When is the Right Time to Raise Your Rates?

You’re Listening to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast, Episode #31!  

Have you ever wondered how to find the best pricing strategies for your business? Maybe you’re a coach or digital course creator who wants to raise your current prices, but you’re not sure if people will actually pay what you want to charge.  

You might be worried you’ll lose the right clients if you raise your rates. Or you'll somehow attract less qualified leads. Or maybe, you’re currently in a place where you HAVEN’T raised your rates, and you’re beginning to resent the work you’re doing because you're not getting paid enough for it.

If you’re ready to find the right pricing strategies for your business to help you attract the right clients and more qualified leads, today’s episode is for you. 

Because by the time you finish listening, you’ll discover the slightly counter-intuitive pricing strategy that will bring you more qualified leads who are more likely to convert and become the right clients. Plus I’ll show you how to overcome pricing objections so you can finally feel what it’s like to get paid what you're worth. 

You’ll also walk away with:

• The pricing strategies that allows you to raise your rates without losing current clients
• Why raising your rates will help you attract more qualified leads
• Why having the right prices will help you convert more of the right clients

Surprisingly, it’s not the price tag on your products or services that attracts qualified leads or makes the right clients buy. The real reason people buy is because of something else entirely, and I’m going to reveal what it is inside of today’s episode. 

If you’re ready to put the right pricing strategy in place so you can start getting paid what you’re worth, attract more qualified leads, and finally feel what it’s like to experience true freedom in your business, stay tuned!

[INTRO TRACK]  

If you’re just joining us here on the show for the first time, WELCOME! I'm Courtney Elmer, I'm the Founder of The EffortLESS Life®, where show busy entrepreneurs like you how to simplify your workflows and get the right systems and support in place so you can spend more time in your zone of genius and be seen as the true Visionary Leader that you are. Today we’re diving into pricing strategies: a topic that comes up often with our students and also in business communities I belong to.

But before we jump into this juicy episode about pricing strategies and how to attract more qualified leads, I’ve gotta give a shout out to our featured listener of the week: Mary who says: Courtney speaks with knowledge and love, in a way that feels like you’re sitting right next to her. 10/10 would recommend this show to anyone who wants more out of life! Thank you SO much for these kind words Mary! Hearing from listeners like you helps us know we’re on the right track. Remember! For you listening, when you leave us a 5-star review we might just feature YOU as our listener of the week and give you a shout out right here on the show!

I belong to quite a few business communities, filled with really high-quality, business-minded people. Smart people. People who got into business because they wanted more freedom. But people who are currently feeling stuck and frustrated because they’re not making enough money. They don’t know the best pricing strategies to attract qualified leads and convert the right clients, and they can’t seem to figure out how to charge more for what they offer. 

One of the themes that I see often is that people want to raise their prices, because they feel like they're not charging what they're worth (or simply they're not charging what they want to charge.) Worse, they struggle to find qualified leads and are having trouble converting clients, despite doing everything "right." They're afraid to raise their prices because they're afraid that their existing customers won't pay those rates, and they don't know how to put the right pricing strategies in place to attract qualified leads and find more of the right clients. So they feel stuck.

This is a big problem, because they start thinking something along these lines: "Well, if my existing customers won’t pay those rates, then surely NEW customers won’t pay those rates! How will I attract the right clients if I raise my prices? I might actually deter qualified leads if I price myself out of business!"

I get it, because I've been here before too. That little voice in your head gets louder and says, "What if you raise your rates and no one buys?"

 This kind of indecision keeps you stuck. I can promise you that this line of thinking will make finding the right pricing strategy for your business feel like you're fumbling around in the dark.

When you find yourself torn between wanting to raise your prices but worrying if you do it means you’ll lose business or somehow alienating qualified leads, and if you’re hearing my voice right now, then listen closely. 

