After years of experience working with clients all over the world, it was when I met a billionaire friend that made me realise something most people miss…
A billionaire friend told me not to charge by the hour or the month.
Yes, I know this is weird because it’s what most do.
But the truth is if you want to stand out as an agency or consultant, measure and charge by business results.
The business results will be a reward in its own right growing your authority, but this shift can be the difference between succeeding and not.
The level of incompetence among marketing agencies is astronomical.
So many marketing agencies overpromise and underdeliver. There is a big difference between saying you can do something and actually doing what you say.
So to talk about business results, whether or not you can deliver, is what drives sales. The only way to drive sales is to drive leads.
Demonstrate you have a detailed process you follow and emphatically state you don’t do what’s not in a process.
Don’t say you do everything and serve everyone, big or small.
Don’t say you’re affordable and serve small businesses.
Even if you’re desperate for business, if you get cheap and cut corners, you’ll shoot yourself in the foot by attracting nightmare clients that even pros wouldn’t be able to make happy.
Nightmare clients are exactly that, a nightmare.
The more you say what you don’t do, the more confidence your clients have in what you say you do well.
Relationships with clients when you first start out are fragile things, but when you have the self-respect to admit things you can not do it displays your dignity towards your client. It’s crucial that you and your business/agency don’t seem too good to be true.
When you start with their financial goals and tie your effort to them, you shift from an expense to a profit center.
Then it doesn’t matter what your fees are.
Your goal is not to reduce your fees, but to increase their profit— probably from your efforts.
