Assuming money was no object, which would you buy?
A £20 smart watch, or a £20K Rolex?
A £30K car from Toyota, or a £90K car from Lexus?
A £2.99 bag of Rabbit Hay from Science Select or a £25 box from Nibble and Gnaw?
I could go on ad infinitum, but we’d both be terribly bored.
My point?
Clients will pay a premium, in advance, for something they value, provided it’s correctly positioned (regardless of what ‘normally’ happens in your industry).
Let me share an example…
A new client, we’ll call him Alfred, designs, manufactures and installs large pieces of bespoke equipment.
Like everyone else in his industry, Alfred didn’t charge for the design, because, well, no-one charges for design, and customers won’t pay it, and if we start charging we’ll stop getting tenders.
So, we ran a little test. For the next five jobs they were asked to tender, my client told the prospects there was a chunky design fee.
Three clients said: "Yes that makes sense" and paid, in full, in advance, immediately.
One said "Yup, that makes sense, but we’re not ready to give you what you need right now, so let’s aim to start in 6 weeks".
Another said: "I can see why that makes sense, but we can get the design for free, so we’ll do that, and then we’ll come back and talk to you about a quote for building the system".
So, my client achieved a 60% conversion rate day one, and 80% overall, for something that industry lore says customers never pay for.
Even better, they’ve avoided wasting time and money by starting a project with a client who’s not yet ready for them.
Best of all, they’ve ruled out the fifth prospect completely, saving loads of time, money, and the agony of dealing with a price-gouging prospect who doesn’t (and never will) value what they do.
In total, those first three clients have more than paid for my fees for the year.
Looking forward, based on the number of tenders they complete per annum, and their conversion rates, this new approach will generate at least an additional £100K of profit per year. I reckon we can get it to £200K, but we have a bit of work to do first to demonstrate why they should pay that amount.
What’s not to like about that?
As I said at the start: don’t be bound by your industry’s thinking – clients will pay a premium, in advance, for something they value, provided it’s correctly positioned.
To discover how, grab yourself a copy of my book "The Business Exit Blueprint" and work through the Evangelical Ambassadors chapter in the Building For Exit model. It’ll show you, step-by-step how to position your business so that customers think you’re the only person that can do what they want in the way they want it done (which allows you to charge premium prices).
(Or, if you want my hands-on help, WhatsApp me on +44 7973 308 054 and we’ll chat about what you need and the best way of getting it for you).
Sorry, where was I?
Oh, yes, my book. As well as teaching you how to do this, the book will teach you everything you need to know about growing a valuable, scalable and sellable business.
So, what are you waiting for, get your copy of "The Business Exit Blueprint" HERE and start plugging it into your business to get the same results as Alfred’s getting.
Or don’t and continue to struggle.
Warmly,
Richard
P.S. "The Business Exit Blueprint" comes with seven of the most incredible free bonuses ever. Discover them all HERE.