Mastering the Mix: Pricing for no-brainer client conversions
Pricing is simple, right? Figure out your costs, add on some profit, and slap that tag onto your latest greatest offer. Done.
Not so fast.
The prices you’re setting need to make sense on the spreadsheet, but they also need to make sense in the grand scheme of everything else in your business. It’s a magic mix of price, branding, marketing, niche and ideal clients that goes into creating a successful product or package. And if any of those variables is off, you end up with confused clients and mega-frustration. And confused clients don’t convert. They wiffle-waffle, ponder, research – and then go somewhere else.
So what does that magic mix of elements look like?
Here are some examples of aligning your offer, market, results and pricing to minimized confusion and maximize results.
Pam – a Nutritionist who needs to match her market with her price
Pam’s got a solid website and A+ experience. Gal knows her stuff when it comes to those vitamins and nutrients (and actually having it be tasty…). But she’s struggling to come up with ways to connect what she can do for people with those people… Here’s how Pam can align her offers and pricing with different target markets.
Market: Students
Offer: Healthy, beginner cook skill set, budget friendly
Price: $
Why this mix works: Pam’s focus will always be on healthy options, but to hit the sweet spot with a student market, making sure both the meals and her offer can be delivered on a budget is key.
Market: Families
Offer: Healthy and easy/quick to prepare
Price: $$
Why this mix works: Pam knows that busy families have a budget that’s better than a student’s…but still not super big or flexible, so creating an offer that’s in the mid-range will help her attract more clients. Her offer also focuses on the meals being quick and easy to prepare, because she knows that parents are usually squeezing in dinner prep after a long day of work, with the added challenge of having a kid ‘helping’ or on their hip.
Market: Single, urban, professional women
Offer: Healthy, with a high variety
Price: $$$
Why this mix works: Pam has created an offer to help busy professional women eat well and it’s her premium priced offer to match with her market being affluent, with no dependents, and used to the higher costs of city living. Beyond the basics, she knows these women are looking for meals that’ll let them enjoy the variety of flavours eating out would normally provide, but with a healthy spin.
Stephen – a Business Coach who needs to match his results with his price
Stephen’s in a great position to be creating offers for clients because he can pretty much do it all. He knows how to get someone up and running with their first business, and he can help experience folks breakthrough plateaus. But Stephen struggles with finding the match between all the results he can deliver, and how much people will pay for it. Here’s how he can align value with price.
Results: Proof of concept, a bit of extra money
Offer: Getting a side hustle started
Price: $
Why this mix works: The sweet spot of someone just starting to dip their toes into the entrepreneurial waters is going to be a mix of guidance and low price. Stephen’s offer lets them find their bearings and see if this whole business thing is really for them before upping their investment.
Result: Revenue boosts and consistency
Offer: Making the leap from side-gig to full time
Price: $$
Why this mix works: Helping someone take their little baby business and turn it into their full-time thing is a much bigger endeavor for Stephen – but he’s up to the challenge. A higher price point means that both him and his clients are going to be invested and engaged in doing the work required to get the results – and those results will mean a solid ROI.
Result: Big strides, long term growth
Offer: Getting from $5k to $10k months
Price: $$$
Why this mix works: This is some next level stuff. Beyond teaching or coaching, Stephen takes on a mentor role for his clients when they’re looking to turn an already successful business into an empire of sorts. For most, this means breaking the 6-figure mark in revenue and/or profits…and the investment they’re willing to make in Stephen’s support ramps up accordingly.
Whether your business is more like Pam’s – and you’re looking to hit a sweet spot with some different markets - or you’ve been scratching your head like Stephen on how to align the value you create with the value you receive, looking at the mix of market, result, offer and price as a unit rather than as individual variables can help you capture a big, confident YES from your potential clients.
I’d love to know...
How have you matched your pricing to the market you serve and the results you deliver? Are there any disconnects that could be confusing potential clients or turning them off from investing? Leave a comment below and let’s brainstorm how we can get your pricing and offers aligned for max impact.
P.S. There’s another variable to put in the mix – how you deliver your offer – and I’ll be diving into that in a few weeks. Stay tuned!