Transcripts
In this episode of Live With the
Pricing Lady, we're taking a look at
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:part two of Pricing and Psychology.
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:Where we'll be talking about how your
mindset influences your pricing decisions.
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:Sit back, relax, and enjoy the episode.
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:Hello and welcome to this episode
of Live With the Pricing Lady.
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:I am Janene, your hostess.
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:This show is all about helping you build
a more sustainably profitable business.
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:By understanding the tactics
and strategies of pricing, we
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:can build your confidence and
help you make better decisions.
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:Let me start by asking you a question.
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:What if your pricing problem isn't
what you charge, but what you
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:believe about what you charge?
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:Ouch.
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:That's a tough question, right?
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:And I ask it with a lot of love in my
heart because I know that there is a lot
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:going on behind the scenes that influences
your pricing and your decisions.
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:And that's what we're here to talk about
in this episode because while the external
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:aspect of pricing psychology is something
we all, you know, are fascinated by and
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:enjoy to talk about, the internal part
is the part that's influencing much
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:more than you can possibly imagine.
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:Often when I run rep classes or
I give a presentation, I will
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:ask people, what has the biggest
influence on your pricing today?
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:Is it the customer?
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:Is it the competition?
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:Is it the cost?
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:Is it you?
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:And 99% of the time, people will
pick one of the first three.
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:The reality is it's almost
always answer number four, you.
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:You have more influence over your
pricing and your pricing strategy
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:than anybody else, and the sooner that
you take ownership for that and start
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:taking steps to do the right things in
the right way, the easier pricing is
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:going to become for you and the more
confidence you're gonna have in it.
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:So let's dig into the psychology,
the internal psychology that lies
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:behind your pricing decisions.
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:We're gonna look at this in three
sections, why it's important to take a
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:look at this, what the challenges are,
and some tips that you can use to start.
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:Shifting what's going on.
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:Why is it so important that you
understand this internal aspect?
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:Can't you just be like an ostrich
and dig your head in the sand?
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:But we all know the answer
to that already is no.
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:You will always, and I do mean
always struggle and lack confidence
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:in your pricing if your money and
value beliefs are getting in the way.
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:There's just no two ways about it.
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:You have to tackle that in some ways
straight on first by create, creating
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:awareness around them and sometimes
by shifting those things that are
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:getting in the way or reframing them.
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:What we're going to be looking
at today are some different
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:ways that you can do that.
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:The second reason that this is important
is that the internal psychology that's
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:going on, and some of it, you may
be aware of it and some of it may be
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:going on at a subconscious level, will
lead you to undercharge over, explain
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:and hesitate when you least want to.
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:It's really important that you take
that ownership for the fact that you are
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:the biggest influence on your prices.
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:You can't point the finger
and blame the customer or your
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:competition or your cost structure.
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:In the end, your pricing comes down
to what you choose to do with it.
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:The more you know about what to do and
how to do it, the more likely you can.
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:It is that you will be doing the right
things and it will get easier for you.
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:The third reason.
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:Why this is important is that shifting
your mindset or being, having the
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:tools and the awareness to be able
to shift your mindset is key to
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:making sustainable and empowered more
empowered decisions in your business.
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:Instead of saying, oh, I set this price
just because that's what so and so does.
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:You can say, I set this price because it.
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:Fair.
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:It is reflects the value that I
deliver and it is market driven, and
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:you can say that because you've done
the work and you know it, right?
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:As opposed to saying, well, so and so
just told me to, or somebody said A
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:little offer should cost this much.
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:Right.
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:You don't, you're guessing at it, right?
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:You're assuming that what that
other person is telling you is
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:correct when you do the work and
understand the why behind your prices.
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:When you are able to shift that
mindset, then it opens up doors and
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:the possibilities become that you're
going to make empowered decisions,
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:decisions that you decisions.
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:You can believe in those.
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:That possibility increases significantly.
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:It's a magical shift.
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:I see it all the time with my clients,
so I, I can, can, can say that with
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:an enormous amount of confidence.
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:So what are the challenges that
people face when it comes to this
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:internal aspect of psychology?
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:One of the biggest ones is
imposter syndrome and that the
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:tone of voice of that is, you
know, who am I to charge that?
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:Or why would anybody ever pay me that?
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:So this is a common thing
that I hear from people they.
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:Don't believe on some level that they
can do that, that they can charge that.
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:And there are many different things
that could be influencing that.
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:It could be, you know, they're
hearing that in the voice of a parent.
