Powerful Strategies for Communicating Value

Have you ever revealed your price to a client only to hear “That’s so expensive! I can’t afford that!”

It’s so annoying. We hate hearing that reaction.

But there is a reason you are getting that reaction, and there are things you can do to avoid it.

You can watch the video here.

The reason

99% of the time, the reason the client thinks your price is too expensive is simply that they don’t understand the value.

They aren’t accountants. They aren’t bookkeepers. They have no idea what it is we do in our profession, and they have no idea what you do for them.

When you reveal a price for your services, the client is going to make a judgement on that number without any context of the value of the work you do. Usually, that means they think it’s too expensive, even if the price you gave was actually really low.

You need to get better at communicating the value of your services so that you don’t get this reaction anymore.

There are three things you can do to avoid this reaction:

#1 Tell them absolutely everything you do.

If you just tell your client you do payroll, they don’t see any value in that. They don’t understand the extent of the work that goes into doing payroll.

Explain to them that you do payroll, bookkeeping, tax returns, checklists, balances, making sure the business is compliant, getting the client the best possible results.

If you don’t tell them everything there, then you are failing to communicate the value of what you do.

#2 Communicate the pain.

Find out what pain the client is currently experiencing, and what pain they will face in the future if they don’t change.

People are more motivated by the avoidance of pain than by the attainment of gain.

Paint a really clear picture for the client. Explain what their problems are, the challenges they will face, and how potentially damaging those problems could be. Build up the pain in the client’s mind.

#3 Quantify wherever possible.

If you are focusing on pain, try and uncover how much money they are losing out on, how much time they are wasting.

If you are focusing on the results you can provide, quantify that too. If you are going to save them tax, work out how much you are going to save. If you’re saving them time, give them a figure. If you’re going to reduce their costs, how much will they save?

These are three really great ways of communicating the value of your service.

Another great technique, that many of my own value pricing students do, is to create a professional-looking brochure.

Brochures are great because they give your meetings structure. You can follow the system of the brochure to make sure that you cover all the points you need to and say all of the right things in the meeting to really convey the value of what you do.

Having the help of that brochure, that system, will really help to reduce the ‘that’s too expensive’ reaction. They will start to appreciate the value of what you do, and they will be willing to pay a higher price for that value.

If you found this valuable and would like to learn more about value pricing, I run a free live online training session every month with a topic chosen by you. Attend live and you can ask me any questions you have. Click here to register and I will send you an invitation to the next session.

Wishing you every success on your pricing journey

Mark Wickersham

Chartered Accountant, Public Speaker and Author of Amazon No.1 Best Seller “Effective Pricing for Accountants”