August 11, 2020

Success story from reader Bas Verdonk

Fellow list member Bas Verdonk replied to a recent message (subject “Can I Value Price X?”) with an insight he gained after transitioning to value pricing (shared with permission, bold mine):

Hey Jonathan,

The hardest part [of value pricing] to me was always determining a measurable end result. We tend to think of value in terms of monetary value or something like “more leads” or “more conversions”.

In brand design it’s almost impossible to think this way, because the ROI is further down the road and really hard (if not impossible) to measure. So I let go of the numbers game and started focusing on the emotional aspect.

I’ve had a client who wanted to re-design their website, because they had been in business for 5 years and they felt like they had deserved it. I made sure to not lessen their sense of accomplishment by giving them a low price.

My advice for anyone who thinks it’s impossible to value price would be to think outside of numbers game and focus on delivering an emotional result. It’s messier and not watertight, but at least you can determine a desired future state. Take it from there.

Regards,

Bas Verdonk

Yes!

This might make me sound like a snake oil salesman, but hear me out...

At the highest level, everyone who sells anything is selling a feeling.

Don’t believe me?

Okay, lemme ask you a second question:

Do you believe that delivering customer satisfaction is important?

If you said no, then I predict you won’t have a very successful business.

If you said yes, then I would like to point out that “satisfaction” is a feeling.

And if all you did was reliably deliver that particular feeling to your customers, I predict that you will have a very successful business.

Yours,

—J