Am I Worth It?

How many times have you procrastinated over your pricing? Maybe you need to increase your prices, or you want to quote a higher initial price but chicken out?

You just know that this client can’t afford to pay your increase.  You haven’t asked them. You don’t need to. You know.

I speak to bookkeepers about this very thing almost on a weekly basis and the story is always the same.  I was there myself not so long ago.

I walked in to meet a new client.  As I sat down in his office to listen to his story I was already starting to work out what services he needed from me.  As he finished his tale of woe I had calculated his monthly fee and was about to tell him when something changed.

It wasn’t anything he said or did.  It was something inside my head. Suddenly I realised that he couldn’t afford the price I had in mind, so I discounted it to a more affordable rate.

There was a silence.  An awkward silence. I started to speak.  He still couldn’t afford it, so I discounted some more.  Thankfully, I got the job.

Let me tell you a few things about what I thought I knew.  

A few years later I was having a conversation with that client.  What he told me astonished me. Not only would he have paid the price I first planned to charge, he’d have paid more.

His silence was nothing to do with the price.  He was thinking through the services I had spoken about to see if it had everything he needed.

What I thought I knew, and what I was telling myself I knew was just to protect me from my own fears.  I simply didn’t really believe I was worth the higher price. I didn’t need to convince this client, he was convinced.  I needed to convince me.

Very often, when we don’t charge what we’re worth it’s about our mindset.  We don’t think we’re worth that much.

I had a conversation with a bookkeeper today who is using a pricing software with new clients.  The software is forcing her to ask for higher prices than she otherwise would.  Guess what? No one is saying no.

There’s another conversation to be had about the problems in your business if no one ever says no to your prices, but that’s for another day.  

The software isn’t changing the clients opinion on how much she’s worth, it’s giving her the confidence to ask for it.  The software isn’t really about pricing, it’s about confidence. It’s having a tool to point to and feel that you’re not asking for this amount, the software is.

When it comes to your pricing, unless you are convinced of your worth you’ll never be able to charge it.

If you can relate to this, put a comment below.  Remember to click to share it on your social media.

Sometimes it can help to have a tool that gives you a clear and consistent price.  We have developed a spreadsheet that will work in Excel and do just this.  It's just a really easy way to price your services.  Find out more