Impact Pricing

This one is the 3 of Spades from the Selling Value card deck.  Of course, salespeople, marketing people, we have to do prospecting. The question becomes, who do we look for as prospects to move into our sales funnel?  Well, now that we know that people really have to solve problems, that's the reason they buy our products. The question now is, do we think it's easier to sell to people who already know they have a problem, or to people that we have to convince they have a problem?  You often see advertising like this where people will say, "Hey, come solve this problem." And now what's happening is people are self-selecting and, "Oh, yeah, I've got that problem," so they're trying to find those people. On the other hand, sometimes we have to convince somebody they have a problem. I find it interesting, I used to run a company a long, long time ago, and my cell phone number still is the phone number that I had when I had that company. And I'll get calls from moving companies that the opening line is, "Hey, I heard that Home Director is moving." Well, it turns out I don't run Home Director. Home Director doesn't exist anymore. Home Director's not moving. But that was a way for them to quickly prospect and find out, "Hey, do I have a company and is the company moving?" Because if the answer that's yes, I've got a problem. And if the answer that's no, then they don't have a problem. So they're trying to figure out relatively quickly, am I somebody that they might be able to sell to or not? So think about, when you're prospecting, are you prospecting to people who already know they have a problem? Or are you looking for people and then trying to convince them they have a problem?  As a pricing person, I have to tell you, I think every single company has a problem. But it's insane for me to try to go to a company and convince them they have a problem. And it is so much easier for me to work with companies who come to me because they know they have a problem. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, and then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

12 Juli 20233min

Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals. In this episode, Jonathan highlights the drawbacks of billing hourly which can reduce your value to just a commodity. Instead, he suggests pricing your services based on the outcome you deliver, thereby providing maximum value to your clients.   What you will learn from this episode: Discover the top reasons behind the shift away from hourly billing Find out the advantages of choosing outcome-based pricing over hourly billing Uncover why positioning your service effectively can have a significant impact on your pricing strategy   "Positioning is critically important for any kind of upward lift on your fees." - Jonathan Stark   Topics Covered: 01:04 - What got him into pricing 03:35 - The problem with having an hourly rate 06:11 - Pricing uncertainty in the case of a car diagnostic 08:45 - What makes it better charging fixed price upfront 10:33 - Why positioning your service is crucial in pricing 12:59 - What hourly rate appears to be on the label 16:15 - Touching on the 'Experience Economy' [pricing transformation] 19:06 - Formula for value or the maximum price 21:36 - The best reason to not use hourly prices 24:22 - Solving the scope problem with knowing the desired goal 29:21 - Jonathan’s pricing advice 30:38 - How to connect with Jonathan   Key Takeaways: "If you sell somebody an hour, you cannot make it more efficient. It takes an hour to deliver it. It artificially limits your income." - Jonathan Stark “The way I do it [on the scope problem], I don’t scope first, I scope last.” - Jonathan Stark   People / Resources Mentioned: Alan Weiss: https://alanweiss.com/about-alan-weiss/ Joseph Pines: https://strategichorizons.com/pine-and-gilmore/joe-pine/ How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business by Douglas Hubbard: https://www.amazon.com/How-Measure-Anything-Intangibles-Business/dp/1118539273   Connect with Jonathan Stark: Website: https://jonathanstark.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

10 Juli 202332min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on June 1, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/commit-to-expand/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact. Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

7 Juli 20232min

This one is the 4 of Diamonds from the Selling Value card deck.  Wow, walk away from a negotiation, ouch! We're essentially saying, "No, we're not going to negotiate anymore. Take the deal that we've given you or not. Totally up to you." And what happens when we do this?  First off, we're at risk of losing the deal, and that's painful. Especially, if you're in sales and you're paid to get revenue. You've got to meet a quota, your commission comes from that. But it turns out, from a company perspective, oftentimes that's a really smart thing to do.  First off, maybe it's the wrong customer for you. Maybe they need a deep, deep discount because they really don't get the value from your product that they should be getting. Or maybe that they're just negotiating and if you walk away, they come back and say, "Okay, we'll take it." And so, now you've made the sale.  Or, what if you even lose the deal? But because you lost that deal, word gets out, especially to channel partners, other salespeople, we're not willing to accept a deal below this specific price. And now everybody's working harder to sell value and make sure that we get the prices that we actually deserve.  This is hard. But if you end up losing deals because you walk away, my recommendation is track the profitability of the deals if you would've won them at this lower price and compare that to the profitability of the deals you win because you didn't lower the price. And even if you win more deals with lower prices, you probably make less margin and less profit. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, and then talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

