aka ‘WHY DO YOU CHARGE MORE THAN GERTRUDE’
Tell me if this rings a bell:
Your FB messenger pings with a new message from someone you’ve never heard of:
“Hello. My name is Mrs Blah Blah. I wanted to know what you charge for {insert your product or service here}”
“Hi! Thanks so much for getting in touch! How did you hear about me? Here is a link to my prices. I would love to have a call with you, understand more about you and what you’re looking for….”
{Mrs Blah Blah is busy scrolling through the packages}
“Your prices are expensive. I don’t want to pay 900. Can you do it for 500? I spoke to someone before who is much cheaper than you & can do it for 450-500”
Sigh…
I think it’s safe to say that as business owners, we have all experienced this at some point, amiright? Consumers have become far more savvy & are used to shopping around to get the ‘best deal’. I mean, last time I bought a TV that’s exactly what I did. I wasn’t at all bothered which company it was made by or which bells and whistles it had, I just needed a low price & a decent warrantee.
But the thing is, in case you haven’t noticed, you aren’t a TV, or a pair of socks or a bag of sugar; and you really don’t want to be getting into discussions about price comparisons and questions like “why do you charge more than Gertrude?”.
And if you find yourself in a conversation like that, 9 times out of 10, it will just end in them picking Gertrude because she is “half the price of you.”
So in this post, I’d like to give you 5 ideas that you can try out in order to boost your visibility, educate your audience & minimise comparison shopping (so that you can stop stressing about Gertrude and why she’s so bloody popular.)
Here we go:
#1: EXPOSE YOURSELF
The first time I heard someone say “ I see your name everywhere”, I took it as a criticism. My first instinct was to say “oops, sorry, I’ll quieten down” But then I came to my senses and realised how awesome this was. I work hard at getting my name out there – networking, social media posts, writing newsletters, giving workshops, online coffee dates, being interviewed on podcasts, writing guest blogs. And all these efforts tie in with a principle I learned during my Psychology degree called the ‘Familiarity Principle.’ The Familiarity Principle states that you are more likely to develop a preference for a particular person/brand etc when you are continuously exposed to them (unless they are completely awful, obvs.)
So, you need to work really hard on making sure that you are front of mind in your ideal client’s mind, without getting on their nerves by spamming & bombarding them of course. Your aim is to get to a place where your name is the first on their lips when someone says “who would you use for… {insert your field of expertise} One of my happiest days was when someone I didn’t even know, messaged me to say “when I think of branding, I think of you.”
#2: SEND A SURVEY
Do you know why your client chose you?
Why did they reject your competitors & pick you instead?
Do you have any idea what the process of working with you was like?
What did they enjoy?
What would they have liked more/less of?
Did they have any frustrations?
Any concerns, worries or fears prior to working with you?
All of this information is so valuable to you. You have no other way of understanding everything that goes on in your client’s mind before during and after they work with you. So, make sure to send out a client survey after they have worked with you/bought from you and learn from the answers. Use your findings to improve the copy on your sales pages and improve your future customer experience process.
#3: PRE-EMPT WITH FAQ’S
If we know that people are going to be shopping around looking for the best price, we have a duty to educate them. To show them that their priority isn’t necessarily finding the cheapest deal out there. When I was searching for a nutritionist, i had no idea what I needed to care about, what I was meant to be looking for; I learned all of that by visiting their websites or having phone calls with them. And then i felt like I was in a much better position to make an informed decision, which was not based solely on price. Help your potential clients out in the ‘FAQ’ or ‘Work With Me’ section of your website by adding in not only the questions that people frequently ask, but the ones that they really should be asking, if they only knew.
Don’t just limit this information to your website – you can repurpose it & post about it in blog posts or social media posts.
#4: WRITE HOW YOU SPEAK
I don’t know where we ever got the idea from that we are meant to be all stiff & formal when we write. It makes no sense to me. If you can’t hear my voice in my copy then I feel like i haven’t done a good job. When you read something that I write, I want you to connect with it. I want you to stop scrolling and focus on my words. I want to tell you good stories, paint a picture, set the scene, educate you, entertain you, make you say “me too” and above all other things I don’t want to bore the pants off you. Your copy should be a way of keeping your audience engaged and coming back for more, not yawning & turning in for the night.
We all have unique personalities & energy. We all have things that we are passionate about; that make us laugh or curse or roll our eyes. Bring some of that into your writing; give your audience something to connect with you over.
#5: POST SOCIAL PROOF
Remember how you got your happy clients to fill out a survey? And how in part of that survey, you asked them to write you a testimonial that you can use on your website/social media platforms? Well, this is going to come in really handy now.
One of the best ways that you can stop someone in their tracks, mid price-comparison is by getting a stonking-great testimonial in their face. Like this:
“I loved every minute of the process working with Sarah. From the practical preparations to the day itself, she enhanced the roll-out of my persona, and showed me that I really am that person I am trying so hard to project! Just keep doing what you are doing, you are a light in this world.”
Now call me fickle, but if I read that during my search for a branding photographer, I think that would pretty much seal it for me & have me heading over to the link to book a call..with myself.
Dont just leave your testimonials on FB or your inbox; sprinkle them throughout your website, repurpose them as Instagram/FB posts or use a few of them together in a short promo video.
Phew! That ended up being a lot of info! I don’t expect you to take everything on in one go, but I do hope you have some good take aways after reading this.
If you had to pick one idea to start working on, where would you begin?
