Author Archives: Jodi Kaplan

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How to Charge a Premium and Get More Clients

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Can you really charge a premium and get more customers?  It seems counter-intuitive, doesn’t it.  Surely, charging more must mean less business not more. Right?

Not necessarily.

Backup company BUMI was losing customers. They did some analysis and realized that their problem was their pricing. They were charging $50 a month and their clients were leaving because it cost too much. They also realized that it was costing them nearly $50 a month to support those customers.

The usual response might be to start a price war, or lower prices and try to “make it up on volume.” But, that’s not what BUMI decided to do.

Rather than lower their prices, they tripled them.

Charge a premium and get more clients

Instead of trying to compete on price, or compete against hundreds of other moderately priced backup companies, they repositioned themselves as a top of the line backup solution with a special focus on financial services and other firms with special security needs.

BUMI now had a premium service, and could charge more for it because they were offering added value and services to a specialized audience.

Their new customers were more IT savvy too, needed less basic help and instruction, and were willing to pay for peace of mind and security.

Yes, they did lose more customers initially, but their revenue and profits rose! In fact, they did so well, the CEO took the entire company to Disneyworld.

Ignore the cheap competition

Rather than trying to compete against hundreds or thousands of low-cost “providers,” position yourself as the top of the line instead. Turn away the low-cost jobs and refer them to other people.

As a friend said recently, “I found that it was easier to get businesses to pay me $1,000 a month than it was to get them to pay $400.”  The higher price equals a higher perceived value. You’ll attract better clients, who understand that what your higher prices will pay off for them in improved revenue, better appeal to their clients, and even save them money and headaches on solutions that don’t really fit their needs.

Do something that makes you stand out in their minds because you offer a better service and more remarkable experience that’s worth paying extra.

This is the third in a series of posts about competing against outsourcing.  The remaining posts are:

 

Tuesday Travels: Cool Tools for Freelancers

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English: Shipbuilding tools

shipbuilding tools from Wikipedia

Docracy – A repository of legal documents (consulting agreements, incorporation documents) uploaded by users; they’re free to use or adapt.  You can also use docracy to sign documents remotely.

Business Model Generation – Starting a new business or expanding? This is, essentially, a business plan mind-mapping tool

Mavenlink – Online collaboration and project management tool (and I love the name too).

Scroogle alternatives – Google’s personalized search can be great when you want to find a local plumber or get directions. It’s not so great when you want to do keyword research or see how well your site is doing in search results by other people. Scroogle (which did that), is gone, but here’s a list of alternatives from Search Engine Land.

Simple Ways to Keep Your Clients and Get New Ones

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Bagel Day!

Bagel Day! (Photo credit: Joey DeVilla)

Trying to compete against overseas designers and developers?  Overseas designers and writers are churning out work as fast as they can (to make money as quickly as possible). Luckily, there are simple ways to beat outsourcing, keep your clients, and get new ones.

Back to those outsourcers for a minute.  The trouble they have is that they’re many time zones away.  They don’t have time for personal attention.  And, they can’t meet or talk to their clients face to face. But you can.

Send something personal

Instead of thinking like a 21st century person, try thinking like a Victorian instead. Create a calendar with your company name, photos, and appropriate reminders (if you’re in the gardening business, this could be planting and fertilizing timing).  A graphic designer might display beautiful typefaces (or even art made with type). Or just include a bunch of completely silly holidays (like International Bacon Day).  You can even make them up.

Bagel Day!

 Bob Poole suggests Bagel Day! Who doesn’t love bagels?  Call your favorite client and ask if you can drop by the next day.  Why?  Because you’ve just declared tomorrow to be Bagel Day.  Deliver the bagels, and thank them for being a client.

Presents

If personally delivering bagels is impractical, send something else (tickets to their favorite sports team, a bottle of wine, or even better, gifts for their kids or grandkids.  My dad owns several buildings in CT. His real estate broker regularly sends gifts for my nephew.  Has she endeared herself in a way that no other broker ever did?  Sure she has!

Video calls

Email and telephone conversations are great, but sometimes quite a bit can get lost in translation.  With written words, verbal cues, tone of voice, and temper are missed.  Telephones are better, but you can’t see face-to-face.

Try scheduling regular video conferences with your clients.  It can be for updates, conference calls, or even part of the work process (don’t just suggest a typeface, show them in real time and get real time feedback).  Or go through comps.  This used to be expensive, but with Skype and Google Hangouts it’s free.

Face to face

When you’re  a freelancer, it’s easy to get stuck in your own “cave.”  I’m creating! Don’t bother me.

But, sometimes, you need to get out (you’ll feel better, get new ideas, and meet new people). Go to a networking meeting.  Have coffee with a client, or reconnect with people you haven’t seen in a while.  Look for complementary creatives (graphics and web development, for instance). People do business with people they know and like.  If you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind too.

What other ways can you reach out?

This post is the second in a series about competing against outsourcing.
The remaining posts are:

Tuesday Travels: Just for Bloggers

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Image via Wikipedia

WordPress plugins are a great way to spruce up your blog, get more contacts, and encourage sharing. Slogging through the directory can be a bit of a drag though (why, oh why is there no listing by category or function).

With a bit of searching, and some help from my friends, I’ve put together a short list of resources and plugins just for bloggers.

WordPress Beginner page on Google Plus– Circle this page for helpful tips on getting started using WordPress

Widgets on Pages – Turns any part of your site into a widget (not just the side columns). It generates a short piece of code (cleverly called a shortcode), which you can drop in to your site for ads, sharing buttons, contact forms,etc. (thanks to Lynda Royal of Clarity Themes for pointing this out.

Image Slider– A slide gallery plugin that lets you add captions, links, and thumbnail images (of upcoming slides). This would be great for photographers, artists, web designers, or graphic designers to help show off your portfolio, and add links to hire you or buy prints.

Show Recent Posts – Shows your recent posts – with titles, thumbnails, and a short description. Making your older posts more visible, and appealing, should encourage visitors to spend more time on your site.

Digg Digg – This plugin adds a floating social sharing button bar to the side of your blog. It also displays the number of times your post has been shared on each network.