Archive for the ‘Getting Paid’ Category

What Folks Have to Say About My Value-Based Pricing and Packaging Training

By Danielle Keister | July 19th, 2012

Besides not charging properly, another reason people aren’t earning well in our business is that they are selling hours instead of pricing for solutions. This is called value-based pricing and it’s a methodology I introduced to our industry back in 2004 and have been teaching since then.

I recently conducted this class in June and I wanted to share with you the exciting testimonials I received from some of the attendees:

“Your classes are always fun and informative. I have been on calls before for webinars, and it seemed as if I was the only person on the call. But not with you. You give such awesome information and examples that it is hard not to get excited about how you are going to apply all that you have learned. You make it easy for everyone to ask questions and not feel as if “oh, that was a stupid question.” That is why it is hard to get off your calls. I learn a lot from the other people on the call as well as the information and templates you provide. I now have a clear picture of why I should have packages instead of charging by the hour.” —Tracy Carson, Te L – Us Business Solutions, LLC

Thank you so much, Tracy! I was especially thrilled by Tracy’s feedback because I know she is a very discerning customer and has been disappointed in the past by other teleclasses she’s attended from others, which makes her feedback even more meaningful. I’m so glad I was able to help, Tracy! There is nothing better than that!

“This program is amazing, and I am so glad I was able to participate. I dreaded spending the time for billing each week because it took up way to much time that I could be spending with my family. Since participating in the webinar and implementing the pricing plan with two new clients, it has taken all the stress out of billing. That alone has made this program worth it. I have advised all my clients that as of the new quarter (August) all billing will be switched over to this program, and even a few are excited about it. Not having to worry about weekly billing and increments of 15 min they, too, feel it will be less stressful when trying to read their invoices. I have one client who decided to not wait and we are working on his support plan to get him started right away. Thank you for sharing you knowledge and simplifying the trials and errors that you have endured to create the impossibly easy billing! I can’t wait for your next webinar because I will make sure I have signed up for it to attend.” —Teri Williams, Sidekick Assistants

Oh, what wonderful news to wake up to!! This is just so thrilling and I am ecstatic for Teri and her business! What I love even more is that she was fearless, took action right away and just DECIDED to implement things (and didn’t sit around waiting for clients’ permission).

She knew it would help her and she knew it would definitely benefit her clients and help them see that they could both be more focused on the client’s goals and dreams and achieving objectives instead of counting hours. I so LOVE THIS!

Now here’s the bad news… The class I held in June was the last live class I planned on doing on this topic. I have many more new and exciting projects I want to focus on, as well as a big adventure I’m planning to start late 2013 or early 2014.

The good news is that you, too, can get the entire training RIGHT NOW with my comprehensive Value-Based Pricing & Packaging Toolkit.

Click on the link and you will be taken to the product information that will let you know all that is included in the guide, some sample images and a video explaining why pricing by the hour and selling hours is killing your business.

I am proud as punch of this program, and as evidenced by all the testimonials of customers and attendees, it has really and truly transformed the income and businesses of those who have purchased the toolkit!

It’s Not About the Hours

By Danielle Keister | June 5th, 2012

3 Comments

Here’s a question posted on a public forum that came to my attention via Google Alerts:

“I have a client who just opened a new business. He wants to utilize our support options, but isn’t sure how many hours per month he would need us. He is asking about buying a bank of hours that could be rolled over to the next month if unused. Also, we bill in 15 minute increments and he is concerned that a lot of time would be eaten up with us replying to emails. Has anyone dealt with a situation similar to this?“

This is just one of the many issues you encounter when you price your services based on selling hours. You don’t know how long things will take going in and clients worry about their hours being frittered away and what their bill will be afterwards.

Do you see how the focus is all on the time?

Achieving results for clients should be the focus of your work, not watching the clock, having your hands tied behind your back and having to stop in the middle of things because time has run out.

Guess what? When you learn how to utilize value-based billing in your business, hours don’t matter!

No one needs to know upfront how many hours will be needed or used… because the focus is on accomplishing the work and achieving the goals and objectives it is in support of, not the hours.

