Why Your Customers Would Be Happier If You Charged More

Got it right out of college -- it was great for giving me a kick in the ass to get my finances in order. Highly recommended.

I've only just skimmed this -- won't have time to fully read & listen to it until much later today. But I wanted to bring up something that I didn't see mentioned anywhere in there.

You have to charge more. Aside from all of the arguments in terms of value and avoiding pathological customers and so on, there's one more really good reason to charge more: you need the money if you want to be awesome.

I've been running a small business for a while now that helps a lot of people that need help but can't afford it. That's all fulfilling, heart-warming work, but it's also put me into a very difficult position. Right now, I need to hire more people, but I can't afford anyone that's good. That's directly hurting my customers. Our turnaround times are really hurting as a result. I've got an opportunity to hire on a brilliant old friend of mine, but I'm not sure yet if I can swing it, because the bank account really doesn't have enough in it to afford him, and I don't know if I can work long enough hours to get that kind of money in there.

I've resisted every other justification for charging more. Vacations? I don't need more than just a few days off once in a while. Toys? Don't need those either. Avoiding pathological customers? But those people need help too, and I want to help them.

But not being able to build a strong business with lots of talent under my current model? That's pretty hard to ignore.

1) Don't use the freelancer sites. They're markets for lemons.

2) There are a variety of networking mechanisms besides networking events. Anything pitched as a "networking event", explicitly, is going to self-select for people who have nothing better to do than go to networking events. Successful businessmen largely don't go to that sort of place because they have networks. They go to places which promise value to them.

One specific example is e.g. focused presentations or conferences on a topic of immediate need to their business. For example, the Business of Software conference charges something like $2k a ticket, and is pretty much totally attended by people who own or work at software companies that can justify $2k a ticket and a half-week at a luxury hotel if it sells more software. That might be a good place to meet well-heeled software companies if you're in a mind to do that. (How to avoid paying an arm and a leg for conference tickets? One way is to get invited as a speaker. How to do that? a) Get really good at something. b) Reach out to conference organizers. c) Tell them that if you speak about your thing at their event it will receive high ratings and people will talk about it after the conference.)

Another hack: can't get invited to a party? Throw a party. Invite yourself. You must be a desirable person to meet at the party, after all, you're throwing it. Ryan Carson talks about this all the time. It takes absolutely nobody's permission and a budget in like the two to three figure range to say "October 22nd: SEO For Law Firms seminar, Community Center Conference Room A, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM with reception to follow. Register now to reserve your ticket."

3) they are probably hiding behind an army of secretaries

Is this an obstacle that the world is presenting to jiggy2011 or an obstacle that jiggy2011 is presenting to jiggy2011?

I know at least 30 people who can greenlight 5 to 6 figure engagements. 25 of them have publicly routable telephone numbers... I assume, anyhow, because calling people scares the heck out of me. Every last one reads their own email. None has a bodyguard separating them from the hoi polloi at e.g. industry events.

You don't need to get the CEO of Bank of America on the phone to charge $1X0 an hour. A company the size of a BoA bank branch can be a great, great client to have -- one or two people in the decisionmaking loop, monthly payroll of $X00,000 to $Y million so your invoices won't threaten the ability of anyone to make their mortgages.

It's also a self-serving attitude -- in a practical way, not a bad way. Part of maintaining a successful relationship with people is to understand what might piss them off, and avoid it. 99 times out of 100, being considerate is the smart choice.

Highly recommended. It's a very quick read, and gave me multiple tips that more than paid for cost + time invested reading the book.

As a Canadian, much of the investment advice was irrelevant to me. But I switched to ING direct as a result, which simplified my banking (big time saver) and eliminated a lot of fees.

He also has very good scripts for dealing with customer service reps. Various other small tips have been useful, such as better tracking of recurring expenses.

Conservatively, I've probably saved at least $1,000 since reading that book two years ago.