From The Desk Of Grace Lever
Aldgate, South Australia
Grace here,
I felt like such a fraud.
When I made the decision to start selling $5,000 programs at the beginning of my consulting career – I felt like such a fraud.
“Who am I to be selling such high priced services?” I constantly said to myself.
And the thing was…
I knew what I had was valuable…
And I knew the marketing automation skills could really help grow businesses (I already had a few client wins under my belt at that point), and yet…
I still felt so incongruent selling $5,000 packages!
I felt like every time I got on the phone I’d be “found out.”
So why did I do it?
Well, it’s pretty silly, actually. But I find this happens to sooo many female entrepreneurs it’s not funny…
The reason I persisted in selling high priced programs even when I wasn’t comfortable with it was that this marketing guru I was following at the time said… “If you’re not selling at least a $5,000+ package then you’re not a real consultant!”
Have you ever had a marketing expert tell you that before?
Or that, “you’re selling too low, and you need to raise your price immediately!”
It feels so uncomfortable, right?
Well, being relatively new in my entrepreneurial journey I believed him.
So I “jacked up” my prices no matter how uncomfortable or intimidated I felt, and, I lost 24 sales in a row!
Pssst there’s a LOT more I have to share with you… and because you’ve proven you’re ready to get doing by reading this blog, I want to let you into my exclusive community of Doers. Click through here and join My Doers Way Facebook Group and get access to me and my team as well as the support of like-minded female entrepreneurs.
I think one of the big reasons I lost those sales is because the prospect could tell something wasn’t right….
It’s like I was telegraphing a “Don’t buy this program! It’s not worth $5,000!” message to their subconscious…
Then they would run for the hills!
But after I started learning from some true sales experts, I had an internal transformation that allowed me to confidently and congruently sell a $5,000+ package, even though I was still fairly new.
Let me tell you what happened…
Not long after I got that sales consult framework, I began learning from sales guru’s who actually knew their stuff…
And, so I told one of them…
“You know, I’m struggling so much with selling these high priced programs. I just feel like a fraud… Is this something I have to just get over? I don’t want to feel like this!”
And to this day I remember his response so clearly because the instructions he gave changed the way I viewed selling high-ticket forever…
He said…
“Grace, I want you to do something for me… Next time you’re on a call, I want you to ask your prospect one extra question… Once you’ve helped your prospect get clear about the goal they want to achieve, and you’ve mapped out your plan to achieve it, I want you to ask them this one question…
‘And I’m curious, if you could achieve this in the next 12 months with my plan, what would that be worth to you?’
Then Grace, just wait for their response.”
It was not the answer I was expecting. But, nevertheless, I took his advice and implemented it on my next call.
I helped the prospect get clear on their goal…
I mapped out my plan of action to get them to that goal…
I asked them “the question”…
And then came the response…
“Wow, if you could help me with that, it’d be worth at least 100k to me this year alone!”
I was shocked. Blown away…
First, I couldn’t believe they just blurted out a number like that! And second…
I couldn’t believe how high the number was!
Thinking this was a fluke I repeated this exercise on the following call…
The response this time was different (but no less amazing)…
“Grace, if you could help me with that, it’d be absolutely priceless. Sure, the extra revenue in my business would be great. But I couldn’t put a price on being able to spend more time with my family. It would be invaluable.”
And if you’re thinking ‘This is great Grace, but I’m not sure how to make this work for my business’ I’d love to help you! You can join my own exclusive Doers Way Facebook Group for tips, tricks, doing strategies, and support from fellow doers.
Once again I was blown away.
And almost every time I asked that question I’d get similar responses…
“It’s worth at least 30k/mo to me Grace and would change my life…”
“Oh wow, probably over $500,000 over the next 10 years…”
“You’d save me and my team hundreds of hours a month Grace. It would take so much weight off my shoulders and theirs…”
And on it went.
And, as I continuously got these responses, I began to realize the $5,000 program I was selling them was absolutely insignificant to the results they were getting in return.
I realized that as Coaches and Consultants, whether you’re helping them grow their business or lose weight or repair their marriage or rebrand their company, your service is life transforming.