With value-based pricing, it doesn’t matter how many emails are sent back and forth with clients or how much time is spent reading them… because they aren’t paying for time and you aren’t selling hours.

EVERYTHING from your conversations with clients, to your work, to your administration is soooo much simpler and more streamlined when you utilize the value-based pricing methodology.

And clients are more attracted to this way of billing and working together. When you utilize value-based pricing, it’s much easier for them to say “yes” to working with you!

This is what I’m teaching this month in my Value-Based Pricing & Packaging class on June 27 & 28: How to Price & Package Your Retained Support Based on Value and Expertise—NOT Selling Hours!

I’m going to show you with step-by-step instruction how to price and create value-based packages custom-built for each client’s unique needs that make working together a breeze (not to mention help you earn better)!

The Early Bird discount is over, but you can still get in on some savings. Register by June 9 and pay the special rate of $147 (a savings of $50).

Click here to register and get more details >>

I’d love to see you there!

Dear Danielle: How Do I Prequalify Potential Clients Financially

By Danielle Keister | May 24th, 2012

2 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I am just starting out in my own business. I have crunched the numbers and know what I need to charge. I have researched my target market and need to know where in the industry to focus my attention. In other words, who can afford to pay for my services? I’ve seen you use the example for the pre-qualifying process that clients must make a minimum of $75,000. How do you arrive at this number? Is there a formula for this; like a percentage of income for administrative services? I know what my bottom line is. How do I figure out where their bottom line is so I can sift through my research and refine my target. —KT

There’s no formula; $75,000 is just a benchmark that I chose. It’s based on nothing but my experience and the “sense” I’ve developed after being in business for 15 years now.

For example, a solopreneur making only $50,000 a year really is only surviving. While I might love to help them, I simply can’t take on any retained client where money is a problem. That is, I don’t want to work with anyone who is really only making enough to pay themselves, much less anyone else. If paying me comes at great difficulty, that inevitably leads to problems and I don’t like feeling like “the other shoe is going to drop” at a moment’s notice. Know what I mean? So, for me, $75,000 is a bare-bones minimum, a more comfortable income benchmark to be able to afford my support without much difficulty as it’s closer to the $100,000 a year level. It’s just a rough gauge.

You can choose whatever number you want, as well.

When it comes to prequalifying clients financially, there are lots of ways you can go about that. Maybe you come right out and ask them what their income level is in an online form on your website. Maybe you simply state that the clients you work with need to make a minimum of $X annually. You can choose whatever number you want, although the numbers may be relative to the market you’re focusing on. Maybe that’s $75,000. Maybe it’s $100,000. Maybe it’s $200,000. Some people prefer working strictly with 7 figure entrepreneurs.

There’s no right or wrong here. Just pick a number; you can change it later if you want or need to. The goal, obviously, is to focus on your ideal retainer clients who make enough of a comfortable income to where paying you for your administrative support and expertise poses no difficulty.

(Keep in mind, we’re always talking about retainer clients here on my blog, not project work unless specifically indicated as that’s a completely different animal.)

We cover prequalifying clients at length in my client consultation guide, Breaking the Ice: Your Complete, Step-by-Step System to Confidently Lead the Consultation Conversation and Convert All Your Prospects to Retained Clients (GDE-03). This guide will be of enormous benefit to you so I highly encourage you to check it out.

Don’t feel like you have to do everything exactly the same as me or anyone else, or that you have to do everything “perfectly” (like, what is “perfect” anyway, right?). Once you get started, you’ll start getting a feel for what works for you in your business and even that will change over time as you go along. You will have lots of adjustments and course corrections you make throughout the life of your business.

Dear Danielle: Do You Turn Away Clients and Customers Who Object to Your Policies

By Danielle Keister | May 18th, 2012

10 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I’m curious. Do you ever make exceptions regarding payment of your administrative services, your educational services or products sales, allowing for advanced payment by bank check or money order? Or do you always turn away potential customers if they do not accept your payment policies? I find it hard to believe that I’m the only one you’ve come across that will not use PayPal. I have many clients that would be leery and put off if that was all I offered them for a payment method. I must admit, though, I’m curious if you just turn people away or if you ever make exceptions to your rule? —CS

To be clear, this wasn’t an actual Dear Danielle question, but rather an email conversation I had recently with someone who didn’t want to make a purchase from me through PayPal, which is my payment processing vendor of choice and the service I use exclusively for that purpose. This person reported that she’d had a really horrific experience years ago with PayPal and she is reluctant to go through them for anything since. Perfectly understandable.

