Sell High Priced Programs blog

In speaking with one of my executive mentoring clients the other day, we got into an interesting discussion on pricing and sales. My client had been asked to discount her highest program and brought this request to the call, wanting to get some coaching around this issue. What followed was a powerful discussion of pricing and positioning. I wanted to share some of these thoughts with you.

From my perspective, if you are competing on pricing, you’re basically an order taker- not a sales person. True selling is the art of demonstrating value, and selling that value. It is not about offering 50% discounts to get people to purchase. This, especially, doesn’t work when you are asking people to invest in personal development or business growth services. If you discount your services, you are sending a message that your services aren’t that valuable.

In order to sell high priced programs and services, you must be seen as the authority in your niche. One way to accomplish this is to use strong, authoritative language when defining the results and outcomes you create. “Copy” refers to any communication you make about your product, service, or business. Strong copy can move people to take action, and learning how to create effective copy is one of the most important business skills you can develop.

There are two main types of value in your business, commodity value and dividend value. Commodity value rests on availability and convenience- you can go into any Walmart store and buy batteries, milk, or bread. These are the same batteries, milk, and bread that you could buy from Kmart, Target, or any of the big box stores. Commodities are valuable because they are necessary and convenient. They are not unique, which means that commodities are always extremely price sensitive. If you can buy the exact same product for less, with about the same amount of effort, most people will always go with the lower price.

As an expert in your industry, you want to avoid being seen as a commodity, in that your services or products are interchangeable with everyone else’s. Being viewed as a commodity is the death knell for being able to sell high priced programs.