If you’re good at what you do, you should ensure you are compensated in a way that feels good. Nothing is worse than working for a client where you know you will have very little left over after all expenses have been paid.
If you are confident in your skills and know and can communicate your value, clients will be willing to pay what you ask for, but… and this is the big but, you must have the courage to ask for what you want, stop leaving money on the table and stop undercharging.
You will feel better about yourself, and the client will get a much better service as they are working with a happier you.
You don’t have to make the big jump with your pricing immediately. You can do it where all new clients pay your new 5% or 10% increase and give your existing clients 6 months’ notice that fees are increasing (or whatever increase feels comfortable for you).
Start and build your confidence by observing that slow increase. You may be surprised as there is little or no resistance. In your meetings, focus your conversation on how much their situation will improve after your intervention, not the time it takes or your process – clients are not interested.
Set an objective of your ideal price. It may be that you are not ready to ask for that premium fee, but keep increasing it until you are happy and making sufficient profit.
There is, however, one thing you must overcome: that monkey on your shoulder, which is always busy, muttering away. “Let’s just be happy that we have business coming in;” these are lean times, and we are all going through a crisis; -my favourite – a recession is coming, or we’re in the midst of one. The list is endless.
But the funny thing is, with all that is happening in the world, people are still shopping, travelling, going out, buying cars, so there must be money somewhere. It’s never about the fee; it’s all about priorities.
Set yourself a goal and go for it. Things will only change if you do.