5 Juli 20232min

Carole Mahoney is an author, speaker, coach, and trainer taking a cognitive approach to sales success. In this episode, Carole shares how salespeople should initiate a pricing conversation that should be 'Not Be About Me' and quantify the cost of not doing something. That way, buyers make a decision for fear of negative business impact.   What you will learn from this episode: Discover a powerful pricing conversation technique that focuses on addressing potential objections and inspires people to take action by tapping into their fears of negative outcomes Find out how salespeople add value and uncover urgency for people to make a decision Understand why salespeople need to create a ‘dirty laundry list’ and include them in their conversation "The biggest piece of advice for finding value in a conversation and talking about pricing is to make it a collaborative conversation." - Carole Mahoney   Topics Covered: 01:30 - How she found a career in pricing 02:20 - Salespeople find it uncomfortable talking about money and pricing matters 03:46 - Pricing conversation that’s more about contrasting and quantifying the cost of doing nothing  06:36 - Not articulating enough the fear of loss 07:49 - Letting buyers articulate the real problem [and getting them to ask these important questions] 08:36 - The Seinfeld-comedy-series inspired technique of pricing conversation 10:16 - Adding value and uncovering urgency 11:30 - Creating a dirty laundry list 14:17 - What makes it advantageous for salespeople to share their laundry list amongst themselves 15:48 - Providing measurable business value while addressing potential negative outcomes 16:59 - Creating a constant reminder to salespeople with a t-shirt that reads: Not About Me 20:43 - Pricing advice that can have the biggest impact in one's business   Key Takeaways: "If selling is an exchange of value, then the pricing conversation is the proof of value actually exists." - Carole Mahoney "Ask questions that address why they might say no, not why they might say yes, you need both. You need to be able to draw the contrast." - Carole Mahoney "It's not necessarily the salesperson's job to make it painful to the buyer. It's the salesperson's job to ask the questions to uncover if the pain to the buyer is great enough to take action, to make a decision and then to implement a solution." - Carole Mahoney   People / Resources Mentioned: Buyer First: Grow Your Business with Collaborative Selling by Carole Mahoney: www.unboundgrowth.com/buyer-first-book   Connect with Carole Mahoney: LinkedIn: https://www.unboundgrowth.com/ Website: https://www.unboundgrowth.com/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

3 Juli 202323min

This is an Impact Pricing Blog published on May 25, 2023, turned into an audio podcast so you can listen on the go. Read Full Article Here: https://impactpricing.com/blog/quick-and-dirty-pricing-research/ If you have any feedback, definitely send it. You can reach us at mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact. Connect with Mark Stiving: Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

30 Juni 20232min

This one is the 4 of Clubs from the Selling Value card deck.  It turns out that procurement people often lie to us. And it's their job, not necessarily to lie, but it's their job to get a better price.  And what often happens is they'll say to you, "Hey, you're up against these other two or three competitors. In this situation, you have to lower your price if you expect to win this deal." And it turns out oftentimes that's not true. Oftentimes, you're not up against two or three different competitors.  Back many, many years ago when I was in sales, I recall procurement people actually saying, "You're up against this other competitor." And it turns out the competitive product they were looking at wasn't even similar to the product that I was offering. And so, it was obvious to me that they were just lying.  And in fact, I experienced this extremely clearly when I was on the buying situation. I was part of a committee and we'd chosen a software application that we wanted to purchase. And I was in the meeting when procurement said to the company that we were going to buy from, "You're up against these other two competitors, you better sharpen your pencil." And I knew for a fact that wasn't a true statement.  So, please be careful and the way you know is, go back to the committee. Find out if the committee selected you or selected you as one of several different possible alternatives. We hope you enjoyed this example of Pricing Table Topics. What you just heard was done without a script. If you want to get better at speaking about pricing and value, grab a deck of our cards, pick a card, read the saying, and talk for one to two minutes about what that card says. You'll become a better speaker and expert. If you have any questions or feedback, please email me, mark@impactpricing.com.  Now, go make an impact.   Connect with Mark Stiving:  Email: mark@impactpricing.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/

28 Juni 20232min

John Ray is a Pricing and Business Development Coach for Professional Services Firms, and a Podcast Host and Producer. In this episode, John shares optimal strategies for positioning your value proposition to attract the best fit clients for your business.   What you will learn from this episode: Discover how to craft a compelling value proposition by identifying the unique value that your clients perceive in your offerings Learn about the importance of continuing value conversation Overcome the fear of pricing the value you provide to your clients   "Develop your options around that client and let them choose. And you'll find out your pricing suddenly improves." - John Ray   Topics Covered: 01:15 - How he got himself into pricing 02:10 - Who is his ideal client? 03:59 - Insights on solopreneurs making their business work even if they don't necessarily plan on being a business owner 05:28 - The feeling of fear and inadequacy in pricing in a lot of solopreneurs 06:11 - It's not all about expertise but the value you deliver 08:13 - Suggested value proposition to this case: Roger [the client] loves the fact that I calm him down when he gets notice in the mail, I'm trying to win some new business 09:01 - The importance of continuing value conversation 11:10 - One way to lead a value conversation and for people to dig deep with you 11:47 - Optimal win rate or rejection rate and the significance of having a value conversation 15:25 - Benefits of accepting all clients when you're just starting out [and advantages of niching] 18:42 - Turning the intangible value you have into a tangible range of values for the client 20:47 - Price effectively or end up costing your business 24:10 - John's thoughts on this: If I'm bidding and there's no competition or there is competition 26:11 - John’s pricing advice   Key Takeaways: "By definition you'll be getting better clients by that measure [35% win rate]." - John Ray "The great thing about a value conversation, it's a net that allows the great clients in that fits you well, and keeps out the ones that are not great fits." - John Ray "You don't lean on what you think you're worth, you lean on what the value that you've been able to uncover in that conversation." - John Ray   People / Resources Mentioned: Ron Baker: https://impactpricing.com/?s=Ron+BAker Allan Weiss: https://alanweiss.com/shop/books/hardcover/value-based-fees-3rd-edition/   Connect with John Ray: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnray1/   Connect with Mark Stiving: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stiving/ Email: mark@impactpricing.com

26 Juni 202328min