Learn How to Determine Your True Value & Charge What You’re Worth!
by Joeel A. Rivera
I have worked with and trained tens of thousands of life coaches, as well as people in countless other services businesses, and almost all of them have one thing in common.
Most life coaches belief that people won’t pay them for the their services, and if they would pay, it wouldn’t be much.
If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re not alone—it’s a common concern, but it’s also a signal of a deeper underlying problem that’s holding you back.
It’s fear…Fear is holding you back.
Fear of rejection, humiliation, not being good enough, not being able to get results for your clients, not being worth the money. These are all real fears and I get it. Fear is holding you back.
The biggest obstacle for most coaches is that fear of not being worth it.
And, so they don’t charge what they’re worth. But the truth is, most of them don’t realize just how valuable they really are. And, what’s sad is that fear keeps so many life coaches from allowing themselves to live their purpose, which really upsets me.
If you believe in what you do than it is your MORAL OBLIGATION to share it with others.
If you do not put yourself out there, you are withholding a valuable service that could transform people’s lives. You owe it to them, and yourself, to face your fears.
I want you to know your value so you can reach the people you are meant to reach AND get paid what you’re worth.
Owning Your Value
First, I want you to think about the niche you focus on in your coaching and what life experience you had that lead you to want to coach people in that area. If you don’t have a niche yet, think about what challenge you overcame, how you transformed your life, or what expertise you have—these things would make a great coaching niche! So, pick an area of your life that YOU experienced something that now you can help someone else through.
Then, imagine going back in time and talking to your younger self—before you overcame your challenge, transformed, or learned what you know now.
Think about the pain or challenges your younger self was going through.
Think about what additional struggles you know are still to come for them.
Now imagine you can coach that person, like a mentor or guide. Imagine you can show your younger self EXACTLY how to solve their problem and get out of that pain or through that challenge sooner.
How much would that have been worth to you? Almost priceless, right?
Now, imagine you could offer your client a shortcut or the key that unlocks their healing, transformation, career advancement, relationships, or whatever it is you can offer. Or, imagine you could offer them a shortcut to the knowledge you’ve accumulated over a long career or through years of learning a skill. How much would that be worth to them? How much money and time would it save them?
Don’t you think there are other people out there right now that are not only willing to pay for the transformation you can offer but who are willing to do whatever it took to achieve the result you have gotten? Almost everyone I’ve ever asked to do this exercise says “yes”! But, they are struggling to get clients. Why is that? It’s because they’re not putting themselves out there. They’re afraid for all of the reasons I already mentioned and so they hide. They don’t reach out to the people that need them, and when the do reach out they’re not communicating the results they can get for them.
So, here is the solution to GETTING CLIENTS AND GETTING PAID WHAT YOU’RE WORTH:
Step 1: Get clear about the RESULTS you are able to get for your clients
Step 2: Reach out to those exact people who need what you have to offer
Step 3: TELL THEM exactly what you can do for them and the VALUE of the results
Step 4: Charge them according to that value
It sounds pretty simple, but where most people get hung up is those last two steps. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to go over next.
Determining Your Value and Setting Your Price
One of the hardest parts of selling product, or especially a service, is setting the right price. In some cases, the pricing is pretty strait forward because your price is dictated by the market. But, in many cases, especially with service businesses, prices vary widely and depend more on perception than anything else.
What it really comes down to is setting a price that captures the true value of what you are offering, while at the same time taking into account the budget of your customer.
But, ultimately the most important factor for pricing is the value that your customers place on your product or service. But, it’s not even the value they place on what you sell that matters, it’s the value they place on the OUTCOMES they will receive because of their purchase.
The following quick activity will help you identify the true benefits your clients will receive by hiring you, as well as what they will lose out on if they do not.
First, Brainstorm the Benefits:
Will your clients receive a return on their investment or any other financial benefit? (This would apply, for instance, if you were an entrepreneurship or career coach.)
Will they receive anything else that is physical or tangible that is not financial?
What pain do they have now that will be relieved?
What weight will be lifted?
What problem will be solved?
What limitations will be removed?
What meaning or purpose or empowerment will they experience?
What emotion will they experience?
Brainstorm the Loss (if they DON’T work with you):
What does it cost them NOT to do business with you?
What does it cost them NOT to get rid of their pain or solve their problem or make progress?
What literal expenses will they incur?
What emotional weight will they have to continue to bear?
What will continue to hold them back?
How much longer will it take for them to accomplish their goal?
What negative repercussions would they experience 10 years from now?
After considering the answers to these questions, what is the result you are offering them WORTH TO THEM?
The goal is to identify a dollar value. At first, go with what you genuinely feel it would be worth.
Then, do some market research to identify what other similar businesses are charging for a comparable offer. If there is a wide range of prices, ask yourself where in that range you feel what you can provide falls?
Then, your final price can be set based on the combined factors of market price and the true value of what you offer.
Now, Communicate Your Value
Once you identify the true value of your product or service, you’ll use this in your marketing materials. All of the answers to your brainstorming questions above helped you identify what your client truly wants and needs. You can use these answers as a list of results or benefits of your coaching!
Another effective way to express the value you offer is to ask specific questions that point in the direction of the results you’re offering. For instance:
How much would you save in (time, money, or frustration) if you understood or experienced (fill in the blank with the results your program provides).
Imagine you had (fill in the blank with the solutions you offer) and it helped you (fill in the blank with the results they’ll experience). What would that be worth?
I hope now you see that there really is true value in what you can provide through your life coaching (or whatever it is that you do). I hope you can see that the next step is to find the people who need you and TELL THEM the results you can provide!
Oh, and one last note—whatever you decided on as a price, consider raising it even higher! Yes, HIGHER! The reason why may surprise you. Of course, I believe you deserve to be paid well for what you do because what you do MATTERS. But, charging more for your service actually helps your CLIENTS. That’s right! Research has shown that the more someone pays for a service that is intended to HELP them, the more they get out of it.
Think about it—have you ever signed up for a program for FREE and then either not taken it, not followed through, or not taken it seriously? If you had paid $1,000 for that same program, do you think you would have committed yourself to making the most of it?
The same thing happens with life coaching or other “helping” servies. If you under charge, your clients will not be INVESTED—literally or emotionally—in their own results. This means they receive less benefit and you receive less referrals.
So, if you really want to make a difference in the world you first have to put yourself out there and stop hiding, and then you have to charge what you’re worth!
Joeel Rivera is a visionary creator, coach, speaker and serial entrepreneur. He is a former psychology professor with Master’s Degree in Counseling and Education and is currently completing his dissertation for his Ph.D. in Psychology, with an emphasis on happiness. Joeel infuses a deep understanding of the science of psychology and human potential into all of his programs. He has worked with thousands of organizations, INDIEpreneurs and life coaches who are committed to mastering the power of their mind and creating their destiny. He has almost 40,000 students from 170 countries around the world. Visit http://www.IgniteLife.me and http://www.Transformation-Academy.com.