“For years I was trying to figure out why I was attracting the kind of clients I was attracting when they don’t really match me at all. I’m a professional, with 14 years of experience and I want to attract top-tier clients that will pay a premium to work with me but the caliber of clients I’m attracting right now is not at all where I want to be.”
I was recently on a sales call with someone who wanted to learn more about our products and those were her exact words as she told me what her #1 business struggle was. She said something else that deeply resonated with me: “I have a doctorate degree and yet I don’t feel comfortable putting the prefix Dr. in front of my name.” 💔 That one crushed me.
Impostor syndrome? Playing small? Brand shame?
I call it a positioning problem and it’s got a simple cure: you have to get super clear on your value and then you have to share it consistently and confidently. Which brings me to today’s topic:
How to Confidently Price Your Signature Coaching or Consulting Offer
Here at DBK, we’re in the business of helping you look expensive. It’s what we do, we’re damn good at it and we have the track record to back it up. But we can’t help you look expensive if you’re not ready to own your expensive-ness. You feel me? And that starts by getting strategic with your pricing.
You might be tempted to throw big numbers out there just to say you have a high-ticket offer. But:
👎 If you’re not 1000% confident about the reasons you’re charging that number…
👎 If you can’t clearly articulate the value of the transformation you offer…
👎 If your sales material looks like you just whipped it up in a crunch…
Then, boo, it’s going to be a hard sell. ✋ So here is your mini blueprint for strategically pricing your offerings so you can set prices that not only reflect your worth but also attract clients who are serious about achieving their goals and investing in their success.
Step 1: Reflect on the transformation
What specific problems are you solving for your clients? Are you helping them achieve a healthier lifestyle, gain financial freedom, improve their business operations, or boost their confidence? What tangible results do you help your clients create? Can they anticipate higher earnings, improved mental well-being, better relationships, or enhanced skills that will help them make more money?
How long-lasting are these results? Are the benefits they gain from your services temporary or long-term? Are you offering them a quick fix or a lasting transformation? The more significant and enduring the transformation, the higher the value of your services. And that value should be reflected in your pricing.
✍️ Practical Exercise
Grab a pen and paper (I’m an old-school analog girl but you can open a Google Doc if that’s your jam) and draw two columns: before and after.
In each column, describe (in present tense) what your client’s life/business looks like before they work with you and after. Use specific and sensory language to describe the before and after experiences in detail. No generic bullet points or random words.
The added benefit of this exercise is that it will give you a lot of material to include in your sales language to help make it more powerful and resonant.
Step 2: Quantify the Benefits
Next, quantify the tangible benefits of your services.
Monetary Gains 💰
If you’re a business consultant helping a client streamline their operations, how much more revenue could they generate as a result? If you’re a career coach, what’s the potential increase in salary or job opportunities for your client?
Time Saved ⌛
Consider the time you save your clients by solving their problems. Time is money, and your services could be freeing up valuable hours and resources for them to focus on other important aspects of their lives or businesses.
Quality of Life 🏖️
Some benefits are more subjective but no less valuable. Improved health, reduced stress, better relationships, and increased happiness are all significant outcomes that you should definitely factor into your pricing.
✍️ Practical Exercise
Grab another piece of paper (or Google Doc) and draw two columns:
With Me (Money Gained)
Make a list of all the potential monetary gains that your client might experience as a result of working with you. Then do some research to estimate the dollar amount of those gains. If working with you is going to help your clients increase their earning potential, estimate how much more money they will make after working with you. If working with you is going to give your clients access to a high-value network, estimate the dollar value of all the opportunities and exposure they will gain from being part of your network. Add up all these numbers and then make sure whatever you charge them is reflective of that number.
Without Me (Money Lost)
Make a list of all the expenses or losses your client might experience if they don’t work with you. Then do some research to estimate the dollar amount of those losses and expenses. If you are going to be saving your client a ton of time, estimate how many hours you will save them and multiply that by their hourly rate. If you are going to save them from having to hire people to solve their problem, estimate how much money that might cost them. Add up all these numbers and then make sure whatever you charge them is reflective of that number.
Step 3: Shift the Focus from Hours to Outcomes
It’s easy to get caught up in thinking you’re charging for your time, especially if you’re transitioning from a traditional job where you were paid by the hour. However, as a coach or consultant, your pricing should be based on the outcomes you deliver.
One of my favorite memes on the internet says: “Yes it took me 10 minutes to do it. But it took me 10 years to learn how to do it in 10 minutes.”
That’s the attitude I want you to embody when you think about pricing. Your years of experience, specialized knowledge, and unique skills are all part of what clients are paying for. They’re investing in your expertise to guide them to their desired outcomes more quickly and effectively than they could on their own.
And if you need help painting the pictures of those outcomes for your clients, testimonials are your friend! Showcasing your client’s success stories will show your prospects the results you’ve achieved for past clients and that not only builds credibility but also helps potential clients understand the value of the transformation you offer (and the price you charge).
✍️ Practical exercise
- Make a list of 3-5 of your favorite past clients that you have helped create amazing results for.
- Write an email to reach out to them for a testimonial. You can give them a pre-made questionnaire to fill out or (and this is my favorite) ask them to hop on a recorded Zoom call to talk about their experience.
- You can then transcribe that call to pull juicy testimonials out of it and splice and dice the recording into 30-second videos to share on your social media.
The process of collecting testimonials is not only going to give you precious social proof, it’s going to remind you just how much of a badass you are and how much you have impacted your clients’ lives.
(Pssst! The free tool I’m sharing with you at the end of this post contains a done-for-you email template you can use to reach out to your past clients and request a testimonial. It’s copy-paste easy. 💆🏽♀️)
Once you have a clear understanding of the transformation, the benefits and the outcomes you provide and their value, there is one last step left.
Step 4: Be Confident in Your Worth
Confidence in your pricing is contagious. If you believe in the value of your offer, your clients will too. And if your new pricing scares you a little bit, that’s okay! It’s supposed to. The most important thing is that if you do a great job of positioning your offer, your pricing won’t scare the right people.
So please, please, please, don’t undervalue your services out of fear of pricing too high. The RIGHT clients will invest in your services because they know how you will change their lives or businesses. And if you make it super easy for them to understand your offers and buy from you, the decision will be effortless.
Need help packaging + pitching your offerings in style?
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Phew! That was a mini masterclass in pricing, right? I want to make sure you take action and apply everything I covered in this article so I made you a handy fill-in-the-blanks workbook to help you do the work. Click on the image below to access the workbook and get working!
