The Happy Pricing Podcast

In November Matthew Matheson is hosting a retreat to help people re-connect with their authentic selves.It's an idea that he developed during his time on the Vision 20/20 program.

Carlos and Ben talk with Matthew about the process he's been going through to price the retreat and see if they can help him get clearer about what that price could be.

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• Matthew’s retreat

Ben and Carlos try to interpret an email from Seth Godin to see how it relates to pricing and selling.

How do we help our customers make a decision (to buy from us)? And how do we do that with integrity and not feel slimy?

It can feel like we’re manipulating their ability to choose but we may also be helping them make the best decision.

Which side of the fence are you sitting? Master manipulator or benevolent guide?

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Proposal shouldn't contain any surprises – particularly not the price.The role of a proposal is to replay everything you've already spoken to your client about.

In the previous episode, Carlos and Ben were joined by Hazel Martin, an executive and personal coach, who had a question about proposals and prices. She'd already had a couple of calls with the client and sent them a proposal. Her third call was coming up and she knew that they'd want to negotiate on price. She was thinking that maybe she should have priced higher.

Another feature of Helen's situation was that she was selling an existing product, a leadership program that had already been developed. She passionately believes in the power of the program and has delivered it to other companies. Therefore this also touches on selling a product as well as value-based selling.

So Ben and Carlos were eager to get her back on the show to explore these questions a bit more deeply with her:

• How do I price more confidently when proposal writing?
• How do I price a product?

If you're asking yourself similar questions then this episode is for you.

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Beccie D'Cuhna is the founder of CourageLab and empowers leaders and teams to have courageous conversations, through mediation, training and coaching.

She took part in our first Happy Pricing course and says her business is now looking very different these days to the extent that she believes she's now pricing by value not time.

She talks with Carlos and Ben about how she's got to this point and what she needed to learn or unlearn.

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Jim Ralley helps with the design and strategy of learning experiences for NGOs, governments and corporate clients. Last year he tried to find the right balance between work, parenting and time for himself… and failed.

This year will be different. He has a solid plan. He has the support of his family, colleagues, and clients and a strong desire not to get into that situation again.

He says that "to be a good parent and partner, I have to find work that doesn't exhaust me, and that I don't mentally take home with me."

His aim is to work less which means having to raise his prices.

On this episode, Carlos and Ben hear about how Jim has accomplished this (by nearly tripling his daily rate) and what more he can do by pricing his work differently.

If you're in a position where you need to change the way you work so you can give space to other important things in your life then you'll get something from this conversation.

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What’s the value of a personal brand? When building your reputation, what would this reputation do for you? What financial value does it have? What’s it worth to get on the radar of the people that you’d love to collaborate with? How much time and effort should you invest in building your personal brand?

You could write a book to build a personal brand, and so what are the costs of writing it? What are the benefits in terms of royalties? What are the benefits in terms of it being a marketing vehicle for your company?

What’s the value of the work of someone helping you build a personal brand? What is the relative value of your work compared to a 5 page website, a tweet or an illustration?

On this episode, Carlos speaks with Anne Miltenburg, founder of Brand the Change, about her own experiences of pricing a brand.

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If you want to increase your prices, it has to start with an understanding of your value. Not just the mechanical tasks you perform, but the trust, familiarity, and unique value you bring to your clients. This can lead to a dramatic increase in price, which gets closer to reflecting the true value of the service provided.

Mark Steadman is a podcast consultant who works with individuals contemplating their “second mountain”. He helps people use their voice to achieve change, as he believes the voice is the most persuasive tool we have.

In this episode, Carlos, Ben, and Mark discuss increasing price so it aligns more closely with the real value you provide.

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Being polarising in your pricing and your offering is way more impactful than trying to appeal to the masses. But it means being clear about who you want to work with and focusing tightly on them.

This not only helps attract the right customers who’ll find value in your offerings, but it saves your time and theirs, by allowing those who aren’t a good fit to self-select themselves out of the process early on.

In this episode, Carlos and Ben explore how having a clear, distinct stance can help find the right clients, along with how pricing sends a signal that attracts those we want to work with, and repels those that aren’t right for us.

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Changing the way you present your product can greatly affect how people see its value and price. When you’re faced with a sticky patch, lowering prices or costs might not be the right thing to do. So instead, what might happen if you took those constraints and reframed the experience for the customer?

In this episode, Carlos and Ben discuss the importance of creativity and perception in selling products and services, using the example of a restaurant owner. They explore how changing the presentation and packaging – not the product itself – can influence customers' perception of value. They also touch on the impact of physical and emotional exhaustion on an entrepreneur's ability to think creatively, emphasising the need for self-compassion and reframing one's perspective during challenging times.

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• Why we need to end things – Episode 127 of the Happy Entrepreneur podcast, with Ben

Pricing expertise is not determined by traditional models. It’s about understanding the value and aligning incentives with the customer. By challenging conventional pricing logic and considering factors like value and skin-in-the-game, you can better convey the true worth of your products or services.

This week's guests are Claus Raasted and Filip Fučić. Claus is an “overpaid rockstar consultant” who specialises in areas like innovation, change management, leadership, public speaking, and marketing. He is also an author of 37 books.

Filip is a pricing mentor who helps people charge more for the value they provide. He has a background in marketing and has made mistakes in pricing his expertise, which led him to write a book on the topic.

Together, they discuss “pricing logics” and the importance of aligning incentives when pricing expert services. They challenge traditional pricing models and advocate for pricing expertise based on value rather than per unit or hour.

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