How To Be Different De-Commoditize Power #2
November 8th, 2017 // 3:38 pm @ Scott Manning
Maybe the most fun part about NOT being a commodity is the ability to stretch the fee and increase the ‘price’ you can command for what you do.
There is no greater leverage in a business (where the money is mostly made by the owner), than learning to increase the amount you are paid for what you do and for how long you do it.
For the most part, in a business where you are the one earning and/or delivering in order to get paid, you are in an hours-for-dollars situation. Even the highest income earners still make money based on what they do in the time that is required to do it.
Everyone is exchanging time for money. Hopefully, in your case, it should also be about the knowledge exchanged that takes place within the time and not just minutes.
However, the real breakthrough in price comes when you are paid for value and benefits; not just time and not just doing things.
Much like we discussed last week, you want to be seen as different and ‘more than’ anything or anyone else that is doing what you do or at least giving the appearance of doing what you do.
Without mastering the De-Commoditizing Power #1, it is very hard to be able to fully maximize this 2nd Power right here. Because if you are seen as the same or similar then you will be price compared because you give them nothing else to base their decisions on.
When you are different, you break free of the possibility for the customer, client, patient to use this as a comparison – and this is your responsibility. You do not want to be presenting anything based on investment.
That means you don’t want to devalue yourself. That means you don’t want to be giving options based on cheaper or more expensive.
That means the secret to busting through the commoditization of price is to have the “selling” and the decision (what we call acceptance in dentistry) made up before you ever get to the money, price decision.
When you achieve this, your customer, client, patient has emotionally made up their mind, which helps takes their focus and reliance on price (which is what they want to base their decision because that is how people are trained).
If you want to do this right, you have to value build the exchange of everything they are getting BEFORE the price is known.
Remember, you are exchanging more than time and more than just your knowledge…
You are exchanging the benefits of everything they will receive, experience, enjoy, be, do, have – etc – from making this investment with you.
Additionally, you are exchanging the Avoidance of everything they will not have to ever do, spend, deal with, suffer from – etc – from making this investment with you.
If you stop at any of the basic levels (time, knowledge, service, product or anything else), and leave price attached to the tangible “thing” they are buying you will lose out consistently.
People will always see thing in terms of price for immediate short term gratification and validation because that is when they let go of the money.
This is the secret: move beyond the tangible, move beyond the here and now, move beyond what appears they are paying for – and get into the long term benefits gained and consequences avoided, as these have compounding value to the customer, client and patient.
If you want to break free from the price-commodity link, you must couple Powers 1 and 2 together. You will be amazed at just how high you can stretch the limits on price and if nothing else, at the very least, you won’t have to be defensive or justify or discount your way to getting people to say yes.
And hey, you’ve worked too hard, come too far to have to deal with that. Besides, no one can really pay you what you are worth – you’re priceless. No money is truly worth the exchange of everything you do and know; especially when you are providing life-changing value to people.
So go to work on this or be stuck as a price commodity whether you like it or not.
Category : Blog
