Is discomfort required to grow?
One client kept putting off a serious conversation with me about her pricing model. She put it off saying: “I’m so busy.” “I haven’t had a minute.” “I just need to do it…”
Finally I said “It seems to me that you’re avoiding the conversation about your pricing model. I’d like to understand why that is.”
She then told me about the occasional nasty client who challenges her team’s every move and critiques them relentlessly.
The most unsettling of these experiences boiled down to the client converting a fixed fee into an hourly rate (fee/hours worked) and complaining that it was too high or that if they finished sooner than planned, there should be a fee reduction. (They never offered to pay more if the team was on site longer.)
This firm works with about 150 clients per year. Two or three of them complain like this.
And she was letting that tiny percentage stop her from the increased revenue the company had earned by virtue of accumulated knowledge and expertise.
I’m sympathetic to the emotional ups and downs
We as firm owners have feelings. I have had my share of stings and barbs as have all of my clients.
Those of us who accept that as the cost of doing business will feel the sting for a day or two and then regroup and push forward.
Those who let the sting linger get stuck. They:
- Don’t increase their prices or adopt a pricing model that compensates them proportionally to the IMPACTs they deliver.
- May increase their fees by a percentage or two per year, hoping the clients don’t notice or complain.
- Look at the competition and feel compelled to copy them.
Simply put, they allow external forces to make decisions that are truly within their power to make.
Reading or taking action?
I love to share my thoughts, client success stories, and many tips and techniques with Owners and CEOs of professional and B2B services firms.
If I can change someone’s approach to pricing and all the related elements of the firm so they take action and increase revenue, I’m happy.
I know, however, that most of these Owners/CEOs (maybe you?) read, nod, think “that’s cool” and then never take a step out of what’s comfortable for them now.
Your firm is making money, you can pay your bills, you have a solid client retention track record.
You think “why rock the boat?”
That expression is funny though.
“Why rock the boat?”
What are boats for but to explore, to leave the dock and head into the unknown. If you think the business world is hard to fathom, how much more so is the natural world, especially bodies of water?
Is there a happy ending?
Did this client eventually have the courage to adopt a new pricing model that helped the company get compensated for the life changing differences they delivered?
I’m sorry to say, she did not.
She told me at the end of the year that it was a terrible year.
Expenses had increased, revenue was stuck, and she just couldn’t tear herself away from being the main provider while using her staff as a support team.
Sometimes the price of growth is discomfort.
And yet, think of what happens when you get through it!
- Control over your firm’s decisions.
- Higher fees because you’re using your accumulated knowledge and expertise to deliver more significant life changing differences.
- Working for clients who love how you change their lives and are happy to pay for it.
As you read this newsletter today, I ask you to think about the weight you’re giving to comfort versus the gain you could enjoy with some discomfort.
My role, if you choose to work with me, is to support you through the discomfort. To be BOLD!
Ready to rock your boat?
Text ROCK to 703-801-0345