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:I have one one client.
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:Somewhat recently, I guess who, you
know, who specifically said, okay,
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:my, you know, my parent has told
me that I'm crazy to charge that.
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:Literally it came straight
from their parents' mouth.
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:And that isn't necessarily
helpful or constructive feedback.
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:And being able to challenge
that in your own mind, if that's
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:what you're hearing from some.
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:One in your circle is important, or if
it's not, you know, that you've heard
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:that feedback specifically, but there's
a little voice in your head telling that,
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:being able to, you know, isolate that
voice and, and challenge it and say,
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:Hey, you know, don't say that to me.
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:It's important because if you
deliver the value, then yes, you
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:are capable of charging that.
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:And if people believe that you
can deliver that value, they
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:would be willing to pay for it.
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:The second common challenge is
simply the fear of rejection.
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:Or, and this is when I hear from
a lot of ladies, is the fear
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:of being perceived as greedy.
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:I'm gonna lump these two fears
into one common challenge here
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:because they are often related.
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:Now they're not exactly the same.
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:The fear of rejection is,
basically being told no.
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:And this is a fear that a lot
of people have, but the reality
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:is who cares if we're told no?
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:Yeah.
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:Most of us have been told no in many
different aspects of our lives at
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:many different times in our lives.
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:And sometimes it cuts to our heart
and other times we just go on and
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:do whatever the heck we want anyhow.
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:And so in the context of your pricing,
hearing no isn't necessarily a bad thing.
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:So if you can reframe that,
then it's going to help you.
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:And what I have to say about
being perceived as greedy.
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:If your intention is to take advantage
of people and you said exorbitantly
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:high prices as a means to take advantage
people, then yeah, you're greedy.
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:But everybody I've ever met in the
context of running my business,
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:that's not their intention.
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:Their intention is to deliver a
service, a product, or a software
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:at a price that is good for the
customer and good for their business,
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:and they're delivering great value.
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:So there is no risk really
of being seen as greedy.
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:And sometimes I've had clients who have,
been challenged by people on social media.
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:How dare you charge for this?
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:You know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
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:And those types of people who
don't understand that you're
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:running a business, I mean, doctors
charge for what they do too.
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:So why if you're helping people
and delivering value, then
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:there's no reason you shouldn't.
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:So again, with these two fears,
a lot of, you know, being able to
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:shift, it will come from reframing.
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:The third one is tying price to
time and effort instead of value.
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:This is very much service related
and usually when I'm first working
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:with a new client who has a service
based business, they're always talking
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:about, oh, it takes me this time, or I
have to put so much effort into this.
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:And during the course of our work
together, we will shift that.
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:I was like, every time you think about
cost, I want you to think about value.
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:Every time you think about the number of
sessions, you're gonna look at the value
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:as well, and we're like re-patterning
their brains to go to value all the time.
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:So tying your price to time and effort.
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:Is not going to help you because the
time and effort are not related to
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:the value that you're delivering.
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:That's why we want you to shift
your focus to value instead.
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:So if you're always focused on how
much effort you have to put in and how
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:much time it takes, that's actually
more related to your efficiency as
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:opposed to the value you're delivering.
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:And that's something you're
gonna wanna keep in mind.
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:I'm getting a little bit ahead
of myself into tips here.
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:I can't help it with this topic so much.
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:Alright.
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:Another common challenge
is simply avoiding pricing,
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:discussions and or decisions.
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:My friend and I, I bring that decisions
aspect into it because avoidance is
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:not just in having the discussions,
but it's about making the decisions
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:around pricing in your business.
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:So one of my clients last year, she's
like, I don't know why I put off the
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:decision for so long to work with you.
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:She'd been looking at working
with me for quite a while.
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:But she hesitated.
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:She was just avoiding
making that decision.
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:And when we talked about why it came
down to her fear, she didn't wanna fear.
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:Feel foolish for not
having addressed it sooner.
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:But of course then the longer she
waited to do it, then you know,
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:the longer she was avoiding it.
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:And it was like a
vicious, a vicious circus.
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:Finally, thankfully something clicked for
her and she decided to to work with me.
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:But the point is avoidance.
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:Is a coping mechanism, but it's
not one that always helps us.
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:If you are avoiding having pricing
discussions with clients, it's very
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:hard to sell things, especially
in a service-based business.
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:If you're avoiding deciding what to price.
