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With consumers tightening their budgets and talks of a recession, it may seem like right now is the time to lower prices and increase efforts to bring in new clients and maximize existing client revenue. That’s the worst thing you can do.
A recent study published by CNBC and Morning Consult found that 92% of Americans are pulling back on their spending, and retailers like Walmart, Target, Home Depot and Best Buy are shifting strategies to compensate. Instead of lowering prices, I advise entrepreneurs to focus on attracting premium clients. I believe that no matter the economic conditions, you can attract premium clients.
As a seven-figure female Latina founder, I immigrated to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream. To date, I have worked with hundreds of fellow entrepreneurs using a unique formula that allows them to be the exception to the rule. Success isn’t easy, but I believe you can find ease in success by keeping things simple. Instead of doing more things, do the hardest thing well. You’ll be successful doing less.
How does this work? Why does this work? Let’s focus on a simple three-step process that I am using with my clients right now to get exceptional results.
1. Elevate the quality of clients you attract
In the e-commerce marketing world, we often hear that we need to speak to the client’s pain points — to amplify that fear so people are motivated to buy — but we advise against using this common method. If we are constantly speaking to that disillusioned version of our client, it takes us longer to scale a business. It means we have to drag, convince and educate.
Instead, elevate the quality of clients you are attracting. Avoid using fear-based marketing to sell. Out of our sample size of 300-plus clients in a variety of sectors, just by shifting the language, the quality of the client improved 100% of the time. The future of marketing is to speak to the empowered version of your client because today’s consumer is more sophisticated than ever. When you talk to that client, you’re attracting clients who are resourceful and willing to bet on themselves and see their value. You’ll elevate the type of clients you attract, and they’re willing to invest more.
I recently had one client who went from earning $179,000 a year to over $1 million simply by shifting how she approached clients. It doesn’t have to take long to create success.
Related: To Get a Premium Price Exceed What Your Customer Expect
2. Value your offer in a premium way
I know that many consultants think they need to wait until they have more clients before raising their prices. Instead, I believe you can start premium and stay premium. The coaches I work with are already qualified to charge a premium, but they think they don’t have the experience to prove their worth.
These perspectives put a ceiling on your earning capacity. When you put time into the earning equation, you are always going to lose. Instead of focusing on time, think about value.
Price the services you offer based on the value you bring to the table, specifically on the lifetime value that it will provide to the client. That transforms the way you think about your clients and certainly indicates that now is the time to make changes in increasing your rates and lowering them.
Think about your service now. Your clients will get a result in a few months or years, but what about 10 years from today? Are they still benefiting from your services? This view will anchor you in the confidence you need to increase your prices.
3. Monetize your influence with a magnetic message
Your messaging is critical. It defines who talks to you and becomes your customer. If you have 100,000 well-qualified followers, the perfect followers for your website, and they go to your website right now, your page, or your livestream, what will they see? A clear message or tumbleweeds?
Those 100,000 ideal clients will not respond to you if you do not know the right words to say to communicate with them. You must have the right message — a message that screams value, not a special offer or a money-back guarantee.
You may be excellent at what you do, but that doesn’t automatically mean you will attract epic clients, the type of clients not likely phased by inflationary pressures and still willing and able to spend.
Two things magnetize clients: Your energy and the words you use. The words are what trigger the brain to work in identifying how it can help them or better them. The brain’s focus is on how to save calories and thrive, looking for problems to solve and threats to eliminate. The brain files you under the problem that you can help them solve.
You must have a clear message that makes it certain what value you bring to the table. You must be able to communicate that value, not just that you are available or that you have a great price on the services you offer. For example, here is a script for non-ideal clients:
“You’ve downloaded freebies seeking the answers, but you’re still stuck. You wake up feeling the pressure to make money fast. Otherwise, you don’t know if your business will survive much longer. You want someone who can give you the formula to success so you can guarantee your results. After all, you’ve invested in programs before and got no results. What’s to say things won’t be the same?”
Related: 8 Ways to Make Your Marketing Message Stand Out
Notice the contrast when you use magnetic messaging to attract premium clients based on the value you offer:
“You’re amazing what you do. Your work transforms people’s lives. You know you could probably figure things out without a coach, but you want to shortcut the timeline by having someone in your corner because you value time over money. You’ve invested in programs and have been able to get results, but you’re craving the personalized attention to crystalize the pathway to help you double your income without working more hours and attract more premium clients who are motivated, willing to invest and do the work.”
Consider how you can reframe your messaging to be more magnetic. Once you value what you have to offer and make it abundantly clear to the potential clients the value you bring to them, they are willing to spend more. If you have a low price on a highly valuable service, that shows the client you don’t value your own product or service.
Instead, create the right message, be confident in the value you offer and adjust your client focus on the people who are most likely to value you instead of those who are seeking the least expensive offer.