Value – A Reflection of You?
It’s been said in many ways…
…but our world is a reflection of us.
Over the years we’ve heard sage advice like “You can’t love others until you love yourself” or “You can’t take care of others if you don’t first take care of yourself.” I’m going to put a little twist on these themes. You can’t be valued by others unless you value yourself.
Buyers’ confidence in the value of what we’re offering depends heavily on our belief that what we’re offering is truly valuable – valuable enough to withhold the offering if we don’t get our price. Of course we have to be able to quantify and communicate that value. But as long as the value is there, our responsibility to our buyers and ourselves is to communicate that value by asking a fair price and holding firm on that price.
If we don’t, if we cave into the buyers’ requests for lower prices, we tell them “We were just kidding, there really isn’t as much value as we said.” At that moment we and our customers experience a sense of loss.
We lose:
- self-esteem – we feel devalued, needy, desperate
- revenues – from the lower price or from buyers walking away without buying
- confidence – we’ll find it more difficult to resist future discount requests
- enthusiasm – it’s hard to remain excited about what we do when it isn’t profitable
Buyers lose:
- a solution – often, in the face of conflicting messages, inertia sets in
- satisfaction – even if they do buy, they’re likely to question the value they received
- confidence – confidence in our integrity and/or capability
- enthusiasm – for ever doing business with us again
It’s counter-intuitive, but when you value yourself and your offerings, others, even those who don’t want what you offer, are going to perceive you and your offerings as having great value because you are willing to hold firm on your price.
Discover how easy it is to command higher prices for your products and services, call me at 314-707-3771.
Tags: counter-intuitive pricing, price management, Pricing, pricing for profit, pricing for profitability, pricing management, pricing strategies, pricing strategy
