TOP TEN BUSINESS LIST

The Top 10 Ways To Get Paid What You're Worth Copyright 1997 by Top Ten Lists, Inc. All rights reserved.


How do you know what your professional services are worth? Does the market
decide? Do you decide? Are the fees you are charging consistent with
growing your business the way you want it to grow?


1. Know the Universal Rule of Value.
Your customer will always pay your price as long as (s)he is convinced it
will provide more value than it costs.

2. Know your Unique Selling Proposition.
This is what differentiates you from the competition, the essence of your
business. It's your unique value that has the customer willing to pay your fee.

3. Develop your comparables.
Know what others doing similar work are charging and why.

4. Manage your customers.
Take them "behind the scenes" and educate them about the efforts you make
via investment of time, money and people to offer them the best product or
service available.

5. Get clients to focus on results, not dollars.
When potential clients ask about your rates, tell them "My fees are based
on the outcome I am going to produce. I need to know more about your needs
before I can give you a price, but I can tell you that my fees are a real
value based on the results you will get."

6. Give away a little to get a lot.
Offer a free introductory consultation, free sample of product, free
advice on how to hire the best person, whether or not it is you.

7. Pay attention to the price/volume tradeoff.
If you are working very hard and not making lots of money, you may be
charging too little. Raise your prices and let it be OK to lose some customers.

8. Know when to cut your losses.
Fire the clients who consume too much of your time, energy or resources.

9. Experiment with variable pricing.
You expect to pay more to see a movie on Saturday night than you do on
Wednesday afternoon. What are the variables in your business for which some
people will pay more? Differential pricing will allow you to add customers
and spread your work load more evenly over the day/week/year.

10. To be paid top rates, be top rate.
Continually invest in yourself, the most important asset in your business.
Decide right now what you will do to enhance your professional development
this year; what books to read, what seminars to attend, which coaches to hire. WHAT MORE CLIENTS AND MORE ASSIGNMENTS? THEN CLICK HERE!

This Top 10 List was originally submitted by Susan Wallace, Coach, who can
be reached at Starcoach@aol.com. The source of this Top 10 List: Susan
Wallace, with inspiration from Tom Jackson, Shale Paul, Hilton Johnson,
Sandy Vilas and Jeff Wallace.. Susan Wallace wants you to know: "I am a
coach who works with entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals to
design and deliver the life, business and future the client wants.
Together, my clients and I strengthen the areas where they are naturally
strong and provide the support they need to ensure a balanced life. I help
entrepreneurs and business owners shorten their learning curve and avoid
costly mistakes."

List Number AF30, category: Sales, Marketing, PR, Sales Management.



Copyright 1996 by Thomas J. Leonard/Coach University: info@coachu.com. All rights reserved, but you MAY retransmit, print or distribute this piece to
anyone anywhere as long as these notices (copyright, info@coachu.com and
subscription instructions) are included.

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