I’ve recently had several successful business owners ask for my advice in negotiating higher fees for their services when in discussions with potential clients.
As I would genuinely like to see you do well in business, the goal with this post is to share with you some practical insights into how you can charge higher fees for your products and services.
This is NOT about tricking others, manipulating others, and/or taking advantage of others. This is about getting paid what you’re worth so you can simultaneously make an impact and an income.
One of the keys to life is to ask for what you want. Ask courteously and ask respectfully, but never be afraid to ask. This blog is about leadership – specifically, authentic leadership – and this post is about showing you how to confidently and intelligently ask for the best deal in a way that serves both you and your clients.
Focus on Your Value to the Client
Right off the bat, there’s something very important to emphasize: when talking with potential clients, focus on your value and the benefits someone gets from working with you. This is crucial.
You can talk about the specific features of your product or service after you’ve clearly communicated your value. When you talk about features before talking about your value, you will bore the client. The features may be fancy and incredible, but they will mean nothing to your potential client if you haven’t first laid the foundation of your value in their mind.
When I say to focus on your value, I mean this in a very real way. Know your value upfront and think of how much the client will gain from what you have to offer. When you are clear on how many benefits they will get, it will naturally shine through in your conversation. When you do this enough, people will start to gravitate to you and understand your value even before you’ve explained it to them.
Never Be the First One to Mention the Potential Salary/Figure/Amount
When and where possible, never be the first one to mention the potential salary/figure/amount for your product or service. When they ask for an amount, you can say something along the lines of, “I’m negotiable on this. Do you have a budget or range in mind?”
Most of the time, when you put the ball back in their court, they will answer you.
It’s good to do this because their budget/range may be (and often is) much different from what you had in mind. If you say a figure that’s too low, you may miss out on potential earnings. If you say a figure that’s too high, it may disqualify you because they can’t afford you. When you get them to say a potential amount first, you have the most opportunity to get the best deal possible in the negotiation.
It’s up to you what amount you are willing and not willing to accept. The goal here is to set you up to get paid your true value.
If Need Be…
There are some situations where you may need to be the first one to mention the potential salary/figure/amount. To give you a real world example:
In the past, I was negotiating a salary with the CEO of a company. He was bringing me in to fill a leadership role. I put the ball back in his court three or four times, but he kept insisting for me to say a salary range. It was clear that he wanted me to say something first.
I gave him a range. What I did is I put my “reach” high target salary goal at the bottom end of the proposed range. So, let’s call figure X the high end of my range. I then gave him a range where figure X was at the low end of my proposed salary. I then added twenty thousand bucks on top of the high end, and gave him an adjusted range of X to Y.
I was offered a salary at exactly figure X. I put my “reach” dream salary at the low end of the range. He thought he was getting me at the low end of my desired range, but in fact he was offering me the high salary I desired.
If I put my “reach” dream salary at the high end of my proposed range to the CEO, I would have ended up working for a salary twenty thousand bucks per year less than the one I negotiated.
The Sky is the Limit With Your Value
It’s your job to get the highest fee/salary/amount you can possibly get, within reason. And it’s the job of the person you’re negotiating with to get you at the lowest amount they can get, within reason. When you put the above strategies into place, it will help you get more money for your products and services.
Ultimately, the sky is the limit with what you can charge. If your product or service helps others in some way, there’s no cap on what you can end up charging. That’s because the value of an individual human life is infinite, so you helping someone with what you offer is worth a lot of money. Your value is infinite. Over time, the fees and rates you will charge can continue to increase. Think and act big. You deserve business profit.
The ideas in this post are the tip of the iceberg. I hope this will get you started with owning your value and getting the best deal possible. When you get paid what you’re worth, you can simultaneously make an impact and an income that allows you to thrive. Consistently negotiating well on your own behalf will cause you to have 20% more money when you enter into retirement.
I’d love to have you consider this blog as your trusted resource for all things business, leadership, and success. Stay tuned for more.
What are your best strategies for negotiating the best possible business deal? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section below, as I learn as much from you as you learn from me.
Jeff Davis is an award-winning author, most recently publishing The Power of Authentic Leadership: Activating the 13 Keys to Achieving Prosperity Through Authenticity. Connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter. For three free books (The Power of Authentic Leadership, Reach Your Mountaintop, and Traveling Triumphs) in exchange for being added to his email list, email his Executive Assistant at meg@jeffdspeaks.com. Learn more about his story on his About page and feel free to check out his author page on Amazon. Also feel free to contact Jeff directly via jeff@jeffdspeaks.com. What Jeff does best is sharing his life experiences in a way that adds real value to others. Consider bringing him to speak as a mental health, authentic leadership, and/or resiliency expert at your next event. He’s also available as a business negotiation expert to coach you.
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