If you’re in a place where you have existing customers, maybe you've got some people in your community that you're currently working with, and you’re afraid that if you raise your prices, you'll lose those clients, here's what I want you to consider before anything else. When it comes to pricing strategies, if you choose to continue operating by the current story you're telling yourself, i.e., “ I can't raise my prices, because then the people that I'm currently working with might leave,” then think about where your business will be 12 months from now, (heck, six months from now!) Will you be making any more money? Will you be attracting the right clients who are the right fit? Will you be attracting qualified leads? Or do you think you'll be attracting clients who are wrong fit? Clients who aren't willing to invest in themselves and in their business? 

If your current pricing strategy is choosing not to charge what you're worth, do you think it’ll be more or less likely that you’ll begin to resent the clients you currently have because you'll be doing work for them that you feel you're not getting paid your worth for doing? 

If you don't implement the right pricing strategies that help you attract more qualified leads and allow you to start charging your worth, where do you think you will be one year from today? Will you be closer to your goal of financial freedom -- total freedom in your life in business to have that flexibility to travel or to do whatever it is you want to do, spend more time with your family? Or further away from that goal? Will you be attracting qualified leads and working with more of the right clients? Or more of the people who aren't an ideal fit? You've heard it said before that the only thing in life you REALLY need to be afraid of is being in the exact same place one year from now as you are today. 

So that's the first and foremost thing you have to consider. If you want your business to stay stuck, then keep your prices where they are. But if you want your business to grow, then can we agree that it might be time to bump up your prices so that you can attract more qualified leads who become the right clients?

Here’s where people usually say something like, Ok Courtney, I get that I won’t grow if I don’t raise my prices, and I want to grow. But, how do I know what I’m worth? How do I know the best pricing strategies for my business?

I’ll usually hear a list of reasons why someone doesn’t feel qualified to charge what they want to charge, because they don’t feel like they’ve had enough experience, or they don’t feel like they know enough, or have been in business long enough to justify a higher rate. 

To all this I simply say, “What’s more important? Wasting your time and energy worrying about all the reasons why someone might not pay, or focusing your time and energy on helping them see the value in why they should?” 

Here’s one of the things that's been really helpful when implementing pricing strategies to attract qualified leads and find the right clients, is this: the secret is NOT to look at the price at all. Instead, look at the value of what you're offering.

Wherever you notice the word "price" popping up in your mind right now, I want you to replace it with the word “value.” That's the first pricing strategy I'm giving you. To attract the right clients, your only job is to start showing your people the value of what you provide for them. This will help you attract qualified leads who eventually become the right clients -- the ones you love to work with the most. The more you can show them the value, and the better you are at showing them WHY what you’re offering is so valuable, the more they'll be willing to pay… which of course means the more you'll make.

If one of your current pricing strategies is to look at a product or program you're offering and ask, "how much would someone pay for this?” You're asking the wrong question. It's not a matter of how much someone will pay, because the answer to that is always "as little as possible." That's why this is one of the most ineffective pricing strategies out there. Yet, sadly, it's one of the pricing strategies many entrepreneurs use not knowing how this only keeps them from attracting the right clients and qualified leads who need what they offer. It's not about how much someone will pay... it's about how much VALUE they see in your product. And even more specifically, how badly do they perceive in their mind that they need what you have? 

Are they seeing it as a 'luxury item', saying to themselves, “oh, that'd be nice to have,” or is it something that they can't live without? 

The better question to ask yourself is: How can I do a better job of positioning my product/course/program? What if every day you focused on simply doing a better job of showing others the value in what you offer? Showing them why they can’t live without it? Showing them how it’s going to change or impact or improve their life? This is one of the surprisingly simple pricing strategies that few people are talking about. And it's one that will help you attract highly qualified leads who become the right clients -- the kind of clients who want what you offer, who are responsive, who show up, and who do the work.

Here's an example to illustrate these pricing strategies of positioning + value in action. Let’s say you were to see an ad on FB or IG coming across your newsfeed. Which of these offers would be more valuable to you? Which one would you be more likely to click or at least be more curious about? An ad that's promoting a program that helps you 'grow your business'? Or a program that helps you learn step-by-step how to automate your existing course so you can make recurring revenue on autopilot? 

I don't know about you, I would be way more likely to click the second one than I would the first one. Why? One little keyword here that I'm going to give you and if you take nothing else away from this episode, you’re going to remember this: SPECIFICITY. This is pricing strategy number two.

