Price Yourself Right

What do you have to gain by charging less than you are worth?

I can think of many ways you might be rewarded. For example, not charging what you are worth might make you feel safe by reducing the rejection you think you’d get if you charged more.

Perhaps undercharging allows you to feel like the ‘underdog’ and that makes you feel justified when you complain to your family how your clients don’t appreciate you. In this way, it buys you sympathy or gives you a sense of belonging within the group you associate with.

Here’s another not very pleasant but possible reason you may undercharge. It provides an ‘out clause’ i.e. you don’t want to finish the job properly so you think that if you leave it as it is and charge a bit less ‘they’ll understand’.

Or perhaps, if you’re not 100% confident in the job you’ve done, you might think: ‘well if it all falls apart, at least they didn’t spend too much on it.’ Or: ‘what did they expect; it was only a hundred dollars?’

If you see yourself in any of these situations, own up and learn a better way of communicating with your customer. Talk to your customer so you are both clear about the details of the transaction. Perhaps that should include the option of them paying you less to do less, or you improve the quality and lift the price.

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Byline: Jane Francis is the author of "Price Yourself Right”. To find out more go to: www.priceyourselfight.com .