"SCHOOL NA SCAM" OR YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?

 

DON’T LET GREED MAKE YOU PRICE LIKE YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND! LEARN THIS HACK, AND YOU’D NEVER BE PRICED LOW AGAIN (5 mins read).

Last year, by providence, I landed everyone’s dream client, one that would ask you to work from wherever you are, and just be you. He just wanted results, he didn’t want to interfere with my processes. And, he has deep pockets. I mean the type that could buy food, and pay the waiter times four of the price of the food just because he could. 

When I announced it to a couple of my colleagues, they said to me, “Make sure you make money o!” In Nigerian terms, it meant, “make sure you milk that large cow dry!” I chuckled, and I began to ask the question I think many creatives or freelancers or small business owners don’t ask enough: WHAT WILL I OFFER THIS CLIENT THAT WILL MAKE THEM PAY PREMIUM?

And this question, ladies and gentlemen is the reason why you are a graphic designer, but they price you like you are selling corn. Or you are a copywriter, and they price you like you are hawking a toothbrush! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE OFFERING THEM, THAT IS WORTH THEIR MONEY!  You think when you name your price the client will just sign you a check without asking questions? Many of you even get irritated that they are even asking. 

So, think with me for a moment, if you go to the market, and they told you the cloth you wanted to buy was worth $10,000, the first question that will pop into your mind will be, “What is inside this cloth now? If I wear it, will it change to the armor of God? Is this cloth made out of vibranium?” Yeah? The question that readily flows through your head are questions of value. What is this cloth offering me, that the average one on the street isn’t? Why should I pay a premium for this? For those who use premium products, like IPhones and very expensive Samsung, you understand that the price is not just because Apple wants to be greedy, you are actually paying for value. 

Value is what governs price, not greed or sapa. Let me break this down into more details. 

When I say value, what do I mean? 

How much work goes into producing this (Cost of production)? Even for freelancers, think in terms of time, and effort put into research, then other costs like data, fuel, transportation etc.

What am I offering the client? Be very clear with this. You know that my mega client i was talking about, when I sent him my price list, he asked me a simple question, he said, “Why do I need to pay this much, to get these small numbers, when I can just pay a YouTuber the same amount of money, and get something more.” His question didn’t throw me off balance, because I knew in very clear terms what I was offering him. So, i went over it again, i told him what i’d give him that the competition (In this case, the YouTuber) would not give him, and we sealed the deal. 

It is in point two above that many creatives and businesses get it wrong, they assume the client should know what they are offering them. I get this a lot with graphic designers. See, when people want to pay for something, especially businesses they are thinking in terms of investment. They want to know how this thing they are paying for will help their business, or affect their sales. This is what you should pitch. Don’t pitch, “I am a very good graphic designer, look at my designs na!” No!! Pitch something stronger. 

This is also why, many don’t get priced properly; because they are too lazy to want to do research, to want to see how much their business can offer, and how if someone should engage them, the people engaging them will see changes in their business. This is the hack, think in terms of how much value you will add to their organization, and close your deals based on that. Selling yourself sometimes can be a waste of time, don’t talk about how great you are, it can be sickening, talk about how much you’d be adding to my business, or how if i buy this product my life will change. If it is worth the value in my mind, I'd pay for it, no matter how expensive it seems. THINK IN TERMS OF VALUE, IF YOU WANT TO CHARGE PREMIUM! 

Don’t price with pride, don’t price because that’s what people are pricing, no! Price with the right metrics; what is the cost of producing this, plus, the value my product will add to the client that I am offering this to. It guides your pricing. There are other metrics like how your market influences your pricing, industry regulations etc. But with these basic tips I shared, you should be able to up your pricing game. 

I’d close with this example, so a man met a marketer and asked him how much he’d take to design an ad campaign for him, the marketer charged him $50,000 for it. The guy was shocked, and asked the marketer, “Why would I pay you $50,000? My business is not even worth $10,000 yet!” and the marketer replied,

“What if I take your product, design the ad campaign, and take 70% of the proceeds for life because I did all the work. I made the product popular, and got it to the point where it could sell itself, and that’s the hard part of everything. I’d just pay you the cost of creating the product and a little change.” 

The man refused. Then the marketer asked him why, and he said, “because you’d take all of the value.” 

The marketer said, “I know. I am adding value to you. My campaign will surely work. I have handled many products over the years and I am sure of a strategy that works. This is what my company will offer your company in terms of sales, and conversions…” and he went on and on detailing what the client will gain. 

That’s how you price, don’t appear greedy, add value. Price according to value. Did you learn something?