The Wrong End

SHOW NOTES: In professional services (and even in most product companies) trying to "raise the price" is the wrong place to start. You need to begin by raising perceived value. Value is the improvement in the customer's/client's condition. Perceived means they can identify it. "Lead magnets" and "loss leaders" are from the 50s. Go watch Soupy Sales. You need to build value and tell them and show them that value. It's often in what the product or service does (tax returns, wrenches) but usually is what it creates (saving money, more efficient construction). A luxury is a luxury until you use it the second time when it becomes a necessity. Value consists of new ideas, better practices, new interpretations, reframing—not solutions on the spot. Not obvious events. You need to become an "object of interest" so that they want you around. If your brand is strong, they want to brag about being a part of it. Just ask Bentley.