🖐 Happy Wednesday!

Issue #50 is a 3.0-minute read.

1 big topic: When Clients Disappear, Raise Your Prices

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Your goal: You want enough income to make a good profit and more time to find clients that will pay what you’re worth.

The problem: When business slows or clients say you’re too pricey, you lower your prices or tell them you’ll do more work for less.

You tell yourself that it’s better to get some client work at lower prices than to get no work at your current prices.

I made the same silly mistake when I ran my investment firm and needed to get more sales in the door.

I chose to lower my prices and do much more work for far less money.

I faced two big problems with the lower price strategy.

1. My enthusiasm to do a great job for new clients dropped through the floor

2. I started the bad habit of using a low price to bring in more clients rather than highlighting my value

Your solution: Take a close look at three tools you use to show clients why they should happily pay your prices.

• Your website

• Your social media posts

• Your email marketing

Each of them has to reinforce the value your service delivers.

Your website should show testimonials and showcase client transformations.

Your social media posts have to present the problem you solve and the pain you remove when clients work with you.

Your email marketing has to build your tribe and remind subscribers that your approach is unique, powerful, and valuable.

When your website, posts and emails align to support your value raise your prices.

I’d start with a 5% bump and see how customers react.

The goal is to have 20% of new customers say, “No,” and 80% say, “Yes!”

👇 Go deeper: Strategy is your first step to building a business that gives you the income you deserve.

If your strategy is on target, then pricing is an easy fix.

Remember: It takes less time to finish 1 project at $5,000 than 4 projects at $1,250 apiece.

You deserve more.

This week’s business story:

Art Fair Paints a Sales Masterpiece

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The big picture: Rebecca Hoffman, founder of the Aspen Art Fair, traded boring gallery walls for the vintage Hotel Jerome, giving wealthy patrons and gallery owners a fresh location to buy and sell art. ⁽¹⁾

The results were spectacular.

Why it matters: Your customers see the same type of landing page day after day, so yours has to be “Hotel Jerome’” to attract them and get them to buy.

Your next move: Take a close look at your landing pages to see where you can make a helpful change.

• Start with Google Search Console and Google Analytics for updates on your site, visitors and key conversion ratios

• Look at your competition’s landing pages and hit on the points that they miss or don’t convey well

• Refresh your landing page design to bring a new spark to your product and brand identity

🏜 In a tight economy, put your products in a fun, new space and give buyers a new perspective on how you take them from meh to marvelous.

1 fun idea: Play Consultant While You Buy Mangos

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Teaching your brain to spot and fix business problems gives you a big advantage.

Why it matters: As a solo business owner, you’re the first line of defense to stop big mistakes before they happen.

Zoom out: Start growing your consulting skills as you shop for groceries.

💡 Ideas:

• Does the produce section make it easy for you to find what you want and then give you options?

• Is the checkout process quick, or do you have to wait too long to complete a purchase?

• Does the store’s environment excite you and make you want to buy, or does it put you to sleep as you bag groceries?

✨ I pretend that by the time I leave the store, I have to tell management about three issues I found and what I would do to fix them.

This makes my shopping trips more fun as I look for mangos and limes.

🍎 What’s next? Walk into your grocery store and keep an eye out for the problems that bother you.

Before you leave, give a mock presentation in your head that shows management the problems and how you would fix them.

I promise that in a few months, your consulting brain will get stronger, and you’ll easily see areas in your business that need attention.

Pricing strategy is only one of the tools we’ll cover in your 90-minute consulting session. Your business challenges are unique to you, and they deserve a customized approach that fixes them fast.

I hope today’s newsletter topics are helpful.

Stay curious and keep opening doors.

-Erik

Notes:

⁽¹⁾ Ray Mark Rinaldi, In Aspen, a New Art Fair Follows the Money, New York Times, August 2, 2024, last viewed August 4, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/02/arts/design/aspen-art-fair.html