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:The offer that the client you had
a conversation with last week if
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:you're avoiding making the decision
on the price for that, then you're
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:not getting the offer out to them
in a timely fashion, which is going
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:to impact their decision, right?
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:So avoidance is a common challenge that
presents itself when you're having mindset
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:issues or internal psychology issues.
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:The last challenge here is, is when you
are feeling a lack of confidence when
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:your mindset isn't in the right place.
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:This is when you get into behaviors like
people pleasing, unnecessary discount,
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:and in offering unnecessary discounts.
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:When you feel under pressure.
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:Or what I call preemptive discounting.
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:So the preemptive discounting is when you
wanna offer a discount before you, and
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:you've even presented the client a price.
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:Yeah.
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:There's rarely ev ever a valid business
reason to offer a preemptive discount.
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:But if you're feeling, you know, if you're
feeling that you are not worthy or that.
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:You don't understand the value,
even then you're more likely to do
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:these self-sabotaging behaviors like
people pleasing, which leads then to
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:unnecessary discounts when you feel
under pressure or preemptive discounting.
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:So those are the common challenges
that people face when their internal
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:psychology, you know, internal
to themselves is off kilter.
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:Now let me be clear about.
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:One thing because these internal
psychology challenges also
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:present themselves in larger
businesses, like where they have
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:a sales team or a marketing team.
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:They are not immune from these
things because it's a team.
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:They also have these issues.
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:And I I just wanna bring you
one example so that you know
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:that you're not alone in this.
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:Years ago I was working with a company
and they, they were in a price war with.
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:In their market, let's say.
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:And when we met, they said to
me there's nothing we can do.
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:It's not worthwhile to do this pricing
project because we are in a price war
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:and there's nothing we can do about it.
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:The other guy started it and
there's nothing we can do.
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:We just have to wait it out.
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:And that was their approach.
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:It was basically learned
helplessness, if you will.
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:Yeah.
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:They just gave up.
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:In that situation, and this can also
oftentimes be the case, when you
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:have your own business, you feel
like that's not possible for you
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:that you can't do anything about it.
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:So you just kind of give in and
you give all your power away.
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:And that's what they did.
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:Well, it turned out not only had they
contributed to the price war, but
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:they could also contribute to taking.
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:You know, lifting the industry
up out of this situation.
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:It had gotten this too by doing some
very specific things with their pricing.
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:So it's important for you to understand
that we are all human beings.
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:I know that, you know that.
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:And these internal aspects of human
psychology influence pricing, whether
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:it's a one person company or a,
you know, 50,000 person company.
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:So I know you'd like to get into
the tips, so let's start there.
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:The first thing you have to do
is create awareness and audit the
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:stories that you're telling yourself.
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:So if you're telling yourself.
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:I'm not worth it.
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:It's helpful for you to understand
where that's coming from and
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:start shifting that story.
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:Say, yeah, I deliver value, I deliver
value, I deliver value, right?
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:So you need to shift those stories,
audit and shift your money.
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:Stories could be money,
success, or worthiness.
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:Those are usually the three
areas that we're talking about
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:when we're looking at B Pricing.
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:Second tip.
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:Is to detach your pricing
from your personal worth.
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:And I know some of you, it might
be you, dear listener, will roll
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:your eyes when you hear that.
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:I know I should do that.
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:I think the key here is to
understand how to do that and
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:in my work with people what.
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:Helps them to make that transition most
effectively is to understand the economic
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:value of what your work really brings.
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:So not benefits and features, but the
real economic value that is going to
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:help you shift your thinking from.
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:It's going to right now because you
don't understand the value in an
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:economic sense of what you bring.
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:You're left comparing it to
the only thing that you think
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:you know, which is yourself.
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:Now, the reality is you have infinite
value as a human being, as we all do.
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:So that comparison is let's say silly
at best, but because it's the only like.
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:Point of, of comparison that you
have, then you go there where if
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:you understood the economic value,
then you'd have a different point of
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:reference that you can be utilizing
that is actually more relevant and
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:a healthier point of reference.
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:So if you can detach from your personal
worth, it'll be very beneficial.
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:The best way in my experience
to do that is to understand the
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:economic value that you bring, that
your offer brings your clients.
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:So the third tip.
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:This is often when people feel
challenged in pricing conversations
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:they haven't taken the time to
practice saying their prices out loud.
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:And this seems so simplistic and it
is simple, but it is very powerful.
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:So build comfort for yourself.
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:Build muscle memory by practicing.
