Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:03 Welcome to the web dev success podcast. I'm Emily journey. And this podcast is where I take a hard look at the challenges facing the website development industry, learn how to attract loyal customers, how to raise your prices with confidence and take steps to craft the work-life. You've always wanted listen in with me Emily journey and develop brilliantly.
Speaker 1 00:00:49 I want to talk to you about pricing. Uh, and, uh, before I do that, I want you to know that I've, um, I've been in business going on 10, just about 10 years. I'm coming up on 10 years and have been running my, I started as a freelancer, just me and I've built my company into an agency. I have, I think, six employees and, um, I'm at multi-six figures and have been for several years. Uh, and I was having a conversation, um, with, uh, chief executive auntie I'm gonna put her, uh, her Insta, Instagram, sorry, I'm not a pro at this. I don't know all the lingo. So at least I'm not a pro at Instagram yet I'm working on it. Um, so I'm gonna put her Instagram handle in the comments. And, um, anyway, we were talking about how, uh, this there's, this mythology around the multi-six figure business, and it's kind of a mystery.
Speaker 1 00:01:56 If you're not there, it's a mystery. How'd you get there? What does it take? What does it look like? Um, does it mean you're rich and, um, so I'm gonna do a series of videos on that and just open up my books and share with you my process to, uh, when it comes down, you know, right down to it. What does it look like for me to have a multi six-figure agency? Um, and we do at my agency, we do web consulting and training and, uh, website management, SEO training. Uh, so first thing, so the thing I want to talk to you about today is, you know, with that intro is, uh, one of the things that you have to do in order to grow your business to multi-six figures is get comfortable with raising your prices, if you, and that's a mindset thing. So if you are asking yourself, am I charging enough for my services? Uh, or should I raise my prices then you're, then I can just tell you right now, the answer is you need to raise your prices. So that shouldn't be a question. So if it is a question and you're wondering, then that's all you need to know. Um, uh, you know, in my experience. So I, uh, and so one of the concerns when people think about raising their prices and I had this same concern is, oh my, but my customers won't be able to afford me if I raise my prices.
Speaker 1 00:03:39 And, and that's true. So here's what I mean by that your customers that you serve now. Um, so the, the many of them, I don't know how many, but maybe not many, but some of depends on like how dramatic the changes, I guess, but many of them won't be able to afford your new pricing and your services at your new pricing. Um, and, and that's okay. So what happens is you get a different set of customers, customers, clients, who, who can afford your pricing, you may get fewer clients, um, depending on how, how much you raise your prices. And so one of the things that is required, I think in order to, um, not, I think I know in order to grow into a multi-six figure business, at least like, that's just kind of where I feel like that's like a starting point now at this point, um, is to get comfortable with hearing no, or I can't afford you, uh, a lot of people that call my office and ask to work with us, can't afford us.
Speaker 1 00:04:59 And, and so, and so we always think of that as not right now, instead of never. Um, and, and as a result we work with, with clients who can't afford us, um, and it's, uh, for us, it's become, uh, that client who can't afford us also is a different type of person to work with. They're often kind of used to paying a premium price for services. And I'd say, um, when thinking about pricing, kind of really go to the extreme and think about becoming the most expensive option in your industry. So that's my goal is I want to be the most expensive option. You might think that's crazy that people, if you're the most expensive that people won't, people won't show up to pay for your services. Um, so, so my, so the fact is not, you know, it's, it's a matter of just kind of managing who it is that that I work with.
Speaker 1 00:06:05 And so when I started out, when I was, uh, I, we do a lot of training at my agency. And so when I, when I started out offering training services, um, I, I, uh, I did them a little bit. Like I ex I did them over a period of five weeks and, um, met in person with a group of, of people. And I said, Hey, and I did it through a meetup. And I said, Hey, come to this WordPress training, it's going to be $20. A class 18 people showed up, um, for the first, first session, which was free. So they could kind of understand what it was about, told them, you know, it's going to be five classes, that's $20, and it's comprehensive. We're going to learn all about how to build your own website. And, uh, and then that, and then the nut and the 26, $20 a session, that's a hundred bucks for, for learning WordPress.