She asked if I would contact her if I ever decided to use a more “reliable” payment service and wanted to know my experience with it. While I am very much honored by and appreciative of her interest, and very sorry to hear of her terrible experience, my reply was that PayPal has been a very convenient, reliable service for me (I’ve been using it since around 2000 or so with no problems) and that I didn’t have any plans to move to or utilize any other service.

This prompted her question above and I thought it made for a very relevant business topic for you here on the blog today. As incomprehensible as it is to her that I would turn away money and clients (!), such lack or fear-based thinking is as incomprehensible to me. Because my answer is this:

Yes, I absolutely turn away clients and business that don’t fit with how I’ve set things up in my practice.

You will never have an ideal life or business if you work with unideal clients or accept situations that are less ideal than you’d prefer.

Life is simply too short. I learned that at the ripe “old” age of 30 when my late husband died and left me a widow and young single mother. That kind of experience really makes you reflect on life, what you want for yourself and your children, and how you want to live. It’s what fueled my fire to go into business for myself and have the self-determination, independence and lifestyle that self-employment brings. And it’s why I’m so passionate about sharing and helping others achieve what I have.

You’ve heard the saying, you’ve got to take care of yourself first so that you can take care of others. That is exactly the principle in play here.

One of the most basic tenets for having a successful business AND quality of life is running things in a way that suits your needs first and then working with only those who are the best fit for that.

This is how I run my business and it’s why I have a much more freedom-filled, stress-free life than most other people do in our industry. It’s nothing personal, but I’m not going to upend all my systems and processes for one person (or even a few) when the way things work in my business suits me fine.

I would expect and encourage you to do likewise in your business. When you put your focus on the ideal, you open space and invite more of the same into your life and business.

I consciously engineered my life like this long before I’d ever heard of Seth Godin, but this quote from his book Tribes sums up my life and business philosophy perfectly:

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.”

By focusing on the ideal, I don’t have to spend my time and energy dealing with the extra work, headaches and rabbit holes that making exceptions brings. And that gives me more time for life!

If you want to learn how you can engineer your business for more money, more life and less stress, I’m doing a class on a topic that directly affects your ability to do this: pricing and packaging your retained support. The methods and principles I teach in this class can be implemented immediately for a simpler, easier business to run. I’d love to have you with us!

Dear Danielle: “God’s Work” is Not Getting Me Paid

By Danielle Keister | May 14th, 2012

2 Comments

Dear Danielle,

I’ve been struggling really hard with determining what target market I would like to cater to with my administrative consulting business. I have gone back and forth about it for awhile now. It is so tempting to take work where you can get it, but I know that is not the correct way to go about building a business. My industry experience has been in working with nonprofits, but for business purposes I would like to target start-up nonprofits because I know how much it takes to get a nonprofit off the ground and I can see how I can easily be retained in this case as well. My concern is that I won’t be fairly compensated for my work. I worked with a ministry and I didn’t get paid a dime because sometimes with entities like this, you get caught up in doing “God’s work.” Can you please give me some guidance with this issue? I would really appreciate it. —JS

Thanks so much for submitting your question. I would love to help give you some guidance on this.

First, I want you to download my free guide, Get Those Clients Now! When it comes to getting clients more quickly and easily, it’s all about the target market. This guide will help you get more clarity around that.

It’s great that you have an idea of who you want to target. Now, you just want to do your homework about viability. Nonprofits can be tricky. While it sounds like you’ve got a great background perfectly suited to support them, you’d just want to make sure you are targeting a niche that actually has money. Because if they can’t afford professional fees, all your wonderfulness isn’t going to help you if they simply can’t pay. I’m not sure how financially secure and solvent start-up nonprofits will be, but that, of course, will be your homework to research and find out.

