Pricing Strategies: How to Raise Your Revenue Without Working Harder

Recently, I worked with a client Elizabeth, who was looking to grow her solo consulting practice. She was ready. She had written two books, had a diagnostic, had exceptionally good IP, she was offering a premium service and she was not far off a million dollar practice. But she was struggling to take it to that next level.

When we sat down together, one of the things we did was take a look at her pricing. And once we’d gone over her offerings, her IP and her pricing, I believed she was undervaluing herself. So I advised her to raise her price by 20% which would then bring her up to the level she was positioned well for, what her market would pay and could achieve.

However, she immediately balked at the suggestion. She was already so busy. She was delivering up to four days a week in a corporate environment and this was just too much (two to three days is ideal). She was developing IP. She was attending sales meetings. On top of that, as a consultant, she also had to run the business herself day-to-day. The thought of doing MORE just overwhelmed her. She was tired. She physically couldn’t work any harder or do any more.

But the thing is that I didn’t want her to do more. I wanted her to raise her prices without working harder. In fact I wanted her to do less. Yet it was a struggle and a shift in mindset. And this holds true for many consultants.

What holds us back from charging our worth

Understanding pricing strategies, and when and how to value yourself, particularly as a consultant, is one of the most challenging aspects of our work. There are a lot of things that hold us back from valuing ourselves at a higher level.

1. Believing you’re worth it. If you struggle to see the worth in your work, go back to your metrics. Value what you do, and the benefit that it delivers. Consider who your clients are and who can do what you can. 

   For example, Elizabeth delivered primarily to professors and academics and she was one of the few who could really do that work. When you look at the metrics, and data, just like my client, I think you’ll be surprised at what you’re really worth.

1. Believing that you deserve it. Even after seeing your metrics, many people have an in-built belief that they simply don’t deserve that level of recompense. Consultant’s families often don’t really understand what they do and so don’t value it. Or that working less means you’re lazy. This feedback undermines them and they struggle to see themselves as deserving of world-class fees. 

   It’s important to nip that thought process in the bud. When you deliver as a world-class consultant, as my client does, you deserve world-class pricing. If you don’t you may slip into point 3 below, believing that you have to give more value to charge more money (wrong!). 

1. Believing you have to deliver more value to charge more. Elizabeth was working as hard as she possibly could. She simply couldn’t do any more. But she was getting more work than she could handle. She didn’t need to do any more to charge more. She didn’t need to give more value or create more IP. She simply needed to charge the true value of what her services were worth. 

1. Fear you’ll lose the clients you already have. Often consultants are afraid to raise their prices out of fear that they’ll lose the clients they already have. If you’re concerned about this you can consider other pricing options such as providing other valuable inclusions. It pays to look after loyal clients.

Remember that full is feedback. If your delivery windows are full, you’re still too cheap. It’s time to raise your prices.

Pricing strategies – how to raise your revenue without working harder

Incremental increases

When it comes to raising your prices you don’t have to jump 20% in one go. Start with incremental small increases and see how that goes. Once you get to a stage where you start having openings in your delivery windows, you’re likely closer to the correct pricing.

Remember you can grandfather in the lower price to current clients as well.

Unbundle your offerings

Another great way to raise your prices without working harder (or delivering more value!) is to unbundle your offerings. Maybe you’ve been giving a workshop with a two hour one-on-one coaching session. Unbundle these two services and offer them separately so that you aren’t over-stacking the value.

Consider public events

If you’ve been delivering one-on-one or to small groups, take a look at public or bigger events. Ideally you have a good size database already, but if not, now is the time to start working on growing it.

By offering public events you can deliver a one-day workshop that you’d normally charge $10,000 for, and by charging by the head, can now charge $30,000 for. Your IP is there, you don’t need to do any more work and you’ve built in far more value.

Think creatively

Every practice is different. And that means that every practice offers different value. Take a look at your own practice and think creatively. Where can you price yourself differently to value yourself better?

I’d love to hear your thoughts…