How to Sell at a Range of Price Points and Close Different Kinds of Clients
Episode 728: Show Notes
Today we’re talking about pricing! We have been discussing pricing for creative small business owners since the beginning. This is our happy place! We have a new version of this conversation today and are excited to share it with you. Let’s face it, the market is just totally weird right now. Business owners approach us often, asking for advice about whether to pivot or start over. And 90% of the time, we’re Team Pivot, as long as you ensure that your pivot aligns with what the market sees as essential. You’ve got to meet your clients or prospective clients where they’re at. So what does it take to close different kinds of clients at different price points?
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Behind the Scenes at Boss Project
Lately, we have been doing some really cool Sales Strategy Intensives. That means we work one-on-one with business owners like you, and dive into: how your current services are set up, who you are selling to, at what price point you’re selling, your profit and loss over time, and more. We help you to pick apart what is working and look for areas you could improve to increase your capacity, or your revenue, or any other goal you might have.
Often, business owners with a defined niche will have in mind to broaden it, but our advice is always to stay as specific as possible. What would your opportunities look like if you niched down even further? What is your best opportunity, and what is the right tweak on the surface? When business owners make these changes, we consistently see results right away. If you want to explore this conversation with us, check out the Incubator or our Sales Strategy Intensives on our website.
How to Leverage Old Content by Fixing it Up and Polishing it for Your Readers
Before we get into closing clients, it’s so crucial that you consider your capacity! We want to see you be successful, and understanding your capacity is a massive part of that. But it isn’t just time-related. Sometimes, you could theoretically handle more clients that take less time, but things change mentally the more clients you serve at any given time. You need to get clear on what you can handle. Are you selling in a retainer or a project-based model? That’s going to determine a lot of what you do.
Maybe you’re comfortable with a higher number of clients. Are you comfortable with the number of leads you need to land in order to have that many clients? Do you have time for that many discovery calls? Are you comfortable having that many pitch calls? Work it back all the way to how many leads you need, and really assess if that’s in your wheelhouse. Sometimes, you’re going to have to do all of those things at the same time. So you’ve got to work it to your advantage.
Pros and Cons of Choosing a Low, Middle, or High Price Point
Sometimes when you’re feeling particularly burnt out, a lower price point client can be fantastic. A lower price point can mean less strategy is involved — it’s process-oriented instead. It could potentially mean that as the business owner, you are delivering little to none of the services, and your team is doing it for you. It could mean you are only working on the sale and not on the fifth element side. Client expectations are typically different in this space. But this is a spectrum! You can go too low and end up with clients expecting a lot more than the deliverables. You’ve got to have a clear scope of what’s on offer.
When you’re priced appropriately, you get excited to show up to work again. You can afford to over-deliver if you’re priced appropriately for your delivery. You can also adjust your price in accordance with who your client is. Some of you will need to make adjustments to suit your particular clientele. The advantage of a premium price point is that when you get there, you can make more customizations for that client. You can take a base offer and riff off of it. You can add things you wouldn’t do for another client. You know you’ll dedicate more time to the client, so you have room to make those changes.
What You Need to Know About How the Price Point Influences the Selling Process
What is impacted depending on your price range? The lower your price point, the more systematic the sales process needs to be. A lower price point means a lot less customization during the sales process in general and the follow-up! There is so much opportunity to systematically go after a group of people because they would be experiencing very similar problems. The sales process needs to take less time for a lower offer. Not because the client deserves less of your time, but because being mindful of your capacity and time is one of the most important things you can do as your company's founder.
That’s how you set yourself up for success. It’s how you prevent burnout. Honoring those boundaries based on your capacity shows your team they can have those exact boundaries. There is no world where you can treat every client at every price point the same way. You’re just not. Customizing the sales process according to the price point of your pitch is a huge part of this. The time to convert at a higher price point could be a lot longer, while at a lower price point, your approach needs to be short and concise. Your time is important, so why would you give it to something you know isn’t aligned with your values?
Why You’ve Got to Start Accounting for the Time it Takes to Sell
Regardless of what price point you’re selling at, you have got to start accounting for the time it takes to sell! Delivery doesn’t happen in a vacuum where everything goes perfectly. People get sick. They have family emergencies. Things happen that will slow you down, and you’re only thinking about it after they sign and pay. You can’t wait until after they sign and pay to think about this. You need to know how many leads you need, and at what price point you need to be selling so that you can hit your goals! You might need to change what you’re offering based on how many leads you want. You have to take the ebb and flow of the market into consideration. What’s your response rate? What does your conversion rate look like? Where are your price points at? Have you taken your delivery into account? Your capacity? Do you have a team of support right now that helps you, or do you not?
Even if every piece of your sales process is manual, you need to know what numbers you need to make it all make sense. Even if you’re talking to five people a month with the goal to land one client. At what price point do you need to be selling for that all to make sense? How many leads do you need to talk to five people? It’s all interchangeable and it can all change. While there are advantages of each price point, and differences you might make in the sales process, you may need to address these things based on the feedback you are given. You may need to address them way more frequently than you think!
You have to keep changing things. It’s time to get curious. Get back onto the ground floor and see what your prospects are actually asking for. If you want help refining your offer or trying to make some pivots and some tweaks to make sure that it is price-right, and it is talking to the right person. If you want some help doing that research in your current audience, and the deep dive analytics as to what you are bringing to the table already, slide into our DMs on Instagram, book a time with Abbie, and let’s talk about what we can make happen for you.
Quote This
We want to see you be successful, and understanding your capacity is a really big part of that.
Highlights
Why We Insist on Determining Your Capacity First [0:12:27]
Pros and Cons of Choosing a Low, Middle, or High Price Point [0:16:07]
What You Need to Know About How the Price Point Influences the Selling Process [0:21:40]
Why You’ve Got to Start Accounting for the Time it Takes to Sell [0:31:09]
Today’s Guest:
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
The Strategy Hour Podcast is a twice weekly show hosted by Abagail Pumphrey and Emylee Williams, the founders of Boss Project. Join us for semi-ranty biz conversations for service providers looking to ethically grow their agency businesses. Episodes cover everything from lead generation to leadership mindset to team culture and beyond.
Key Topics:
Pricing, Planning, Capacity, Clients,Time Management, Sales, Values
