Are you worth it

19th January 2012

Are you charging enough for your product or service? When was the last time you raised your prices? Do you worry too much about what others are charging or what people might think of you if you charge high rates? The difference between confidence and arrogance, and not charging enough and charging too much may be minimal, but if you get it wrong it can make a huge difference to your turnover, and more importantly, your profitability.

Often when I meet business owners, they ask me what I am charging. They then start working out my hourly rate, and complaining if they feel it is high. This immediately tells me that they worry about their image when it comes to hourly rates, and generally I can guess that they are under-charging. They give me excuses that they are not greedy (perhaps inferring that I am), and they are not that interested in money, but in reality they are trying to justify to themselves why they keep their prices down. In fact they do not have enough confidence in themselves or their product to raise their prices, because either they are not clear what differentiates them (their USP) or they listen to other people who hold them back and talk them down.

So what should you be doing? Clearly you can’t price yourself out of the market, but forget about your hourly rate and get your clients to focus on the benefits to them, and the value they will derive from your product or service.

Even in tight financial times, have confidence in what you can do for your clients, and therefore be certain that you can easily justify your prices, because (as a well known ad. points out) “you’re worth it”!

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