| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
How Do You Know Your Clients Cant Pay More?
"My clients can't afford higher rates." When more than 330 business owners and self-employed professionals checked off reasons why their income was not going through the roof, this statement was chosen more often than any other. If you're tempted to agree that what clients can afford limits you, let me first ask: are you certain of that? You can't make a leap from what people say about this to whether or not they can find the money if sufficiently convinced that it's important. Years ago, someone starting up a new business called me for a consultation and told me he could pay no more than such and such. It turned out that the most convenient place for our meeting was his house, which I could not help noticing had the size and glitziness of a small mansion, with a market value of at least three-quarters of a million dollars. What he named as his paltry budget reflected what he felt advice on this matter was worth, not what he had to spend. By pointing out how much getting his business onto a sound footing was worth to him and how much in wasted expenditures I could save him, I'd have been able to reshape his thinking on what it was reasonable to spend. Another time a client launching a catchy new product wanted to know what kind of publicity services I could offer her for a couple of hundred dollars. I didn't hear from her again for quite a while, at which time she told me she'd hired a traditional PR firm, paying a retainer and fees of more than a thousand dollars a month. I'd gotten the impression that she didn't have that kind of money to invest, and I was very wrong. At the other end of the spectrum, more than once I've been startled to learn that a client who paid relatively high rates without complaint was having trouble scraping money together for rent. In truth, until you confidently raise your rates, it's impossible to know who will go along and who will not. This is particularly so when you do great work and educate clients on the value they receive. Remember too that when you raise your rates, you can lose some clients and still make higher profits overall from those you retain. In addition, you can earn more from each customer without raising your rates by selling them additional products and services. In this situation, they're paying you more but don't feel they are. Finally, if you're in one of those rare situations where clients truly don't have money, consider whether this is the audience you most enjoy serving or whether you think you're only worthy of working with them. In the former case, it's still often possible to find outside entities, such as corporate sponsors, to support your work. Sometimes what feels like an absolute limit to your earnings only means you have not yet enjoyed a freewheeling, creative brainstorming session! Marcia Yudkin is head mentor for MarketingforMore.com and the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and 10 other books. As an author, marketing consultant and coach, she has spent 22 years successfully turning words into money. By going to http://www.marketingformore.com/survey.htm , you can read the full results of her survey and download a free report, "Charge More & Get It," that expands on four other common self-sabotaging beliefs about money.
MORE RESOURCES:
Milwaukee Mile back on IndyCar schedule, Andretti-led group to promote June 16 ... - Washington Post
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Simple Marketing Strategies Versus an SEO Line of Attack! Each and every day those of us on the Internet are bombarded with information about Search Engine Optimization and all that goes along with it. For the majority of folks who are promoting a business online, this can often lead to confusion especially when it comes to understanding key words, meta tags and title tags. Five Joint Venture Marketing Skills A Small Business Owner Must Have Joint venture marketing is a lucrative way of leveraging the assets of two or more businesses. It is the fastest way for businesses to achieve certain business goals and benefit their clients at the same time. Your Ultimate Competitive Advantage The biggest secret to success in business is to always maintain a competitive advantage in everything you do. One of the best ways to get and maintain a competitive advantage is to always make it as easier for your prospect or customer to say yes than to say no. Second Dose Of Marketing Vitamins Organizations often get stuck in neutral when it comes to marketing. Sometimes, you just need a kickstart. Prepare Your Communications For Growth As the American economy emerges from recession, many businesses are now reexamining their marketing materials and realizing that their communications are outdated, ill-prepared for the return of a robust, competitive, growing economic environment. Strategies developed to survive hard times are often the wrong ones for profiting in good times. Using Business Cards as Invitations Business card size works well for invitations to special events.What do you visualize when you think about invitations? More than likely you are thinking about a wedding or a party. Market Your Identity One of the most critical but overlooked parts of business success is using your identity. If you want to build a successful business you have to strike the word image from your vocabulary right from the start. Celebrity Product Placement: A Primer With more and more companies wanting to integrate their products into the lives of celebrities, now seems like a good time to take a closer look at Celebrity Product Placement, describe three common approaches, and outline what steps can be taken to guarantee results.The term "Celebrity Product Placement" is used to describe several related techniques, but its definition applies to each: free products are distributed to celebrities in expectation of a promotional benefit. Coupons that Work Turn a coupon into a business card (or vice versa).Coupons are seen everywhere; you clip them from the newspaper to save on groceries, you get them in the mail to save on brand name items, you even get packages in the form of booklets delivered to your door. A Forgotten Marketing Tool - The Postcard The postcard can be a very powerful marketing tool. Many of our customers and/or students use them in their business. Marketing Discipline and the Joy of Success Discipline Is Important.I recently read an article about why discipline is important to a marketer. How to Really Get Your Customers What Really Makes Your Postcard Mailing Successful? The biggest single factor in the success of your postcard mailings is who you send your postcards to.You need a list of people or businesses to send your postcard offer to. Meaning and Marketing - The Hurricane I step outside my back door and look at some large limbs lying on the ground. They are all dead. 7 Simple Marketing Tips Here are 7 simple marketing tips to help you boost your sales and profits quickly. All are easy to use and work for any business. How Much Is Your Popcorn Worth? Powerful Lessons In Marketing & The Psychology Of Selling - Part 4 Let's continue to discuss the various marketing principles that are involved in "popcorn marketing":4. Engaging the "Senses" You may already know that people usually buy for 'emotional' reasons more than 'intellectual' reasons. Fair Measures Corporation A case study in online "thinking outside the box" The Fair Measures Corporation Web site, at http://www.FairMeasures. Funnel Your Way to Marketing Success A funnel is a good way to think of the marketing process. The top is very broad and consists of using mass marketing techniques. Set Your Business Apart With A Unique Selling Proposition Unless your company has absolutely no competition now or in the forseeable future, you're well advised to find and develop a unique selling proposition (USP) that differentiates your business from all of your competitors.For you to succeed, you have to identify and understand what you or your business does or can start doing for your prospects and customers that provides them with a result that is superior to the competition's. Fundraising Letters Should Raise Donors, Not Donations, When Mailed to Strangers Are you willing to spend $1.25 to raise $1? To lose money to make money? You should be. Business Promotional Items - How to Stimulate Word of Mouth Advertising If the promotional items you give out end up in the attic or shoved in the back of a desk drawer, they are probably not doing what they are supposed to be doing. However, if items you passed out to clients and customers are being seen again and again, chances are, word-of-mouth advertising is stimulating your business.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