That said, if you can determine there’s a viable niche in there for you, your marketing message can make all the difference in the world. If you can help them understand how your strategic administrative support will actually help them operate more cost effectively and profitably, and how it will help them accomplish a whole heck of a lot more than they could otherwise, that’s half the battle.

So download the guide; it’ll help you go about that whole process.

Now, may I give you just a little bit of tough love? Please know it’s said with hugs and a heartfelt desire to help you turn things around.

You mention being concerned about not being fairly compensated. Maybe it was just poor phrasing on the fly, but the way it was worded made me wonder if you were maybe taking too passive a role in leading your own business.

Because, it’s not up to clients whether you are “fairly compensated.” YOU are the one who decides what you will charge, how you will be paid and when you will be paid. Your job is simply to inform clients how it all works. If they had gone through a proper consultation process and signed a contract, how did they not know they were a client and were supposed to be paying for your services?

So, if clients were manipulating you into working for free, you want to realize that they didn’t do that to you; you allowed that to happen.

To change that, what you want to do is get more intentional about your business and consultation processes as well as who you take on as clients. Be sure to clearly separate business from any volunteer work you are doing. So, for example, if you had gone through your normal consultation process with this ministry, they should have been clearly informed that you charge a fee for your work, and how and when and what you will be paid for that work. If there was any misunderstanding or ambiguity there, that’s a sign that you need to improve those processes and communications in your business. None of that happens without your passive or active consent. You see?

So if we need to tighten up and intentionalize (my made-up word, lol) your consultation process, I highly recommend you check out my client consultation process guide.

I hope that helps! Let me know in the comments if things improve for you with this advice moving forward. 🙂

Dear Danielle: Web Design Client Balking at My Contract

By Danielle Keister | April 6th, 2012

7 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I purchased the web design forms set about a year and a half ago (maybe longer). I have a potential client who read through them and called me (very defensively) and said there was nothing in the contract to protect him, that it was one-sided and there was nothing in there if I didn’t deliver on the project. I have only had one other person reluctant to sign a contract and she turned out to be a very high-maintenance client. Do you have any advice about how to deal with this sort of situation? He wanted to go through the contract and send me his suggested revisions. I am subcontracting for him. He had the client and I am the web designer. I have already spent about six hours doing comps. Can you help with some advice? Are there contracts out there that would protect the client or is the fact if I didn’t deliver, I wouldn’t get paid enough protection for him? —Pamela C.

Hi, Pamela, and thanks for the question. Let me see if I can help you think this through. 🙂

My first bit of advice would be to never begin working without a contract and being paid, at least partially, upfront. Stop with the comps and do not continue further until the contract issues are ironed out and you decide whether or not to even proceed further with this client. If you do proceed, my advice is always to get a deposit toward the full payment before any, any work begins. It’s just good business (particularly with a client who is already demonstrating certain tendencies, shall we say, lol).

It’s never in your best interest as a business owner to work without a signed contract in place. Business is business only when there is a fair and equitable exchange of benefits and interests. Essentially, the client pays for work to be conducted or executed on his or her behalf in exchange for a fee that you determine will fairly compensate you for the value of your time, skill, knowledge and expertise. If everyone were mindreaders and always remembered exactly what they promised to do, we could simply do business on a handshake and a promise and we wouldn’t need contracts.

But that’s not reality. And it can be argued that it’s you as the service provider who has the greater burden of risk and liability in this exchange. This is why we use contracts in business: to formalize in writing all the expectations and terms of the relationship so that everyone knows (and remembers) what their obligations and considerations to each other are, as well as their rights and recourse. It just helps keep everyone honest and on the same page. In case anyone’s memory fails them, a written agreement is there to remind and legally uphold those promises and understandings made to each other. In a worst case scenario, a written agreement is easier to legally enforce than an oral agreement.

The scenario you describe, however, generally boils down to one of ideal and unideal clients. There is nothing unusual or slanted any more in your favor with our contracts than any other typical contract of this nature. What is happening is that this client is expecting you to draw up a contract for him and his business and it’s simply not your job to do that.

What you have to decide is whether this is someone you want to deal with or not. Is this client one who may end up being another PIA, high-maintenance client? You both have the same legal recourses as everyone does who breaches a contract, which is the right to seek legal remedy through the courts. What more does he want? The blood of your first-born?