When it comes to attracting the right clients and qualified leads, specificity is your friend. Think of products out there that you can't live without. What makes those products valuable to you? Think about a product you love right now. Something you can’t live without. Something you believe is well worth every penny you invest in whatever that thing is. What is it about that product that makes it so valuable to you?? 

If I had to guess, I'd say it's because it solves a specific problem for you. 

Think about it. For me, having my house cleaned once a month and having my groceries delivered, I can't live without! To me, it's worth every penny to have those things outsourced and saves me time.

But is it the service itself that makes it valuable? Or is the value YOU PERCEIVE in that service? The right clients and qualified leads you're looking to attract will perceive value in your products, programs, or services the same way. It boils down to the perceived value. The way you communicate that value is through specificity. Solve a specific problem for people, attract the right clients and more qualified leads. Plain and simple.

I remember the first time I wanted to raise my prices. I knew nothing about pricing strategies, much less know the right pricing strategy for my specific business,but I did know I wasn't getting paid what I was worth. And what I realized was that I'd been going about it totally the wrong way. By focusing only on the price itself, it kept me from seeing the real issue. It was keeping me from attracting qualified leads, and it was definitely preventing me from converting the right clients. People weren’t buying because they thought my prices were too high... People weren’t buying because I wasn't doing a good job of showing them the value. My offer was super broad, not specific at all. It was basically like “Here! I will coach you and help you grow your mindset so you can grow your business!” No one's going to see the value in something so vague! I laugh to think of it now, but hey, we all start somewhere. 

So I had to get very specific and almost reverse engineer my programs, my services, anything that we offer here at The EffortLESS Life®, to target the right clients by 1) solving a specific problem and 2) attract qualified leads by communicating the value so that people perceive it as valuable.

Now, there’s a very specific way we do this and I’m going to outline the steps here for you in a moment, so that you can walk away from this episode with the pricing strategies you need to attract more qualified leads and more of the right clients.

But before we get to that, let me ask you something: What do you think happened when I did go up on my prices? When I overcame my fear, put this pricing strategy in place and raised my rates where I wanted them to be, and focused on showing people the value? 

• I started attracting better-qualified leads
• More of those qualified leads became the right clients
• These were the right clients because they wanted to invest with me, and saw the value in investing in themselves, and they were also the right clients because they showed up to our sessions on time, they responded to my emails, they paid attention, they did the work, and they got results. 

Do you think I was happier serving these clients when I was getting paid my worth and taking a stand for the value that I offered? You better believe it! And having the right pricing strategies in place, i.e., focusing on the value we provide and not the price itself, helped us attract way more qualified leads who had a higher chance of converting into the right clients we were looking for.

Has there ever been a time when you've worked with someone who's raised their prices and you chose to continue working with them? If the answer is yes, then the belief that, “Well if I raise my prices, people won't want to continue working with me” doesn't hold water anymore, does it? 

To understand why looking at value over price is one of the most effective pricing strategies out there to help you attract more qualified leads and find the right clients, let's take this out of the business context completely. Say your favorite brand of coffee went up a few bucks for whatever reason. I have a favorite brand I adore. In fact, we've tried so many different brands of coffee. My husband Alan calls me a coffee snob because, the truth is I am. I'm very particular when it comes to my coffee. But you know why? Because I enjoy the experience so much of savoring my coffee. It’s the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning. So let's say, using your favorite coffee as an example (or if you don’t drink coffee, think of a favorite product you love and can't live without.) Let’s say that product went up a few bucks for whatever reason (shipping cost increased, production cost increased or whatever the reason is) The coffee you adore used to be $12 a pound and now it’s $15. Would you still buy it?

If you saw the value in it, chances are you would. My coffee has gone up $5 a pound since I started drinking it. Guess what -- I'm still drinking it. 

Remember if you're asking yourself, “What will people pay for this?” you're asking yourself the wrong question because the answer is always “as little as possible.” 

