April 28, 2022

Value Pricing Is NOT A Trick

The fine folks over at EntreArchitect had me on their weekly livestream today to talk about the perils of hourly billing and some of the alternatives.

In particular, value pricing.

I’ll share the link if/when it’s available and I encourage you to check it out, especially if you’re NOT an architect.

Why?

There’s something about hearing me read the riot act to someone who DOESN’T do what you do that can really make the message sink in.

I dunno why this is, but I imagine it’s because there’s less resistance to the concepts when it’s easy to imagine yourself as the buyer instead of the seller.

Anyhoo...

As we wrapped up the show, I mentioned something off-handedly that I should probably spend more time talking about, which is this:

Value pricing is NOT a get rich quick scheme.

It’s NOT a way to automatically start charging more.

It’s NOT a way to trick clients out of their hard earned money.

At its core, value pricing is based on delivering a stellar customer experience.

Here’s the thing...

Value pricing a project begins with determining, to the best of your ability, what exactly will satisfy your client.

And not just satisfy, but DELIGHT them so thoroughly that they voluntarily sing your praises, forever and ever amen.

Value pricing is not an exact science, but it is the only pricing methodology I know of that seriously takes the client’s desired outcome into consideration.

All the other pricing approaches focus on you, the seller, and what your costs might be and how much risk is involved and how uncertain you are about the scope.

None of this stuff matters if you focus on the client’s desired outcome first, price next, and scope last.

Pop quiz:

If you want to build a thriving business, do you think it’d better to focus on delighting your clients or on protecting yourself?

Yours,

—J

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