A Super Simple Pricing Strategy That Works

In this episode of MarieTV, we do have some adult language. So if you do have little ones around, grab your headphones now.

Marie: Who do I need to be in order to deliver 10 to 20 times the value of what my clients or customers are giving to me in terms of what they’re paying.

Meghan: Hello.

Marie Forleo: Hi, it’s Marie Forleo, and you’re on the MarieTv live Call-In Show with this?

Meghan: Oh, my gosh. It’s Megan. Hi Marie.

Marie Forleo: Hi Megan. You’re on with myself and Gregory-

Greg Patterson: Hello, hello, hello.

Marie Forleo: … and Team Forleo. And we’re so excited to talk with you today.

Greg Patterson: What’s your question, my love? Will do our best to give you some guidance and help you out.

Meghan: Thank you so much. I’m so excited right now. Well, a little bit about what I do, I guess. I’m a coach and a facilitator and my career initially started in the world of business. So focusing on team dynamics, interpersonal skills in the workplace. But my focus really shifted after I wound up in and ultimately got out of an abusive relationship. So, now my aim is to share the learning that I’ve lived, providing training around important topics like boundaries and assertiveness and core values and so much more in the hopes that people, namely women, can learn through really intentional hard work rather than learning the hard way through shitty experience that I don’t think anybody should have to endure. And I’m passionate about this. I’m excited to put myself out there. But I’m in the process of launching my website and services. And I know I need to start charging more if this is actually going to be a sustainable thing, and that’s really why I’m reaching out because they need to know how do you go about determining your own worth?

Marie Forleo: It’s such a great question. I have much to say on that topic. And I’m also going to make myself a little note here because there’s something else I want to say from a larger business context that I want you to consider as you move ahead. So first, let’s talk about worth. So your worth is what you say it is. It is completely subjective. I always like to look around in the business environment because there’s razors for example, that are just pennies on the dollar. You can get them they’re disposable. And then I remember one time being on a flight and I was reading one of the in-flight magazines. And it was like the world’s most expensive razor. And I don’t know if it was $1,000 or $10,000 or what it was, but it was just illustrative of the point that people can charge whatever they want for anything. And there’s a market along the whole continuum.

There’s always folks who are going to be looking for what’s the least expensive, and that’s wonderful. And there’s always going to be a portion of folks who are like, “I want the most expensive, the highest level, the most luxury experience that I can possibly get,” in any category. In any category. And I think it’s really, really important for you to know that. Now, we want to step back also, though, and look at this in a larger context. And rather than saying like, “Well, what am I worth?” I think a more valuable question to ask yourself when it comes to how to price your products and your services, is, who do I need to be in order to deliver 10 to 20 times the value of what my clients or customers are giving to me in terms of what they’re paying, right?

So we want to change our whole mindset and think through the eyes of our customer, and think about how can we over-deliver so much value that our clients, our customers are like, “Oh, my goodness, this is a steal,” at any price point. And I think that when we start from that place, we think about the customer experience, we think about the results that we’re going to help our clients and customers achieve. And we think about the long term impact of those results on our clients and customers lives. All of a sudden the entire landscape changes. And then we start to imagine into how to create raving fans, then we start to imagine into, how to create such an extraordinary experience that people want to tell others about you. And they say “Even though she’s expensive, she’s really worth it.”

I have a lot of fun with that phrase. I’m always like, “Look, I’m expensive, but worthit.com.” I’m going to put out the best free content in the world and work my tail off to do so. But if there’s ever a time, when there’s a paid experience, if it’s an online training program, if it’s a live event, if it’s a book that I’m putting out into the world, I want you to feel like whatever you’ve invested and experience with me, you’re getting 10, 20, 100 times the value of what you put up. And that’s kind of the metric I hold myself to. And that’s what we operate on in the team.

And when you come from that perspective, the whole money game starts to shift. So I want you to ask yourself, my love, who do I need to be? What do I need to change? How do I need to package and position myself so that I’m delivering 10 to 20 to 100 times the value of what I’m asking someone to invest in whatever this product or services?

Meghan: Right.

Marie Forleo: Cool?

Meghan: Yeah, that’s really, really helpful.