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:Your prices and saying them out loud,
and especially if you're shifting or
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:changing your prices, then that is
a, a good opportunity to make sure
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:you reinforce the right price in your
own brain so that it rolls off the
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:tongue when, when you need it to.
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:The fourth tip is to flip your focus.
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:What do I mean by flip your focus?
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:So for example, here are two
examples of flipping your focus.
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:First, think less about what
they pay you and more about
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:the results they're gonna get.
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:I.
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:Why?
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:Because it goes back to
shifting the value, right?
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:So instead of focusing on, oh, they're
gonna pay me the same, you're focusing
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:on, I help you dear customer, do X, Y, Z.
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:And that is a much healthier focus,
both for you and for the client.
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:Second example, think less about the
number of sessions and more about the
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:journey that gets them the results.
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:The number of sessions, especially
with coaching, it drives me crazy.
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:People focus so much on the
number of sessions, the number
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:of sessions, and the number of
sessions is not related to the value
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:in general.
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:The journey you take them
on, the way you onboard them.
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:These things are the things that
bring results for your customers, and
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:you and your customer will benefit
more from focusing on those things.
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:To me, the number of
sessions is simply logistics.
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:Yes, you do have to set boundaries.
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:Which leads me to the last and
final tip, which is set very
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:clear boundaries for yourself.
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:And the reason you do this is when you
don't have any boundaries in your pricing.
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:Then if somebody asks you something
that you don't have an, an answer for
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:or you haven't really thought about
how you would handle that, then your
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:brain kind of goes into little bit
of panic mode and you start making
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:decisions in a high emotional state.
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:As opposed to making a
decision from a logical.
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:Cognitive state, right?
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:So if you have thought in
advance about when and under what
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:conditions you would offer a certain
discount, then when someone says
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:can you give me a 10% discount?
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:Instead of going I don't know.
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:You'll already have thought,
well, you know what?
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:Mm.
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:I only offer this discount
under these conditions.
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:This client is not doing this.
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:So actually, no, I don't offer a discount
for this offer because the price is
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:market driven and it's very much related
to the value that it deliver, right?
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:So setting clear boundaries allows you, or
enables you to stay in a more let's say.
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:Logical thinking frame of mind as
opposed to an over emotional one.
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:And when you're overemotional, then
you're more likely to do things
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:like offer unnecessary discounts.
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:Those are the five tips that I
wanted to share with you today.
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:Now, your tasks, should you choose to
take this task on as a result of this
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:session today, is to identify one mindset
or belief you believe is currently
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:holding you back to journal about where
this has come from and what it's costing
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:you, but also to think about how you can
reframe it, how you can shift your focus.
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:So every time you think that.
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:Thought, what's, you know, a way you
could reframe that to focus more on
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:the value or some aspect of value
so that that mindset issue won't
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:be getting in your way as much.
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:Now, as you know, this was part two of a
two-part series on pricing and psychology.
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:Both external and internal psychology
are important to pricing and often
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:issues with internal psychology will
lead to poor choices when implying
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:some of those external tactics.
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:So if you don't.
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:Know what to do with your prices, for
example, you're feeling uncertain or a
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:lack of confidence around your prices,
you may use some tactic that you heard
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:from some guru somewhere on your pricing
that actually doesn't fit your business.
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:So you wanna be careful about that.
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:That's why one reason it's so
important to address both the
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:internal and the external.
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:At the same time, when you understand
the buying behavior of your customer,
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:it will support your confidence and
you will make better decisions, which
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:again, is why you need to also understand
the external aspect of pricing.
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:So when you trust the value you bring
and understand your audience, you create
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:, an environment for stronger offers for.
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:Better price positioning for easier sales
conversations and for closing more deals
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:at better prices, which quite frankly
is what we would all want for you.
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:That is what I wanted to share
with you in this episode.
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:I hope you enjoyed this two part
series on pricing and psychology.
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:It is one of my favorite topics when it
comes to pricing because it is so powerful
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:and so impactful in your business, and
there is so much to unpack in there
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:and get into the nitty nitty gritty.
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:We've, you know, scratched the
surface on some of this, and
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:hopefully it's given you some things
to reflect on in your business.
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:If you'd like to find out more about
how to work with me, I suggest you
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:head on over to the pricing lady.com
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:and book a call with me.
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:You can share with me what's going on
in your business and I'll share with you
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:how we might be able to work together.
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:That's all for today.
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:I wish you a great day, and
as always, enjoy pricing.