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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 percent 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 customers. 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 improving the quality and lifting the price.

About the Author:

Jane Francis is the author of "Price Yourself Right”. She is available as a coach, trainer and workshop leader to help sales teams and companies pitch and present their price with creativity and confidence. To find out more go to: http://www.priceyourselfight.com or buy the book

Nice feelings don't pay the bills!

‘It’s kind of a spiritual snobbery that makes people think they can be happy without money’. —Albert Camus

Have you ever worked out how much money you have “left on the table” just because you never asked for it?

You’ve probably seen the sort of advertisements that investment companies like to use; in graph or table form, they show how savings reinvested with compound interest mount up—how $100 a week earning compound interest of 8 percent becomes nearly $110,000 in just ten years.

Add up all the hours, weeks, months, and years of cheap deals you’ve been doing, and estimate the opportunity cost of all that unclaimed money. Now resolve not to let it continue.

Focus on how good the future will be—how much better you’ll feel. To help keep you motivated, place a reminder of the real reason you go to work somewhere you won’t forget—near your diary, computer, or phone. It could be a picture of your child with the crooked teeth that you want to have straightened, or your dream home, or the feeling of pride and accomplishment you’ll get when you bank the money—whatever it takes for you to resist the temptation to belittle your worth the next time you quote on a job.

Once you’ve set your price, be strong. Remind yourself that you are worth it. If the customer wants you, they’re not going to get you any other way.

I was wearing a beautiful pink stone bracelet, when it got caught in some clothing and the setting was damaged. I knew the stones weren’t valuable, so I continued to wear the bracelet until eventually one stone fell out. Do you think I would have done that if it had been a valuable pink diamond? Of course not, I would have gotten it fixed right away.

Make yourself valuable. Put a high price on your worth, and you may find that you get treated better.

Become discerning, and be willing to give up clients you don’t want, so you can find clients you do want. If you spend all your time with clients that are only willing to pay $10 an hour, when will you have time for those ready to spend $100?

In conclusion, remember the prophetic words of W. Somerset Maugham: ‘It’s a funny thing about life: if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it’



About the Author:

Jane Francis is the author of "Price Yourself Right”. She is available as a coach, trainer and workshop leader to help sales teams and companies pitch and present their price with creativity and confidence. To find out more go to: http://www.priceyourselfight.com or buy the book

Value what you do

“When you undervalue what you do the world will undervalue who you are.” Suze Orman, American financial guru and author

Here are three ways of expressing a similar sentiment in a different way:
1) If other people are charging $100 for something and you only charge $10, your customer will wonder what is wrong with what you have to offer.
2) If you pay 20 cents for a pen, you don’t care who you lend it to; if you pay $200 you make sure you get it back.
3) If you buy an authentic Gucci™ product and it comes wrapped in a branded paper bag with a ribbon you will probably keep the bag and the ribbon; if you buy a cheap knock-off product and it comes wrapped in a paper bag with a ribbon you will probably chuck the wrapping out.

Jane Francis is the author of "Price Yourself Right”. She is available as a coach, trainer and workshop leader to help sales teams and companies pitch and present their price with creativity and confidence. To find out more buy the book here.

The dangers of discounting

Discounting as a business practice is so entrenched that I probably don’t need to help you recreate the arguments that justify it.

The dictionary describes the effect well: “to deduct from the amount, cost; to disregard; to make less effective by anticipation.”

Before you succumb to the temptation to win new business by offering a discount take a moment to consider these seven problems associated with discounting:

1.Negotiations over discounts, focuses attention on price—as if that were all that matters. If your only competitive advantage is price, you are in trouble, because price can always be matched.

2.Discounting starts price wars. The company that usually wins is the one with the biggest balance sheet—the one who can afford to hold out the longest.

3.Discounting can affect the customer perception of your service. The less they pay, quite likely the less they will value it.

4.Discounting will affect your profit margins. Consider what would happen if all your competitors met your discounted price—do you think your customer is going to accept any less quality?

5.Discounting may affect the quality of your service. Yet, if you compromise the quality of what you sell, you risk disappointing customers and you may lose repeat business, and lose credibility or gain a bad reputation, or end up spending time fixing complaints. One way or another today’s discounts could rob you of future business, and profits.

6.Discounting may lead to ‘stockpiling’ where customers purchase more than they need while the price is cheap. This will affect demand and potential profits in the future.

7.Habitual discounting can become psychologically disempowering. A reduced price can be a short-sighted ‘quick fix’ that reduces business growth in the long run. Before you discount, stop and think: is this the only way to give value?

Be mindful when you’re offering a discount. Why are you doing it? Is it an investment, and will it net you a greater financial return in the future? Or is it something you do all the time, a thinly disguised (yet noble!) excuse for not charging your worth?

Are you offering a discount as the “lazy way out”—instead of making the effort to explain or demonstrate your value? One of the basic rules of negotiating is that if you are going to offer a discount, you offer a different product or service. Perhaps negotiate different terms, or a shorter guarantee, or longer lead times. Challenge your customer’s proposition for a discount with: “If you want a better price, give me a better order.”

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

Byline: Jane Francis is the author of "Price Yourself Right”. To find out more buy the book here.

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.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

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

Excerpt from Chapter One

I can always sense when someone isn’t confident about asking for money. There’s usually a telltale hesitation in the voice, and words that come out as an apology.
Many of us have been brought up not to talk about money. Money is still a taboo subject, and we don’t like to talk about it, so we don’t. But if you want to claim what you deserve, it’s no good saying, “I hate asking for money.” You will have to learn how to change, because it won’t happen on its own.
Think about the last time you knew you should be charging more, but instead, sold yourself for less. What were the consequences? Here are some possibilities:
 You tired yourself out.
You accepted less than you are worth, so you have to earn more tomorrow, never catching up on yourself.
 You belittled your value.
You gave your customer an extra dose of time. You gifted them with a portion of your life, belittling the value you place on your life. Your time is your life.
 You devalued your worth.
You gave away free information. You undermined the value of your intellectual property or special skills that you invested time and money acquiring and developing.
 You exposed your lack of wealth consciousness.
You demonstrated your ignorance of or disdain for the power of money to accumulate, and compound, over time. The money you didn’t make this time can’t be put to work for you until you’ve earned it.
 You made it harder for yourself next time.
You denied yourself the chance to acknowledge your self-worth and you taught others to undervalue you. You signaled to your customer your availability to be exploited. “Here I am, going cheap! Be my guest—help yourself to the profits.”
 You reinforced your own doubts about your self-worth, digging yourself deeper into the rut.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

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