A client of mine was having some
resistance around raising her fees, so I told her the following story during our session earlier this week:
A coach friend of mine once jacked his fees up to a level far above anywhere he'd been at before (it was something like triple his usually fee).
Near the end of his first discovery call with his new/higher fee, the prospect asked him how much it would be to work with him.
This is the part of the call that gets awkward for a lot of coaches, especially immediately after bumping their rates up.
My friend said he was tempted to just say his usual fee, but he gathered his courage and spit out the new number.
Then he did something else that some might find a little strange ...
After giving that number, he put his fist in his mouth to ensure he wouldn't ramble, or oversell, to try to justify the new fee.
(This was an audio call by the way, it would have looked a little strange on video!).
He told me there was dead silence for about 10 seconds, and those were the longest 10 seconds of his life. Then the prospect said:
"You're crazy! That's too high! I hate your guts and I'd never hire you as a coach ... I'm going to ruin you and you'll be selling moldy, rotten bananas by the side of the highway by next week!"
I'm kidding ...
After the period of silence, the prospect said; "That sounds great, how do I pay?"
The moral of the story?
The hardest person to convince about your fees isn't any potential client - it's the person looking back at you in the mirror. Once you convince yourself, others are a piece of cake ...
The other moral of the story:
Wash your hands before sales calls, just in case.
A great way to build the confidence to raise your fees is to have a steady flow of warm prospects coming to you, and my Secret Coach Club hard copy newsletter is all about that.
The September issue heads to the printer soon, and you can grab it here:
Marc