Everyone regrets pricing mistakes driven by guilt. Everyone.
Whether you are selling products or services, you must be confident your pricing accurately reflects the value and utility of the potential benefits provided to customers who purchase them. Otherwise, you’ll forever be susceptible to external and internal pressures aimed at guilting you into lowering your prices.
Now, if you’ve done a thorough job on pricing to begin with, this should be a non-issue.
(And, if you haven’t or are struggling with pricing your products and services, read our SMARTSTART Pricing Guide to help you figure out what to charge for them.)
Dealing with guilt over pricing
We are most tempted to give in to low-price lies when we don’t:
- feel worthy in relation to others,
- recognize the value of our skills or work to others,
- feel qualified as an expert to do the work we are doing for others, or when
- we worry that asking for money will change our relationship with others.
However, in selling your products and services to customers, and assuming you are capable, knowledgeable, and are producing great work, you are helping them move forward.
Whether that means that, as a result of investing in and acting on what you are selling, they can:
- solve a problem,
- make better decisions, and
- implement changes that result in either positive improvement or a better bottom line (and possibly both),
you have provided them with the potential to realize inherent value from their purchase.
If your customer can potentially recover 10x the value of what you charged for your product or service, that is a tremendous return on investment. Let that guilt go.
If your customer requires you to spend time with them, recognize you can never, ever get that time back again. Charge what your time is worth to you. Let that guilt go.
If your customer values what you offer or bring to the table don’t devalue it or yourself by giving it away for free. They value it (and you) more when they pay for it. And they work harder to get something useful and worthwhile from their investment. Let that guilt go.
You can’t pay your bills with goodwill. And you can’t do your best work if you’re stressed about where you’ll live and how you’ll eat and provide for yourself and family. Not feeling guilty is how you do that.
Respect yourself and your work. Let that guilt go.
More next time. Until then, remember to LOVE YOUR WORK, whatever it may be.
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