Getting paid.
I think we can all agree that it’s one of the best (and most important) parts of being in business.
But recently, I’ve spoken to several people who are on either side of a ‘getting paid divide’.
On one side, there are the business owners who work hard for their clients, but feel like they’re not earning enough money per customer. They know that there’s a potential, but they can’t see how to get there. They also know that there are consultants in their market who are raking in the cash.
Then, on the other side, there are people who are able to get paid a ton of cash for doing seemingly very similar services to the regular business owners. These guys and gals are delighted with how much they get paid, and they know that they could get paid even more, without needing tons more customers.
From the business owners I’ve spoken to, it would appear that most people are members of the former group and not the latter. They don’t earn as much as they’d like from their business, but the potential is there.
I was speaking to a guy that Neil introduced to me last week about this very topic.
His name is David and he’s fast becoming a mentor of mine in the area of being highly-paid for what I do. I’ll introduce you to him and his (proven) strategies in a moment.
David shared several insights with me to help us make our customers (and ourselves) more money.
He’s used them to get paid up to £1.27 million for the business deals he does, so I figured you too could benefit from his insights.
Once quick thing: Before we start, I’m assuming that the services and products that you offer are of high quality and that they really help your clients. If they don’t, then the following will only help you go out of business faster.
If you’re offering top quality services, then the following pointers could help you to get paid more…
Positioning
One thing I’ve realised recently is that your positioning within a market is everything when it comes to how much you can get paid.
Your positioning is simply the place within your market that you decide to occupy.
For example, in the world of products, Lidl and Aldi both occupy the low end of the supermarket food world, while Selfridges’ and Harrods’ Food Halls occupy the high-end. The type of people that buy from Harrod’s are unlikely to ever set foot in a branch of Lidl.
As a result, Harrod’s can make a lot more money per customer, so they need fewer customers to make a lot of cash. Lidl, on the other hand, need tons of customers and tons of branches to make the same amount of money.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have fewer customers paying me lots of money rather than tons of customers paying a small amount.
For a business owner, there are several things you can do to improve your positioning and get paid more for your services:
- Narrow the scope of what you do to become the ‘go to’ expert for that particular product or service.
- Only perform the services or create the products that get your clients the largest return on investment (ROI). Go for the big wins as they make you and your service more valuable.
- Work out what other things your prospect needs and provide those too, either by yourself (not recommended unless you have a team) or via a business partner.
- Help your ideal prospects by actually helping them first (and showing off just how good you are).
I heard that last point twice last week, once from Frank Kern and again from David (of whom, more in a moment).
Notice how it says ‘ideal prospects’ and not just ‘any old prospect’. That difference is crucial as you’re about to see…
80/20 Qualification
If you want to get paid more as a business owner, you need to ensure that you’re speaking to your ideal prospects and only your ideal prospects.
Think of it this way: Who would you rather speak to from the following?
- Someone who likes the idea of what you do and knows that they should be doing what you say, but who has loads of other things that they think need doing first?
- Or someone who wants what you offer right now because they know that it will help their business?
Exactly.
The latter is going to be an easier sell and a higher payer because they want it right now.
They’ll also be more loyal and (believe it or not) they’ll bother you less than someone who only paid a small amount.
When I was speaking to David, he said that he asks his potential consulting customers where they are on a scale of 1-10, where 1 is not that interested and 10 is ‘I want to do this now’.
David only works with people who say that they’re a 10 out of 10 or higher. If they say 100, so much the better. Nine out of ten doesn’t cut it. If there’s any doubt at all that they’re ready to act now, David walks away… And so should you.
You must qualify your prospects and make sure they’re hungry for what you have.
This is what I call 80/20 Qualification, as it reminded me of the Pareto principle whereby the top 20% of clients will make you around 80% of all your income.
Why waste time getting clients who don’t pay very much?
Most business owners take every customer they can get because they think they have to in order to be successful. The truth is very different.
‘Systemise’ Your Approach
This goes for both the approach you take to getting prospects, and the approach you take to helping them once they become customers.
You need to have a system that shows prospects how you can help them (thus increasing their desire for your service).
That system then needs to vet the prospects to find only those that are really committed. Then it needs to help them become customers so that they can get what they want.
If you then have a tested system that helps customer to get their desired outcome, you can get paid more as you can guarantee their results every time.
Systems are the thing that everyone wants as they’re a clear path to getting the desired outcome.
The customer feels more confident in you and you can be confident in your proven system.
Speaking Of Systems…
I want to introduce you to the man that taught me all this and a whole lot more besides.
I’m actually going to be featuring him in this week’s episode of the Digital Marketing Insider Podcast, but for now, I want you to get access to his free training program.
His name is David Abingdon and he’s a coach and mentor who helps full-time consultants – and business owners who do consulting – to get paid more.
What he does can be described as ‘Advanced Entrepreneurship’ and it’s exactly the kind of thing that Neil Asher has done to secure equity in multiple successful companies.
David has created a special course and here at Roar, we’re the first to be allowed to share it with you.
David’s four free videos and free report show you ‘The Art of Deal Making’ and how to get high-paying consulting clients that will even offer you shares in their companies for your work.
Click Here To Get Access To David’s FREE Training On The Art Of Deal-Making
We’ll be sharing more insights into these strategies in the podcast this week, but for now, click the link above and get free access to David’s complete training course.