As a Business Coach: Biggest Mistake You Make with Your Fees

As a business coach, I talk with entrepreneurs everyday, helping them refine their processes, so they bring in more business, generate more income, and serve their clients to the very best of their ability.

And there are three mistakes I see person after person making on the fee front.

Mistake #1: They don’t have a clearly defined … non-discountable … set of fees for the services they offer.

They make up their fees as they go. That’s not smart.

Why? Well, here’s what happens. Say you’re a service provider and you either aren’t completely confident in your ability to deliver what you’re promising or you’re not sure the service is worth what you want to charge for it … or both. What do you think happens?

You immediately go to cutting your fees to secure the client. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.

Don’t do it!

Instead of discounting your fees, give your prospective clients choices, which brings us to …

Mistake #2: They don’t give people a choice of price points.

They don’t offer a couple of different options that’ll appeal to both the more budget conscious and those who love you so much they want everything they can get.

Notice I said a couple of different options.

On the flip side of not offering a couple of options is offering folks too many options. That only serves to confuse.

Offer two.

Offer a “gold” package and a “silver” package. And make the silver the best deal. Why? Because 75-80% of prospective clients are going to choose the less expensive option anyway, so make the decision to hire you easy for them.

Less expensive, but still packed with value. If they’re serious, it becomes a no-brainer.

Mistake #3: The options they offer aren’t structured properly.

When they quote prices, they hit people with a big total amount for many months of services.

What’s the problem with doing that?

It causes sticker shock!

And it’s completely unnecessary. Just go with how much it is a month.

Now, when you’re working with corporate clients, it’s okay, and even expected, to price your services in terms of the total cost. But when it’s self-pay, they’re far less likely to buy if you drop that big-ticket bomb on ‘em.

Does this all make sense? I hope so, because how strategically you price your offerings and present your options to your prospective clients makes a BIG difference in how successful you’ll be at bringing new clients on board and getting compensated appropriately.

If you suspect you haven’t optimized your packages and pricing and you’re in the market for a business coach, why not schedule a complimentary coaching session with me? There’s no obligation and what can I tell ya? I love helping service providers work through this stuff.