Today we discussed how to build your business by getting the best clients; starting with mindset, and developing a process that works.
The conversation didn’t focus on getting new clients as much as getting good clients and the awkward pricing conversation and charging hourly vs. project based.
Getting good clients comes down to being able to identify good clients, and you can usually tell right away who you would be excited to work with. But it’s good to have some ‘good fit’ qualifiers. And ask great questions – questions that your audience is excited to answer (questions that trigger positive dopamine responses!)
Pricing for services is so much different than pricing for products. You can shop around for good deals on products, maybe get the cheapest prices at Walmart, but a good fit is what is important when it comes to services. Solving problems and achieving goals is what you are selling, and it doesn’t make sense to charge an hourly rate for that. You are charging for outcomes, and your hours will vary per project.
Sebastian had a great story about Picasso charging a huge sum for a drawing a picture that took only a few minutes to make. The recipient complains, ‘But that only took you 10 minutes!’ to which Picasso replies, ‘No, that took me 40 years.’
Randy added that sometimes it’s good to have an honest conversation about pricing with your clients: “I understand that the prices is a big concern for you…”
Also, when discussing price – it helps to have ‘packages’ to offer and a process to lean on. I love that Randy uses the term ‘cognitive load’ because it’s a great thing to reduce cognitive load and not have to reinvent the wheel for each client that come by. Make things easy on yourself.
And we talked about so much more…
Next month (Wednesday, August 11th) we’re going to do some individual problem solving, and put some people in the hot seat. So please join us next week, and bring your problems!