Salutations friend! In today's topic, we will discuss services pricing and I will answer the frequent question asked by my clients which is "How to Price Your Service For Corporate Contracts?". If you are doubting yourself and can't decide whether to increase your price and compete with your peers or not and just continue to find more clients, then today's episode will help you with your decision.
Salutations, friend! Welcome back to another episode of The Profit Scale podcast. In today's discussion, we are going to touch base with pricing your services for your corporate clients. If you run a business that sells services B2B or business to business, then today’s conversation will give you a more solid strategy that will serve you and your business bank account well.
These are the topics that we are going to cover today:
1. Self-growth
2. Set up the right mindset
3. How money can work for you
Links:
Salutations friend and welcome to an episode of The Profit Scale! This is the podcast for service-based coaches, consultants, and creatives looking to stop living from paycheck to paycheck, pay themselves more and scale their business beyond the 6-figure plateau without the overwhelm of 60+ hours' workweeks.
I’m your host and Income Strategist—RJ Connell. If you are looking to collect more coins, stop dropping coins, and grow your business sustainably, then you, my friend, are in the right place! Turn up the volume and lean in because we are about to get started!
Salutations, friend! It is your favourite Income Strategist, RJ Connell. In today’s conversation, we will talk about going where the big money is—and that is corporate!
If you run a business that sells services B2B, which is shorthand for business to business, you are in an excellent position for today’s conversation; trust me, there is still a strategy here that will serve you and your business bank account well.
If you sell B2C, which is shorthand for business to customer, but you want to make the switch into selling your services B2B, this is the conversation just for you!
Without further ado, let’s dive in because we have a lot to cover today.
Before we talk about money, the first thing we have to tackle is the mindset. I can give you all the strategies in the world to help you increase your pricing to reflect the value of your service, negotiate 5-figure contracts, or consistently close your ideal clients, but if you do not get your mind right, you cannot get your money right.
In the years I have worked with clients who offer B2B services to help them set their pricing for corporate contracts, there is one obstacle I have observed consistently. It shows up before, during and once in a while, after I give them their pricing strategies.
It is the reason you may see your competitors charging double your rates, yet you still struggle to raise your prices to what you know you could be earning. It is not about a lack of experience; it is not about a lack of clients or opportunities, and it is not even because of the fear of rejection.
What is the obstacle? It is that you have not permitted yourself to prosper.Â
When you pursue corporate contracts, you step into a whole brand-new level of income opportunities. You are now dealing in the realm where one contract can immediately turn you into a 6-figure business overnight.
You are now dealing with big money—upwards of 5 figures per client. As amazing as that sounds, it can also bring to light our insecure beliefs about money. Beliefs like:
These misbeliefs are often so deep-rooted and buried that you might not even notice they are there. You might struggle at the mere thought of pitching your service for $25,000, and you can barely identify why. All you know is that the sound of asking someone to pay you $25,000 makes your heart race, palm sweat, and voice shake.
It is enough to make you want to offer them a discount immediately, and God forbid, they say it is out of their budget, then what do you do? Will you drop the prices? If so, by how much? Will that make you look bad if you initially asked for more, but now you will accept less?
Friend, I get it! I am chuckling because I literally know what that feels like. These are the conversations I have with my clients regularly. I want you to know that, if you have had this experience or are going through it right now with a potential client, you are not alone.
The more time you spend in your head, the less time you spend closing those contracts and serving your clients. We have to eliminate these destructive beliefs, limiting thought patterns and self-sabotaging behaviours.
Let’s first address the belief “If I charge thousands of dollars, they'll go with someone cheaper.” Friend, pricing your services for corporate contracts is a whole other world. Most corporations only deal with contracts that are multiple five figures and above.Â
The corporate world is not the realm of shortcuts. They invest in experts, and they are more than happy to pay for the best.Â
Now, I will say that if you do not have a pricing strategy for your business, this is not the time to be selecting arbitrary numbers for your prices. Not only are you likely to underprice yourself, but they will also see you as an amateur or underqualified if you do. We will talk about that more soon.Â
Let me use an example hopefully everyone can understand. It is pretty well known that they do not pay athletes in high school and college for their skills, although their performance can land them well-paying endorsement deals and other monetary opportunities.Â
As soon as they enter the national sports associations, whether basketball, baseball or otherwise, they enter paid contracts, many of which have over one comma in the number.
Is it wrong for those athletes to ask for payment at such a high level when they were happy to play in college for free? Are they greedy, money-hungry or undeserving of the paychecks they earn because they did not earn as much? The answer here again is no. The context matters, and you cannot ignore it. There is a difference between playing basketball in high school, college, and the NBA.Â
Each context represents a different level, with different expectations, with different benefits, results and requirements, and the paycheck reflects that. Switching to serving corporate clients is a very similar situation. B2B services are a new level with higher performance expectations, more stringent deadlines, less leniency, a higher level of professionalism, and a very results-driven market. That is why the paychecks are also much higher; they align with the context.
