Peer Pressure and Underselling Yourself.
Not too long ago I jumped into a new niche in the industry of Local Marketing. Offering SEO and site building and logo creation and mobile and reputation management and blogging and a lot more is very tempting but I decided to concentrate on one single niche.
When you concentrate on one thing - you become great at it. You become an expert.
So, when I told my friends about my new business the conversation would go like this:
- Friend: "Wow, that sounds like a great idea for any local business to hire you! How much will you charge?"
- Me: "I haven't decided on pricing yet... probably $1,000 a month?"
- Friend: "Oh, you should drop it down to like $100-$200, it'll be easier to get more clients!"
- Me: "I don't want more clients. I want a few clients that pay well and really need my help"
- Friend: "Well, I don't think you'll find anyone at this price..."
I have though about this "wise advice" and tried to sell my services for cheap. Very cheap. And I didn't make a penny. I didn't even get a single business interested in a "free consultation". Then I decided that I shouldn't take business advice from people who never owned a business.
I raised my prices. My pricing went from $200 per month to $1500+ per month. And this is when the magic happened. Yesterday I got my first client to sign a contract for 3 months and a total of $5700.
Here is what I learned from this experience:
- Do not take business advice from those who haven't succeeded in business. Do not seek business advice from your mom or your 9-to-5 working buddy.
- Play with pricing. A very high price tag might scare off sone potential clients; a very LOW price tag will scare off most of them.
- Concentrate on one niche and become a real expert. Become enthusiastic about your service and the clients will become enthusiastic as well.
- Do not sell features, sell benefits. If your potential client refuses to buy from you it's simply because you failed to show the real VALUE of the service.
... and how does it all relate to Wealthy Affiliate? Well, I would be stuck at a boring 9 to 5 job right now if I didn't discover WA. I started learning about Affiliate Marketing and PPC and SEO here but I ended up learning so much more. It's WA and its members that made me discover the notion of "Local Marketing". Once again, WA offers endless possibilities, just open your eyes :)
Got anything to add? Comment below!
- Alex
Recent Comments
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Congratulations! So happy for you. The local marketing space is a great one and it's exciting to see you be unstuck from the boring job and be out in the world and creating success. That's what I'm moving toward.
Great to hear you are moving forward, Judy.
I probably should have mentioned it in the post, but it took me about a year of failing with this business until I finally got my first client. I failed then I tried again. I failed then I tried harder. It's not an "overnight" success story :)
Well done Alex That's great. Your friend was missing the fact that often people associate cheap with cheap and nasty not value for money. Besides your time and your experience is worth a proper market price. :) Beverley
Thank you, Beverley. One of my teachers once told me "I am not paid for what I do. I am paid for what I know". Sometimes people don't realize that as marketers, we have spent thousands of hours learning what we know - and we charge accordingly.
When you approach a client with: "As you see, by doing things this way, you are losing $40k-$60k per month. I can fix that for you. How much would that be worth to you?" - if a client is a good entrepreneur, he wouldn't hesitate signing a cheque for $1k-$2k-$5k.
It's not how much we charge, it's how much value we bring in :)
OK here a sound business advice, we should celebrate, like with a $5700 bottle of champagne... how does that sound?
Just kidding buddy, I am very happy for you and trust this client will start a new network: a clients' network which will bring you the success you desire. Keep us posted!
Many people think that small business owners can't afford to pay $1,000 a month for service but they are used to paying high prices for professional services such as lawyers, accountants and so on.
If you only ask for $100 per month, they know you'll need many clients to make a decent living which means less time concentrating on THEIR business.If you want to sell yourself as a professional, you should probably charge professional prices. Just my opinion :)
That's true.
Also, let's say the service you are offering requires 10 hours of your time. Charging 100$ means you are paid $10 per hour, while you're helping the business make an extra $50,000. Is this fair? :)
Funny... I'm beginning to emphasis mass marketing more over local. My experience? Sometimes I get bored and want to deal with individual people, other times I don't. I switch every 6 months or so. There is a lot money to be made in both local and mass marketing.
I love Affiliate Marketing and Blogging - this is why I am online. However, I am really liking Local Marketing as well... Since I can't decide which I like more - I do both :D
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Nice!