September 19, 2025
How much is a seatbelt worth?
The fundamental premise of value pricing is that you set your prices based on the VALUE your service delivers to your client, NOT based on how much it COSTS you to deliver the service.
But how do you value price if you work in a discipline where the client’s financial outcome is out of your control?
In the case of services like brand strategy, commercial architecture, data consulting, etc, the direct outcome - the thing that clients are ACTUALLY buying - could be something intangible like a sense of decreased risk.
Of course, the next question is:
“How much is ‘a sense of decreased risk’ worth?”
The answer will be different for every potential buyer.
Think about it like this:
How much is a seatbelt worth?
To me, maybe as much as a couple thousand dollars. To someone else? Maybe more. Maybe less.
But for me, driving without having my seatbelt fastened makes me extremely uncomfortable. I feel like I’m going to fly out of the car at every turn. It’s worth something to me to not feel that way.
The point is, a big part of the value of the seatbelt to me is immediate and constant. I don’t have to get into an accident for it to be valuable to me.
If I was going to try to value price a seatbelt, I would not ask the buyer about “what’s it worth to you to walk away from a 30 car pileup” because that accident will probably never happen.
Even if it did, my seatbelt won’t guarantee they’ll walk away from it.
And if they did walk away, they could attribute it to more than just the seatbelt like the airbags, shatterproof windshield, collapsing steering column, etc.
But I CAN guarantee that my seatbelt will make people like me feel a lot safer every time they drive. And I can certainly have a conversation with them about how much that feeling is worth.
(If you can’t imagine how to apply this concept to your business - or if sounds like nonsense - please hit reply and tell me what you do)
Yours,
—J