The overarching point that I want to make is that you cannot compare B2C sales with B2B contracts––they are two unique worlds, each with their own considerations.Â
So before we talk tips, I want to address this last misbelief, because whether you know it, it is probably holding your business back from growing.Â
Friend, I have said it before and I will say it again. You should not be charging “what you are worth,” I know that quote has become Instagram famous, but it does not apply to the world of business.Â
In the business market, especially in the world of B2B services, you charge for the value you add, and not for the value of who or what you are.Â
If you are thinking of making the jump into B2B clients, learn to separate the personal from the professional. Pricing your services has nothing to do with you.Â
The only factors that should matter when pricing your services are those affecting your business and your client’s business––that’s it.Â
It also means that if you are picking your pricing right now based on numbers that feel good to you, what you think you are worth, you saw someone else charging something similar, or you are throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks and then offering discounts when nothing does, my friend, you are not ready to make that transition.
That means that there are foundational pieces that are not being factored into your pricing, and even though you may have the skillset, the mindset aspect probably still needs work.Â
So then where do you start if you want to transition to serving corporate B2B clients, how do you position yourself to thrive in the corporate client world.
Well friend, as usual, I got you and will share with you 3 mindsets you need to help you thrive in the B2B world.
Mindset #1 - You have to give yourself permission to prosper
We spent a lot of time on this earlier, but what I want you to take away from this is that the obstacle standing between you and the revenue you want to see in your business, is in fact you.
Step out of your own way, give yourself permission to earn more, charge more, show up at a higher level, serve better, and collect coins. A practical starting point to help you move towards permission is to do your research on the corporate clients you want to attract.
Get a better idea of the results they are looking for, what the experience is like working with them, and also the involved numbers in those contracts. The better you understand the context, the better able you will be to operate within it and do so confidently.
Mindset #2 - Prepare for rejection
I know that it is difficult to hear, but you will get a lot of no’s in between your yeses, and the better prepared you are for that, the less likely you are to let it hold you back.
You have probably had experience in the corporate world already. Chances are, you have been on the side that is dishing out no’s to potential vendors. You can use that experience to your advantage to help you understand what leads to a “no” so you can better align yourself for a yes
In Episode 8, we talked about what to do when you are facing rejection, and I shared with you 3 kinds of rejection to help you better identify which one you are most prone to getting. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to go back and listen to Episode 8 after this one. The strategies pair nicely with this mindset.
Before we move unto the third and final mindset, keep in mind that rejection is not inherently a bad thing. It means that you are identifying what does not work, learning what does, and leaving space for the right clients.Â
As cliche as it might sound, you need to embrace the idea of rejection if you truly want your business to thrive.Â
Mindset #3 - Money can be your ally, not your enemy
You have already given yourself permission to prosper, so this is where you think about how your money can work for you. Your pricing and your money management strategies will not only support you in building the life you want to live, but it can also allow you to serve your clients at such a high level that they will continue to work with you.Â
An actionable way to apply this is to write out a list of ideas about how an increase in revenue and profit can serve you, your clients, and your team.
If you need some ideas to jump-start your list, head over to Episode 6 and start there. It is where we talked about how charging more will allow you to serve your clients better. It has been our most popular episode, so far.
Cultivating this mindset means that you need to have strategies around your money, and not only for your marketing. Making money in your business is one thing, but learning how to manage it, and make it work for you, is a whole other!Â
So make that shift by getting your list together.Â
Today’s conversation focuses on mindset over skillset because it is the invisible chain that is holding your business back from growing where you want it to.Â
So let’s recap today’s conversation.
First, we talked about the fact that your mindset will negatively affect your money if you do not address it. We disproved some negative misbeliefs you may hold about making money and replaced them with facts that will help you create a mindset of wealth and abundance.
Next, we covered 3 extra mindset shifts that will not only help you transition into corporate clients, but will also allow you to thrive and serve at your highest level.
Even though we have covered a lot in today’s conversation, it is still just the beginning. I want to continue supporting you as you make this shift in your business. If you have been thinking about shifting towards offering B2B services or maybe you are already providing services to corporate clients, but have never had a pricing strategy to make sure you are not leaving coins on the table, friend, I would love to chat with you to see how I can support you.
My signature program Systems That Scale is opening up this month. I am now accepting applications for qualifying consultants to help you price, pitch and close corporate contracts for your business. This is a game-changing program that has helped me earn over $100,000 in additional revenue for my clients, and I want to provide that opportunity for you.Â
Head over to rjconnell.ca/call to schedule a no-pressure coin clarity call. The purpose of this call is for me to understand your business and see how I can help.
There is no need to struggle alone or to continue dropping coins in your business if you do not need to. If I feel that I cannot support you towards achieving your goals, then I will make a recommendation for a resource that can.
Friend, I am excited to connect with you. I look forward to supporting you to level your coins, contracts and corporate services! Click the link in the show notes, or head over to rjconnell.ca/call to schedule a call.
As always, it has been my pleasure to spend this time here with you, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on today’s episode! Join the conversation on our Instagram page @rjconnellconsulting.