You’re meeting with a client. You come to the end of your presentation and you hit them with the price. They get quiet and look at you kind of funny. The silence continues. You start shaking on the inside. “What do I do now,” you think.
Then you do the worst thing possible.
“I know it seems high. What if I throw in a few extra things? What would you be willing to pay?”
Doubt creeps in and you blow your sales presentation.
Have you ever had this experience before?
We all have. And yet this one thing kills your business quicker than anything else.
If you’ve set your prices for a reason (you have, haven’t you?), then you should be comfortable with your pricing. Pricing should be synonymous with quality. If you have a quality product, experience, education, and a solid reputation, your pricing reflects your skill.
Doubt crumbles your reputation and reduces the quality of the product. “She’s not sure about herself,” your potential customer will think the moment they see doubt. “Should I really trust her?” Or in some cases, some prospects will even move to the dark side and think, “I wonder what else I can get away with”.
Both are clients you don’t want.
Both can ruin your reputation.
Both can create a business model you won’t enjoy.
If you’ve found yourself thinking or doing this in the near past, today is the day to change it all around. Ask yourself these three questions.
1. Do I know exactly why I’m in business?
2. Do I know exactly how my business works and what I have to offer?
3. Do I know exactly what to charge for everything?
The more sure you are about your overall business model, the less rattled you’ll become when someone questions you. The more you understand about your packages and why you’ve put them together the way you have, the more you can explain it to your prospects and customers. And when you’re sure about your business model and what you have to offer, you’ll understand exactly why you charge the way you do.
How To Avoid Creepy Crawly People That Try To Bring You Down
I don’t get a whole lot of negative email. But occasionally one slips into my inbox.
I got an email from someone this week.
“You suck. Your stuff sucks. I can’t believe your online and in business.”
Okay, that’s not exactly what it says – but you get the point. (It had a lot of negativity and a lot more *$@% in it then I care to write here.)
I scanned the comment. Then I looked at the email address. And that’s when I started laughing.
The email address was from a generic account (ie gmail, yahoo, etc) – but in front of the @ was a saying that made the whole thing ironic.
It seems when they created their email account, they felt they were a very ethical, kind, and happy person. Could someone like that really write the message I just read?
Delete. Not worth another thought.
Yet that’s when it hit me that this could be a valuable post.
You see I’ve been online long enough now to be called every name in the book. I’ve had some of the worst comments in the world posted to pretty much every account I have. And when I received the first one, it stung more than you can imagine.
I questioned who I was, what I was doing, and a whole lot more.
Gradually I pulled myself back up and moved forward.
Number two was easier. Number three was even easier.
You see, if you’re going to subject yourself to the online world, negativity comes along with it.
When people are comfy, cozy in their homes or offices and don’t have to see the deprecations of their actions, they can sling mud all day long. Maybe they’re having a bad day. Maybe things aren’t going right in their world. Why not share a little of their misery with everyone else too.
Maybe you’ve heard the horror stories. Maybe you’re worried about the same thing happening to you. Guess what? It’s unavoidable. If you’re online, it will happen to you.
And the more successful you become, the more likely you will have these comments posed directly to you.
How do you handle it?
Realize you shouldn’t take it personally. Yes, their goal is to tear you down. But only you can allow them to do it. In the online world, your best friend is your delete key. If you don’t like something – delete. And move on.
Do they continue? If someone sends you one rude message, delete and be done. If they send you something again and again, ignore and block. Whether in your email, your blog or your Facebook account, there are features in place that allows you to block contact with certain addresses. Do what ever you can to get them out of your life. If you don’t respond, over time they should lose interest.
Never, never respond angrily. In some cases, a message can really hit home. Maybe it sets off your anger. Or it makes you very emotional. Step away from the computer/phone/tablet. Put it down and go for a walk. Yell about it. Scream about it. Cry about it. But never respond. If you respond, you’ll say something you regret. And it could elevate beyond anything you can imagine. (Amy’s Baking Company recently found out the hard way in the past few weeks.)
Focus in on the positive. Every day I hear from people that have nothing but positive stories to share with me. Like this one.
Your best clients love you and what you do. And when they tell you, put it in a file to go back to when you’re having your hard days. It will be a constant reminder that you’re on the right track, doing exactly what you are meant to do.