Making more money for your services is always a good thing. There is a fine balance to strike, though, because of market dynamics. Charge too little and you will not generate enough revenue. Charge too much, and your customers/clients might look for another service. Perfecting your pricing strategy can greatly increase the number of clients you attract to your business.
In complement with your pricing strategy is the quality and comprehensiveness of your services. The better the services you offer, the more you will be able to charge. Therefore, being thoughtful about how you handle your customers will enable you to generate more revenue. Here are five things you can do, specifically, to get your clients paying twice as much:
1. Raise prices.
Often, the more something costs, the higher value we place on it. This is regardless of true worth. Many people equate cost to the value of something. Therefore, raising your prices, outright, can be a great way to generate more money from your clients.
One of the first steps is to get a better idea of pricing for your competitors. Sometimes there are standard rates that you already know. Other times, you (or someone you know) could pose as a fake potential customer to see how much your competitors are charging.
Trying this will give you an understanding of the market rates and effectiveness of competitor services. It’s difficult to raise your prices if your product is worse than another who already is selling for less money. Be on the lookout for the opportunities, though, where there is room for you to make price changes without much negative impact.
Also, be careful of is not to upset existing clients by raising prices. They might not be expecting or prepared for higher rates. In the case where you are going to raise rates for current customers, make sure that you communicate well. Alert them in advance and give a good rationale for the why. That way, they will feel like they are being treated fairly.
2. Demonstrate the ROI.
Demonstrate how much value you are adding to clients and potential clients. Explicitly show that your services are saving them X amount of time, money or resources. With this information you can make a powerful claim for a higher price. When the net financial benefit for your service is greater than the cost, then a purchase is logical.
Finding ways to quantify the impact you are having and communicating this will help your clients have better respect for the financial increase. This is especially true when you are currently generating more value to them than they are paying for in return.
3. Offer better feedback channels & onboarding.
Your ability to receive feedback and the onboarding/execution process should be flawless. It can be difficult with a small team or many customers. That said, it is crucial in order to generate higher revenue numbers. An easy onboarding process that does not take much time or energy from your customers is a great selling point for higher prices.
If your customers feel heard and you are open to their feedback, they will be more invested in your services. Clients and customers need to feel like their suggestions are being implemented. Services must cater to their specific needs. If these conditions are met, there is a higher willingness to pay.
4. Make sure you get renewals.
It is great to get clients paying more for their first purchase. That being said, a customer is much more valuable paying less for your service, but doing so month after month. You want renewals not just one larger monthly sum and then churning.
Renewals are the best way to get your clients paying you more money. This means you should do everything in your power to keep them happy. Beyond good onboarding, there are countless little things you can do. This could include sending them occasional gifts, sending personal check-in emails, and making sure they are happy with the product.
Finding metrics that might indicate churn rate can be helpful here. Customers who have not had a certain level of engagement may leave. You need to up your game before this happens.
Knowing which actions are helpful and make a client less likely to re-sign can be invaluable. This way, you will see early indicators of customers that might churn and take steps accordingly.
Especially early in your business lifetime, there is something to be said for building very loyal customers. Squeezing the last penny out of each one might be beneficial in the short term, but could be quite negative down the road. Therefore, being in tune with your customers’ needs and sentiment towards your services can be extremely helpful in determining prices and ensuring that they keep coming back for more.
5. Make them feel important.
You are likely busy with the many clients and customers on your plate. Possibly you think each one, individually, is not incredibly significant. To them, though, you could be the only person helping them with the particular problem you solve.
That means that the actions that you take are more heavily scrutinized. It is easy for little things to go unnoticed because of all the customers you have. Don’t allow the little things to fall under the radar, though. There should be a system in place to ensure perfect communication.
When a client or customer reaches out, they should have a response immediately. Through the sales process, the same can be said. The more that you are able to make your clients feel important and cared for, the more trust they will establish with you. This will lead to higher sales down the road.