Having two or three options in your proposals can make it an easier decision for your clients to buy. It also gives you a stronger negotiating position, since it options allow you to ask the clients: "what do you like, and what don't you like?"

In other words, you get the clients to focus more on the value you're bringing to them.

Here's my system for creating options on proposals (with the help of post-it notes!)

If you'd like to see a walk-through tutorial on how to create options, enter your name and email address here and you'll get instant access to the tutorial.

 This is a catch-all for all the other pricing barriers you may have. Most of them stem back to your ability to see just what an impact your service has on your clients.

This is a change of how you see yourself, and that can be hard.

How to get past this barrier:

Get used to asking the client to explain what difference this project or other work will make for their business.

You don’t necessarily need to wait until you feel confident. Your validation may come from external sources, rather than from within your own head.

In the meantime, it will be helpful not to give those internal voices more power than they deserve.

Get the 6 Pricing Barriers checklist (and what to do about them) in a neat PDF format all for a nominal price. Go to gum.co/pricing_barriers

Giving only one price can be an ultimatum. By creating two or three options, you’re competing against yourself (which is a good thing!)

But there's another - more subtle - reason that adding options makes sense. It helps people to feel comfortable saying "no". Because they don't say "yes" until they have safely let go of some alternatives.

Want the full series of the 6 Barriers to Pricing that I have observed?

Buy the 6 Pricing Barriers in a short, easy-to-read PDF format from here.

There’s a very, very good chance you are undercharging for your services. And there’s also a strong chance that the price the business is paying you is negligible in comparison with the outcome they’re after. 

If you focus on the price you’re charging - even when the client hasn’t raised any objections in that regard - you’re drawing attention back to the money, when it may not even be an issue for them at all. 

How to get past this barrier: 

Think back to three large purchases you have made in the last three years. Do you even remember exactly how much you paid for them? Maybe not. 

Get used to thinking and speaking in amounts that are significantly higher than what you have previously charged. As a percentage of your income, these amounts might seem high, but when you focus on the value you will bring to the client’s business, you’re probably emphasising price over quality more than you realise. 

Buy the 6 Pricing Barriers in a short, easy-to-read PDF format from here.

 Sometimes, we're our own worst enemy. We think we have to convince the client to buy. We imagine they’re going to be hostile. So, we discount our value in our own mind first, before we speak to the client. 

How to get past this barrier: 

Recognise that you are not trying to manipulate the client into a position where they buy. 

You’re trying to show them that you understand their vision, you understand their immediate problem, and you know a way to get them through the obstacles, to bridge the gap from where they are to where they want to be. 

Buy the 6 Pricing Barriers in a short, easy-to-read PDF format from here.

Pricing barrier #2:

You think about what you would pay, rather than what they should budget.

To you, your price may seem a lot of money, in the same way that a 12-year-old might think a 25-year-old is very old. But the money isn’t coming out of your pocket. If you’re selling to a business, the money for your service should be coming out of their budget.

What’s the difference? Paying for you isn’t coming out of their groceries. It’s coming from money allocated in their budget to solve a specific problem. And there’s a very good chance that if they don’t spend it on you, they’ll spend it on something else that will also attempt to solve the same problem. But they will spend it.

So, your client’s choice may not be: “spend, or not spend.” It’s far more likely to be: “spend on your service, or on someone else’s?”

You can buy a copy of this series on Pricing Barriers in PDF format ($10 US) from https://gum.co/pricing_barriers

 When speaking to professionals running their own business, one issue keeps coming up: pricing. I have found there are 6 common barriers people have around charging what they are really worth.

Pricing Barrier #1: Afraid to hear the word "no". The fear of rejection, and what to do about it.

This is part 1 of a 6-part series. There is a PDF guide download (price $10 USD) which lists these 6 pricing barriers and what to do about them.

https://gum.co/pricing_barriers