Julie Keyes, Poised for Exit Podcast My friend Julie Keyes is an exit planning expert based in the Twin Cities area. In an episode titled "Your Price is Too Low," Julie interviewed me on her Poised for Exit podcast about pricing for professional services providers. We chatted about why I use the word "journey," imposter [...]

Golden Retrievers, the Need for Approval, and Pricing The need for approval is hardwired in all of us as humans. You might call it a "golden retriever tendency," and unless we're always aware of it, it can get mixed up–to our detriment–with how we approach pricing and the clients we accept. The Price and Value [...]

There's Value in Consistency Clients and prospects value consistency. There's not much of a revelation in that statement. What's interesting, though, is that clients and prospects value consistency so highly that it can show up in odd or even negative ways. Here's a story to illustrate the point. The Price and Value Journey is presented [...]

George Westinghouse and the Value Equation The Current War is a movie based on the competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse to determine whose vision of the electrical power delivery system in the United States would be implemented. In the movie, the character of George Westinghouse offers a compelling description of the value equation, [...]

Ignore The Pricing Advice of Friends and Family Friends and family mean well, and they may assist you in your professional services practice in a lot of other ways, like referring clients. Accept that help and be thankful, but ignore their pricing advice. They mean well, but what they tell you, if implemented, could be [...]

Pricing and Urgency Some clients feel little urgency to engage with you, or maybe they just want samples of what you offer. Others want the transformation you will bring them today, assuming they can't get it yesterday! Your pricing should reflect the speed of the solutions you deliver. A story on pricing and urgency in [...]

How are You Really Doing? "How are you really doing?" I offer a story on how asking this question of a client yielded unexpected answers. This client's responses disrupted my agenda for the conversation, but led to ways to provide extraordinary value I might not have known without digging deeper. The Price and Value Journey [...]

Making Connections Providing thoughtful introductions and making connections between others in your network is a compelling and memorable way to create value for others. Here's the way, over time, I've learned to do it in a way that others appreciate while strengthening your relationships as well. The Price and Value Journey is presented by John [...]

Should I Price My Services Lower When I'm First Starting Out? I recently received this question from a professional services provider who was just starting out in their practice, and barely had dry ink on their business cards. The premise behind their question was that they are new in business and want to attract clients [...]

Just Be Helpful When you come out of corporate to start your own professional services practice, you think you'll be chosen or referred because of your experience and your qualifications. If that's your mindset, though, it doesn't distinguish you or make you memorable. What does? Just be helpful, genuinely and authentically. The Price and Value [...]