October 31, 2017

Success story from reader Ant Pugh

Long time reader Ant Pugh sent in this inspiring message in response to my “Selling to your own wallet” message about Alice and Bob in a Tiffany store. (Shared with permission, bold mine)

Hi Jonathan,

Really loved this email, I think about this all the time and I’m sure this happens to me a lot. I think I have self-limiting beliefs on the value of my work. I think this comes from a deeper issue of never having had money growing up - one really has to do some deep personal work to understand where that comes from! At least I’m aware of it now - I guess that’s the first step.

A little story. I recently won a new project where during the sales call, the client explained their needs. I asked a load of why questions but didn’t get as far as uncovering how they valued it (I got closer than I ever have before).

But I did ask what their expectations were on price. She mentioned £80k (that was probably 4x more than I was planning to quote her).

I eventually charged her £60k and she accepted. It was by far the biggest project I’ve won. But if I hadn’t asked her I might have quoted £20k and a) left money on the table or worse b) lessened the value of my services in her eyes.

(She also mentioned “you guys are really hard to find” when I asked her had she had any other quotes, which gave me confidence my new service could do well if I can find the right leads).

Anyway, it kinda confirms your story and really resonates. Keen to hear more about how me and Alice can proactively improve on this!

Cheers,

—Ant

Thanks for sharing, Ant! I know that lots of folks here on the list are in the same boat.

I’m hopeful that awareness of the issue does indeed help people deliver more value and therefore increase profits for themselves and their clients.

Yours,

—J