How do I know this? Pay attention. You pay attention to people’s behavior, you pay attention to their habits. Pricing strategies are really simple when you break them down. Attracting qualified leads is not that complicated when you solve a specific problem and focus on value over price. But when you have products that are priced based on supply/demand, it's easy to lose sight of this and focus on price over value, and that gets you into trouble and keeps you from finding the right clients. Think about it if you’re shopping around for a specific product. You’d do what a lot of us do, right? You go online, you look on Amazon. You scout out that product and try to find the lowest price. Maybe you check a few other websites, just to make sure you’re getting the best price. Then, when you’re convinced you have the best price, you buy the product. Have you ever done this? 

What does this do? It commoditizes the product. You don't want your program, product or service to be a commodity. That doesn't attract you the right clients, that only attracts clients who want to pay as little as possible. That pricing strategy works for some products, but definitely not for yours. If you allow your product to become a commodity, people are always going to be looking for the lowest price. Oh, a course on Instagram? Let me see who out there has the cheapest price. You see where I’m going with this. How do you find more qualified leads and attract more of the right clients? Pay attention. Don't commoditize your products or services.

Has there ever been a time when you’ve invested in a program and by the end of it, it was so valuable you say something like, “I can’t believe I only invested X for this. It’s worth so much more!” That’s what you want with your programs. 

When it comes to pricing strategies to attract more of the right clients, it's really simple. Do the opposite of what most people are doing. Reverse-engineer the process and start asking: How can I show the value in what I'm providing so that the right clients I'm looking for will want to pay what I'm asking for it? How can I make it so irresistible that those qualified leads you attract can't help but pull out their wallet and say, “Here’s my money!” It's easy to do. From here on out, instead of asking yourself “what will people pay” you’re going to ask yourself: “What do I want to charge for this product?” Let’s say it’s $997, or $1997, or $2997. It doesn’t matter what the number is.

Then, you’re going to make what's inside the program so valuable that it’s worth that or more. After this, your only job then is to show people WHY it’s so valuable. That's what's going to help you attract the most qualified leads, who convert into the right clients you love working with.

Here's how to put this value-based pricing strategy into action. 1) Pick the price you want. Not the price you think people will pay, the price YOU WANT. 2) Make the program worth that and then some. Make it so irresistible that the right clients start finding you. They'll see how valuable your offer is and practically beg to work with you. 

When I was designing the Visionary Leader Formula™, here was the exact pricing strategy I used: I chose the minimum number I wanted in my bank account for each new incoming student (not the price I thought someone would pay). What I really chose was the minimum number I wanted qualified leads coming into this program to invest, because I knew that when they make that minimum investment, they're putting their money where their mouth is. They're investing in their business and themselves, and those are going to be the right clients for me -- the type of people who show up and do the work. 

That was one of the pricing strategies I used and how I thought it through. Once I had the number, my next step was to ask myself, "how can I pack this program with so much value, that a) it attracts qualified leads who b) turn into the right clients and c) at the end of the program say, “I should have paid you so much more for this!!!”

I've had students in the program who have been with me for years. They've seen so many iterations of this program along the way because we've enhanced it and made it better and better and they still say it's one of the best programs they've ever invested in. That's what you want your program to be for people. Your only job is to get out there and create it.

If you’ve been hesitant to raise your prices, hopefully by now you can clearly see that you’re doing a disservice to your business to not charge what you're worth. If your current pricing strategy is to undercharge in order to attract more people, you're preventing yourself from attracting the most qualified leads and finding the right clients. Yet when you flip this pricing strategy upside down and instead of focusing on price, you simply start focusing on delivering exceptional value and helping people get results, you can see for yourself that the price doesn’t really matter… people will pay whatever you ask them to when they see the value in what you offer. When they see how it will transform their life in a way they’ll never be able to put a price tag on. Plain and simple.  

I gave you a lot of food for thought in this episode on pricing strategies that actually work to attract qualified leads who become the right clients.

When you’re ready to step fully into your role as the Visionary Leader your business needs to succeed, head to theeffortlesslife.co where you can find out more about how we can work together.

I appreciate you so much. As always go forth and live your EffortLESS Life®. You’re the best.