Brett was in a quandary. He had been running his sales and
marketing consultancy for nearly three years - and while he
wouldn't describe himself as successful, he had just about
managed to keep his head above water.
One of Brett's issues however, was how to value his service
- for although he felt he was every bit as good as his
competitors, he mistakenly believed that clients bought
primarily on price.
This had led to Brett undercutting the competition - and
while initially this policy had won him a significant
number of new clients, it wasn't long before he realised
that his modus operandi was costing him far more than he
realised.
Not only was it hard to increase prices once they have been
set, but Brett also found - much more worryingly - that the
kind of clients who bought on price alone were the kind of
clients who didn't like paying at all.
Several times Brett had been forced to sue clients for the
money they owed him - and it hadn't taken him long to
realise that he couldn't afford "cheap" clients.
While he recognised the problem, Brett could not however,
see the solution. As he poured out his story to me, I
felt for him - and remembered the countless other clients I
had seen over the years who had shared similar experiences.
One of the problems facing Brett was that he had built his
reputation on being the cheapest sales & marketing
consultancy rather than the most cost effective - and one
of our first tasks would be to change his current and
prospective clients' perspective from the former to the
latter.
From our discussions it was clear that Brett believed in
the quality of his service, so I suggested that he put his
money where his mouth was - and not only raise his fees but
also offer a full money-back guarantee if a client was
unhappy with his work.
Brett spluttered at the suggestion, saying, "Surely that
will give people even more of an excuse not to pay their
bills! I really can't see how offering a guarantee is
going to help me - in fact I think it will make the while
situation worse."
"I know where you're coming from," I replied, "but hear me
out. You want to be working with the kind of people who
understand that good business is based on long term
relationships forged on the win:win principle. First
though, you need to gain their trust - and by offering
something first - like a guarantee - you are showing that
you have faith not only in your product but also in the
relationship with your prospective client."
Brett began to smile as he realised that perhaps there was
a way out of the whole mess after all. "You're right," he
said, "I do need to be looking for clients who have the
right attitude. I guess that by being afraid of charging a
fair price, I have not only been earning less than I should
- but I have also cornered myself into working for the
wrong kind of people.
"Well, all that's about to change," he said, with a
confident grin, "As now I am going to be more choosy about
who I take on as my clients. I am also not going to rush
into making the sale - but when I'm confident that we can
forge a long term relationship, I'll then be happy to offer
my prospective client a full guarantee."
As our session came to its conclusion, Brett knew that the
next task on his "to do" list was to revamp his own
promotional literature - taking into account all that he
had learned during the afternoon.
----------------------------------------------------
Olivia Stefanino is a leadership consultant, speaker and
author of the internationally acclaimed management book,
"Be Your Own Guru". Interviewed on more than 25 radio
stations and featured in "The Guardian", "Natural Health"
& "Red", Olivia is a guest columnist for a number of
national and international publications. Download your
fr*ee e-booklet, "128 ways to harness your personal power!"
by visiting http://www.beyourownguru.com
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