And that is incredibly valuable to people.
So valuable, in fact, that paying $5,000 to help them achieve that transformation is peanuts for what they get in return.
This process totally transformed that feeling of “oh my gosh, this is way too expensive” to “oh my gosh, they’re getting the best deal ever!”…
And allowed me to feel congruent and in full integrity selling my program ?
So, if you’re reading this, I want you to ask that question on your next sales call.
In fact, I want you to keep asking that question until you can truly see how valuable your service is, and until you start feeling that confident and congruence inside.
It doesn’t matter if you’re not in the “business growth” market like I am.
If you’re in a non-business related market like “weight loss” or “dog-training” for example, your prospects will still put a price on that transformation!
(Just ask, you’ll see!)
And when they do, you’ll finally understand how valuable what you sell really is, and will give you the confidence to start raising your fees fast!
But…. I want to address a question I know is running through a lot of brand new Coaches and Consultants reading this…
“Grace, I get what you’re saying. But how can I sell a $5,000 program when I don’t even have any client results yet?”
It’s a great question!
And the answer to that is…
You SHOULDN’T sell a $5,000 program if you haven’t got any results yet!
If you haven’t proven what you have works – why would you sell a $5,000 package?
You may have got results for yourself, but that’s not enough.
I know this flies in the face of what most “gurus” teach. But I also know if you’re completely new with ZERO client results behind you, no matter how much I try to convince you, you’re still going to feel out of integrity and incongruent.
So don’t do it.
(Personally, I think it’s totally unethical anyway).
My recommendation is this…
Tell your prospects that in the near future this program is going to be $5,000, but you’re dropping the price to $997 or $1997 (or near that) because you want more case studies to go along with your incredible personal results!
You can even get the client to agree to give you a video testimonial at the end of the program if their results were great! ?
Then, once you’ve got some good case studies and you have proof your system works – you can raise your fees as high as you want ?
Now let me ask you…
Do you think this approach will take a bit of a load off?
I know it does when I tell my students who are brand new.
With that being said…
What I want to do now is give one more tip on how to actually put together a $5,000+ Coaching or Consulting program (without it taking months to create).
You see, one of the big misconceptions about selling a high-priced program is that you need a lot of content.
Nothing could be further from the truth, ladies!
Here’s why…
Remember a few paragraphs ago I said the prospect is buying a ‘transformation’, right?
I didn’t say content…
I didn’t say coaching/consulting sessions…
I said a “transformation.”
So the real question you have to ask yourself is…
What’s the least amount of content and coaching/consulting they need to get that transformation?
Yes, least.
Don’t think that just because your program is $5,000 that you need to put in 25 coaching/consulting sessions when 12 or even 4 will get them the transformation.
You AND your prospect don’t want to spend 25 weeks in something if they don’t have to, right?
Remember that.
So I want you to sit down and think about the big outcome you’re helping your prospect achieve in their life/business.
What’s that big outcome they’d find hugely valuable if you helped them get there… that makes $5,000 peanuts compared to its value?
With that being said…
I hope you’re now more confident going out and selling a $5,000 program (and if not, keep asking “the question” and you’ll get there fast).
Xx
Grace
If you’re feeling the value of this already blowing your business wide open, you can take it one step further and join The Doers Way Facebook Group for SO much more.
5 Responses
Hello Grace,
Your advice was a great confidence maker with regards to pricing our worth. Thank you under promised and over delivered. ? I will be using your advice and your script for my pricing.
Enjoy your day and have a blessed week.
Cheers
Lourdes Marie
Aww, thank you so much Hun! 🙂
This makes me feel better – I was right there, worrying about price (and i’m way below $5K. much easier for me to start my pricing with “preliminary” pricing and see how it goes. And yes, i will ask – what would this be worth over the next 12 months!
Grace, you read my mind. Asking for $5000, even asking for $2499 is stressing me out. I am going to ask that question. And I need to really outline the offer, the potential benefits and the results that others have seen. Thank you
You’re welcome lovely! xx