback that's too expensive or that's not right
Speaker:for me right now, they go into panic mode.
Speaker:Some people will throw out discounts.
Speaker:Some people will try to, list all the reasons the person should buy.
Speaker:Their argumentations on why you should buy.
Speaker:And my best piece of advice here for one of the first things actually you
Speaker:should do, take a deep breath and then ask them oh, why do you say that?
Speaker:Because then you put the responsibility on them to explain to you where
Speaker:that's coming from so that you can understand what's really behind the no.
Speaker:Now that's just one part of what I talk about in the guide, but it
Speaker:is a very important part because usually people feel like they have to
Speaker:leap into action to counter the no.
Speaker:And I'm actually, Saying no, get curious about the no, and plan for that.
Speaker:Practice that as well, because it's probably not in your instinct right now.
Speaker:When someone does reject you and you will get those from time to time, it's probably
Speaker:not your first instinct to lean in and be curious about why they're saying no.
Speaker:But it's actually a much better response, both for them and for you.
Speaker:So those are first, the reasons why we get nervous.
Speaker:And second, some of the tips about what you can do about it.
Speaker:I left one off here because I actually mentioned it when I talked about
Speaker:why you get nervous, but let me just quickly mention that if you have Blocks
Speaker:around money, success, and worthiness.
Speaker:Of course, you want to work on identifying those so that you can do it differently.
Speaker:And an example I can give you as a client I had in the very early
Speaker:stages of my business, we were doing an exercise where I asked
Speaker:them to complete a bunch of prompts.
Speaker:And one of the prompts was pricing is.
Speaker:Later during the sharing, open sharing part of the conversation,
Speaker:he shared with us, quite, quite embarrassed, but he did it anyhow.
Speaker:He said, well, I wrote pricing is something I avoid.
Speaker:And in his business, he had to have conversations with customers.
Speaker:before they purchased anything, but he did everything in his power not to talk
Speaker:about what he charged his customers.
Speaker:You can imagine how his blocks around money and actually for him it was, had
Speaker:a lot to do with worthiness, hindered his ability to even close a deal
Speaker:because he wasn't even really willing to talk to people about the price.
Speaker:He went on a path of working through that so that he got more
Speaker:comfortable with pricing itself and having those conversations as well.
Speaker:That is what I wanted to share with you about why you might be struggling to
Speaker:talk about pricing with your customers.
Speaker:As you can imagine, there's a lot more to cover in this topic, but my goal
Speaker:for this episode was to do two things.
Speaker:First of all, to help you understand why you might be
Speaker:freezing up or struggling with.
Speaker:Telling customers what to charge, because once you can identify
Speaker:why you struggle so much.
Speaker:Then you know what to do to start correcting it.
Speaker:And I gave you a list of quite a few things, but they may not all apply to you.
Speaker:So take a look at that list and really think about what
Speaker:it is that's going on for you.
Speaker:And the second thing I wanted to achieve with this episode is I wanted to give you
Speaker:some ideas of some of the actions that you can take to start feeling more confident
Speaker:when it comes to having those discussions.
Speaker:I hope you've enjoyed this episode.
Speaker:We'll put a link to the guide in the show notes as well.
Speaker:So if you want to look more at how to handle pricing objectives more
Speaker:confidently, then you can grab yourself a copy of that as well.
Speaker:Have a great day and as always enjoy pricing everyone.
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.