Your fees are insignificant
Putting your prices into context
Your client has just come out of a meeting where they finalised a £10m investment to grow their business over the next three years.
In this context, your fee is virtually zero. In fact, it’s around 0.1% of what they were just talking about.
Or maybe they just had an hour-long session with their lawyers. Three partners, all charging £500 - for the hour! each! - and again your fee looks insignificant in that context.
My point is, we can become obsessed with how our fees look in our own context. If you’re worried about charging more than you usually do - perhaps for a higher salary, or because a client hasn’t negotiated on your rate - you’re forgetting to consider how the fee looks in your client’s context.
Now, I’ve been talking about your fee in isolation… but there are plenty of times when another agency is in the mix, and their fee might be cheaper than yours.
In this example, we’re not even putting your total fee into the client’s context. Instead, we’re comparing the difference between your fee and the other agency’s fee.
For a total fee in the thousands, this difference may only be in the hundreds of pounds. Again, when you put that into context - against the £10m funding, or the law firm fees - the amount you’re focusing on is insignificant.
There are two conclusions to be drawn here. First, be confident in your fee. Even if it feels high to you, your client may think it looks like good value.
Secondly, spend as much time as you can reminding your clients of the context. Especially just before you tell them your rates. If you look great value compared to their lawyers, keep mentioning the lawyers!
If you want to explore how you can put your prices in context for your clients, simply reply to this email and I will explain how I can help you.
Jon
P.S. Remember, that £10m in funding usually means they’re valuing their business at many times that amount. And they need your help in growing that number.
So even the £10m number may be insignificant compared to the numbers they’re aspiring to.
If you want to explore how you can put your prices in context for your clients, simply reply to this email and I will explain how I can help you.