Speaker 1 00:07:02 Right. Um, and building your own business website. Uh, so about 18 people showed up for that first session, um, about nine people showed up for the first class. And then there was only about six people that solidly kind of showed up consistently for the rest of it. So a bunch of people said, no, I don't know if they didn't want to pay the, the $20 or the a hundred bucks or, um, some of those people I'm sure, just didn't want to, they didn't see the value, right. Uh, for whatever reason, or they didn't, you know, there could be other reasons like they didn't have time. Um, but then I, I started offering something very similar, the training, I just kind of, based upon that experience, I made changes. I kind of tweaked my service offering and I, uh, I started charging 4 50, 400 $50 for a comprehensive training.
Speaker 1 00:08:04 That was eight hours was lasted over two days. And at that price, uh, I did, you know, almost everyone that, you know, really was wanting what I had to offer. Almost every everyone said, said yes to that, but there were people who said no, um, but almost, and everyone said, yes. So, um, and I would talk about my service in terms of how many hours it was. So I would say that it was eight hours of training for $450. Um, and so I made more money. I was, uh, I was happy about that. Um, then I actually increase, and then I got, I started thinking about, I hired an employee, so I had someone else I was working with and else that could also do training. And I decided to raise my price to over over a thousand dollars. Like, I think it was 1197, right.
Speaker 1 00:09:07 That was the scare. I had to think about it a lot. It was scary. I was like, oh, people, you know, people might just completely dry up and leave, you know, leads might dry up. Might not get anyone say yes to that. Um, actually, so we actually had more people sign up for training. So didn't see any decrease at all four and I'm more than doubled my price. Uh, so that was interesting. So to see basically the, uh, so I was like, well, why haven't I been charging this price all along? So, um, and then, you know, did that for probably less than a year before I decided, okay, we are actually booked out pretty far out. I need to raise my prices again. And I, I, and I decided to raise them to $1,500 when I raised them to 1197. I, um, I also made another change and this is important.
Speaker 1 00:10:18 I still talking about my service in terms of hours. Um, and instead I started talking about my service in terms of a package of, you know, a service package, uh, because people get, when they work with us a lot more than eight hours, right. They get, you know, a recording of their training. They get 90 days of followup support. So I started to talk, you know, they, if they want, they can have a certificate of completion with my signature on it. Um, and, uh, and so that's so just talking about it differently matters. Um, and so when I raised my prices to 1497 for eight hours of training, and, you know, 90 days of follow-up support or recording of the training all come to train in person, and this is just for one person. So 1497, that's for one person, if you have two people or three, it's actually more, there's a per person charge. It's slightly discounted, but not very much. So, um, so I'll, I'll, I'll try and groups with people and it'll be, you know, over $5,000 to do a training with, with a small group of people. I limit the size of the groups. I, I don't train more than,
Speaker 2 00:11:41 Sorry. My phone is kind of twisting
Speaker 1 00:11:44 Around here, so I don't train more than I normally don't train more than six people at a time, 90% of our training. One-on-one. Um, okay. So back to this, this pricing idea. So I had to change the way I talk about it. So what happened when I raised my prices up to $1,500? So, uh, more, a lot more people started saying no, so, and I actually figured that might be the case and I'm okay with it. Um, so because now it's, you know, so when, when we're training, it's, you know, we know we're getting paid really well for it. And I, and, and, and, you know, the service that we provide is worth that much and, um, and not everyone can afford it. And yes, the client that I serve today is, is different than the client that I did. I served when I was charging four 50, uh, for eight hours of training.
Speaker 1 00:12:49 Right. So, um, so hopefully that my, so, so, so that is kind of my journey from going from charging a hundred bucks for, for comprehensive WordPress training, over a period of five weeks to making it more, a training process that actually is actually a little more manageable for me and my client. So two days for four hours each day and charging $1,500 instead of a hundred, a hundred dollars. Right. And, um, yeah, so I, so I just want to encourage you to go through that process. It does feel scary. It can feel like a risk. Um, and I, but in my 10, 10 years, I have not regretted ever raising my prices. Um, and if you are, if everyone is saying yes to what you have to offer, if people don't think twice, um, or even if most people are saying yes to what you have to offer, then you, then you can probably raise your prices. You're going to hear no more often is likely maybe not, but because I do have that experience as well, but, um, that's okay. It's okay to hear. No, I can't afford your service and that doesn't, that's not the signal for you to create a discount or a coupon or, or decrease your prices or make an exception. All right. I'll I have more to share. We're just getting started.
Speaker 0 00:14:32 Thank you for listening to the web dev success podcast. I'm Emily journey. And if you enjoyed today's episode, take a minute to leave a review on iTunes until then develop brilliantly.
