Come fly with me
We value the journey as much as the destination
“You start from the same place, end up in the same place, and you’re all stuck in the same tin can for the same amount of time. So how come flying first class costs ten times more than economy?”
My favourite example of Good-Better-Best pricing is airline seating. We’ve all experienced it - even if we haven’t turned left when boarding (yet!).
Here are my top 3 concepts you can apply to your recruitment business to improve your win rate, increase fees, and win more exclusive clients.
You’re not paying for the destination
You want to fly from A to B, but the price you pay is based on how you get there.
Recruitment leaders often say they’re selling their clients a placement, but you have the opportunity to set your prices based on the hiring experience as well as the outcome.
Much like air travel, some of your clients will want a first class experience - and will be happy to pay for it. If you’re only offering one middle-of-the-road price point, you’re missing out on clients who can and will pay more.
The Halo Effect
Think of an airline advert. I guarantee you’re picturing someone sitting in a luxury first class seat enjoying fine dining and a glass of bubbles - because that’s how airlines advertise their services. And yet, most of us aren’t buying first class tickets!
Airlines are benefitting from the ‘Halo Effect’, where we pay more for a standard ticket if we’ve seen how good the top end service could be (even when we know we won’t get to experience it ourselves).
You can do the same by creating a menu of services and including an out-of-this-world top option for your clients to consider. Even if they don’t choose it, you’ve show just how much you could do for them… and they’re going to value you more for it.
Scratch that comparison itch
When we’re faced with a price, we instinctively look to compare it with something else. Of course if you’re selling something, the last thing you want your customer to do is compare you to a competitor.
Airlines deal with our comparison itch by giving us lots of choices in how we want to fly. First class, business or economy? Economy or Premium? A little extra leg room? Add another 5kg to your luggage allowance? All these choices give our brains enough price context to reduce the need for us to look at a competitor airline.
Your clients have the same comparison itch to scratch. No client really knows what recruitment ‘should’ cost, so they like to line up three or four recruiters to put prices in context. Which gives you in a one-in-four chance of winning their business.
When you offer a menu of services, your clients see your prices in context - and you control that context. Your clients are less likely to pick up the phone to your competitors, so your odds of winning new business suddenly get a lot better.
Your next steps
You might think I’m going to advise you to build your own menu of services. But I’m not.
Before you start changing your offering, you need to know three things:
What value do you currently offer your clients?
What do your clients value?
What makes you different from everyone else?
These are hard questions to answer. I see some recruitment leaders give up: “We’re all just the same, aren’t we?” I strongly disagree… but it’s up to you to decide whether you want to do the work and find your own answers.
If you want help in finding your answers, you can book a consultation session with me. And then you’ll have the foundations to build a menu of services that will help your business fly.
To book your consultation session with me, simply reply to this email with VALUE in the subject line.
Jon
P.S. The airline model opens up so many other ways to build relationships with your clients. I’m sure you’ve stood in airport check-in queues hoping to be gifted a last-minute upgrade to a better flying experience.
You may even have been lucky enough to have been upgraded - and then raved about it to friends and family and followers for years to come. In other words, you became a fan and an advocate… and a much more valuable customer to that airline.
When you create a menu of services, you have the ability to surprise your clients with the occasional upgrade. You might trade it for something you value in return, or reward a client for the way they work with you. The key is you have more ways to show your clients how valuable you are to them.
Just remember to build your menu of service on strong foundations. Answer your three questions, and if you need help then book your consultation session with me by simply replying to this email with VALUE in the subject line.