How to Charge Supremely Higher Fees

10X Business Letter
Seattle, Wa
Overcast 51 Degrees
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Dear 10X Business Builder,

Fees for the ‘same’ product/service are across the board, they vary greatly.  Some charge more and some charge less… but, does our ‘self-worth’ impact this?

Let’s take a look…

We all have a friend or family member, or at least know someone (maybe intimately) that always seems to find the one person who is absolutely terrible for them.

They don’t show up when they are supposed to.

They don’t call when they say they will.

And often times they lie and cheat.  Yet, said individual sticks around like an obedient and loyal dog.

And then we (the friends and family) wonder…

“Why do they always seem to pick ‘losers’?”

There are many reasons this happens — but the encompassing reason is they simply don’t believe they deserve better.  When one has a self-worth deficiency, they tend to settle for anything — usually on the lower rung.

And it doesn’t just effect their personal life.

You see, we don’t have separate belief systems for our personal lives and our professional lives.

We have one belief system that drives our one life.

So this self-worth limitation ofter spills over into our business as well.

Let me explain what I mean…

How many professional service providers do you know that are just barely scraping by — charging a mere penitence?…

Yet, some coaches, consultants, financial planners and speakers demand supremely higher fees?…

How does this happen?

I can hear you now, “it’s because they deliver more ‘Value’.”

Others, “It’s because they have more expertise”…

Which is true, both can and do play a role, but CHECK THIS OUT:

BOTH ARE SUBJECTIVE!!

At what point do you ‘officially’ become a good value?…  Seriously, when/how do you know what you are offering to exchange for money is “valuable”?

And at what point in time do you become a bonafide ‘Expert’?…  Is there an omnipotent fairy that comes to you one day waiving her magic wand, taps you on the head and shoulders and says, “now you are an expert..”?

Though, I do agree you must establish yourself as capable and do everything in your power to demonstrate this capability, for most people this isn’t their biggest hinderance.

If you ask any service provider if they are capable, they will most likely say yes.  But saying something and actually believing it are two separate things.

Their biggest hinderance is believing their core offering is superior and of higher value than what their competitors offer.

Read that last sentence again.

IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT…

A great majority of this problem is because most of us were brought up not to brag, not to think that we are better than everyone else.

It’s uncomfortable for us the think we are superior.  

Of course there is always the exception — the delusional narcissist.  (But they usually end up on TV licking demolition wrecking balls — Aka Miley Cyrus)

Also, we tend to filter prices we are willing to charge based on what we are willing to pay, which ultimately is based on our relationship with money.

For example, if you were brought up with little or no money and hardly splurge — you will have a harder time charging exuberant amounts of money, versus a person that has grown up affluent.

Again, I’m not saying that you should be delusional, and start charging $1 million dollars when everyone else is charging $10,000.  That’s on the absurd side.

What I’m challenging you to do is, if you’re not at the higher range  that people charge for your service, ask yourself why not?

I know a guy who is selling social media services (setting up profiles etc.) and local google listings to small businesses for several hundreds of dollars a pop (and he’s killing it) — even though both are actually free.  Meaning the businesses could do both both services, with little effort — and free, on their own.  

But they don’t.

They happily pay him a premium to do it.

Here’s the kicker:  He just started doing this.  He hasn’t been ‘in the business’ for years. He has very little actual experience.  But in his mind he is an expert.  And in his mind he’s providing huge value to the company.  In his heart and soul he believes it’s a great value and that he is THE guy for the job.

And because of his certainty, clients believe it too.

It doesn’t matter whether you and I agree or disagree, it only matters what he believes.

Because absolutely believing in yourself and your product/service IS THE FIRST STEP IN SELLING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!

Yes, there is some marketing tactics that could impact the price you charge…

But even in order to use power-positioning tactics you have to make claims of superiority and demand considerably higher fees — which most won’t because they are afraid that a prospect will say no at such a high price. 

Their internal dialogue is along the lines of, “I wouldn’t pay that much” or, “It’s really not that difficult for me to do, so it’s not worth that much”, “I’m not worth that much”, “Bob can charge that much but not me”.

It’s for the same reason that we end up with low-end partners, that we end up with low-end fees — self-worth.  

An inferiority complex…

If you are a service provider and you don’t truly believe that you deliver value that constitutes higher than average fees then you will NEVER get them. 

The second that you realize that there is no magic wand that someone waves and anoints you an expert and deems you worthy of higher fees, is the day you start to raise your fees.

This is an insight that took me and Roberto many years to truly understand.

When we first started we charged considerably lower fees than we do today.

Each year, we would raise them more and more. (Because that’s what the goo roos tell us to do, right?)  

Yes, we have an extravagant client list now.   And yes, we have the field experience to see what clients’ have been able to accomplish with the skills we equipped them with (Value), 

But the truth is we had the skills and expertise to deliver the same results and value from day 1, as we do today.  

Nothing has changed except OUR perspective and confidence. 

This is a very important lesson.

The only thing that was missing was our belief that we were worth it.  And that only came with perspective and time. 

BUT IT DIDN’T HAVE TO BE LIKE THAT, we were the barrier, not our experience or our value.

Believe me, it’s much better to be on the higher rung than the lower rung when it comes to fees.  Working with affluent clients is easier, more enjoyable and more profitable.  It’s the same amount of work (sometimes even less) with significantly higher ROIT (Return of Invested Time).

If you are on the bottom of the scale for fees in your industry, ask yourself this question, “What does the person who charges the most in my same profession, do that makes him/her more valuable than me?  What do they know that I don’t know?…”

If you come up with some good answers, then you know what your next action steps are.  

If your answer is “nothing”, then I suggest you do some soul searching and have a brutally honest conversation with yourself and see if it may be the fact that you don’t believe in yourself and therefore, you don’t believe you are worth it.  

Loving Living Giving Large,

Jeff Paro, Editor
10X Business Letter

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