Marie Forleo: So the other thing though, I wanted to mention to you and this is like a little bit of an aside, but it is really important. So, I so honor you for going through the experience that you went through and for discovering for yourself, like, “Hey, there’s all of these skills and understandings and concepts that I was unaware of, that created a lot of pain, and I want to help people not go through what I had to go through.” One thing that’s really challenging in this world that not a lot of people get, it’s changing a little bit, but not enough yet. Most people buy solutions to problems. It’s really harder to sell prevention in the first place. It just is. We human beings, when we have a painful problem in our lives, most of us are willing to whip out our credit card, or our checkbook, or whatever we need to do in order to handle a problem.

But it’s an uphill battle to get people to invest heavily in preventing a problem that they don’t even know exists that could come at some point in the future. So it just needs to caution you in terms of who you’re targeting and how you’re positioning your service and your business. People can be like, “Oh, you’re marketing to pain points.” It’s like, “Yeah,” because when people are in any kind of pain, that’s when they’re like, “Goodness, I need to take care of this. And I need to take care of this now.”

I mean, we can take a look at it in terms of relationship therapy, right? I didn’t go to couples therapy, when Josh and I were riding cool, when everything was hunky-dory, and we’re happy. When I picked up the phone, to go to some relationship, couples counseling, when shit, when we were about to break up. That’s when I picked up the phone. And that’s when I’m like, “When can we come and sit in your office? So we can take care of this? Because this ain’t going down the way that I wanted to.” Does that make sense?

Meghan: Yes. Oh, absolutely.

Marie Forleo: So, I just wanted to offer you that little piece of context in terms of repositioning your business to make sure that you are marketing to people who understand how powerful it is to set boundaries, to be assertive, and to understand your core values. And chances are there are people that have had those things not work out so well in the past and they’re that much more motivated to go like, “I need to handle this in my life and I need someone who’s experienced and qualified to help me do it.”

Meghan: Exactly, especially knowing that this is something that is a systematic issue. And it affects so many different things. It doesn’t just have to be relationships. It comes up in family dynamics and the workplace. So that’s really good advice, making sure that that message comes across in the communication of what I do and how it’s going to impact your life right now. That’s really, really helpful.

Marie Forleo: And I would absolutely encourage you to consider applying language and situational examples to all three of those areas, not just to romantic relationships, but also how these things play out in the workplace because that’s one of the places in our lives where we spend the most time. And honestly, my friend, that’s where people are going to be most apt to say I need to pay for this solution because I go to work every day. And it’s friggin miserable because I’m a bully and I need to figure out how to navigate this, so I can continue to advance in my career.

Meghan: Yep, absolutely.

Marie Forleo: Cool. Is this helpful for you?

Meghan: It is so helpful. It really helped to shift the focus away from just the numbers. I was looking at it from a very black and white perspective rather than looking at it as a big picture, you know?

Marie Forleo: Yes, a hundred percent.

Meghan: Very, very helpful.

Marie Forleo: Focusing on the change that you want to make in the world, the vision that you have for what happens after someone learns these skills for how they’re going to be in their lives. And the larger difference that you want to make. And the culture is also important to that’s going to help root you in why you’re doing this work in the first place. And it sets a larger context for your pricing and again, how to create those outstanding customer experiences.

Meghan: And that’s very important to me, is how people feel.

Marie Forleo: That’s right. Awesome. Well, keep us posted.

Greg Patterson: Great question.

Marie Forleo: You are going to be awesome, and congratulations on this next chapter of your evolution.

Meghan: Thank you, Marie. I just wanted to say very quickly, I know your time is valuable, but I need to say thank you. I want to thank you for everything that you contribute and everything that you do. And sincerely when I decided to shift my focus it was when I was in the middle of extracting myself from that relationship. And truly at that point in my life, sometimes getting up off the bathroom floor felt like an incredible feat. And I know I wouldn’t even entertain the idea of starting my own business had it not been for B-School.

Marie Forleo: Aw.

Meghan: Really, you made it so approachable. So, figureoutable, that at that stage in my life, where I wasn’t even fully confident, I knew up from down. I was actually able to focus on something that was so good and so hopeful, and I was still in a place where I was doubting my reality. But you truly allowed me to never doubt my own ability and doing what I wanted to do. And I just wanted to say that to you, that you do so much more for people than I think you realize and I’m so grateful for you.

Marie Forleo: Thank you for your kind words. I’m so honored that you’re a B-Schooler and of course, we will be here to support you at every stage and every evolution of your business. Thank you so much, sweetheart.

Meghan: Thank you so much.

Marie Forleo: Bye.

Meghan: Bye, Marie.