I’m being silly, but there are actually clients out there who are that unreasonable in their expectations. They would want you to guarantee that the sun won’t set for the next 60 days if they could get you to agree to that. And you are entitled to be paid for work you were engaged to do whether they end up liking the site or not. But that’s a whole other blog post.

So the first step is to have a conversation with the client in order to better understand the concerns and find out what he would like changed or added to the contract. It doesn’t hurt to listen and find out more. From there, you can decide whether what he is proposing is reasonable or unreasonable for you in your business.

Maybe you find that there is room for some additional considerations or compromises. Heck, just having the conversation might allay his concerns.

(A word of caution, though… since you aren’t an attorney, you might be changing things that negate a whole host of other important legal protections in your contract so never accept changes willy-nilly. Always consult with an attorney to make sure you don’t invalidate your contract in any way).

On the other hand, you might simply decide it’s not worth the angst, that the client has trust issues beyond what you can help with, and “my contract is my contract.” Obviously, you would put it more tactfully to the client, but you get my drift. You do not have to work with anyone you don’t want to, particularly if they can’t agree to your terms. YOU get to decide what is reasonable and right for your business and not accept any clients who ask for things beyond those boundaries and standards.

Now, being a subcontractor just complicates the whole mess. Back when I still had a web design division in my business, I did the same kind of thing for one of my clients. He had a web design business and I was the one designing the sites as a subcontractor. We both had to sign each other’s agreements.

It sounds as though your client hasn’t bothered to come up with his own contract. But that’s not your job to do for him. He need to consult his own attorney. But yes, it is definitely more of a problem scenario because you both need to have terms that are working seamlessly and aren’t in conflict with each other. Because, in a worst case scenario, if his client who gets the site decides to sue him, he’s the one stuck holding the bag. It’s just a whole big can of worms.

It goes without saying that the goal is to do good work and have happy clients. We all want clients to love what we’ve done for them. It’s just our natural inclination. A client has to be pretty egregiously unhappy before they go to the trouble of suing, so I’m just pointing out possibilities. It’s really not an ideal situation, but if you want to be in it, you might want to find a polite way of letting him know that the onus is on him to talk with an attorney and come up with his own contract for you to sign.

Noble Poverty

By Danielle Keister | March 20th, 2012

14 Comments

We always see little phrases here and there that clue us in to our society’s issues around money and the “noble poverty” mentality. For example, “Oh, I don’t want to get rich from this…” That type of thing.

And sometimes I will hear or pick up on things where it’s almost as if some people don’t feel they deserve to earn well. Sort of like a “This is good enough, it would be greedy to want more.”

Granted, we all have different ideas of what financial “success” is. One person might think it’s making millions; for others, it’s six figures. Heck, I think a lot of people feel if they can just keep a roof over their head, they’re doing fine, lol.

For me, I live a simple life by choice and don’t have much materialistic wants or needs. Not that I don’t have any, but I just have never been the type who yearned for the status of mansions and Bentleys and keeping up with the Joneses. Know what I mean? I value experiences more highly than things. When it comes to things, style and quality is more important to me than how much something costs or whether it has a designer label or is a status symbol.

A six figure income for me is plenty and I live a great life. I think for anyone in a service profession such as ours (where overhead and operating costs are practically nothing, relatively speaking), the $100,000 mark is an excellent initial financial goal to strive for.

Generally (and, again, I’m referring specifically to our kind of service profession), when you are able to get near that mark, you are making a healthy profit to sustain the business and most likely earning far more than you ever did as an employee.

(Side note: I’m not saying anyone should “settle” for only ever making $100,000 a year if they have higher aspirations. That’s not what I’m saying at all! In fact, those who are able to achieve that first six figure level increase their confidence and business understanding commensurately and go on to earn much more beyond that. But most people in our industry are barely earning $10,000 a year and those are the folks I’m wanting to help.)

It’s a goal that challenges you to up your game and gives you a benchmark to shoot for. It’s an entirely doable and realistic goal with the right guidance and information. And once you start earning into that realm, and not living hand to mouth, there are more ways for you to invest and leverage your money so that it grows from there.

Yet, I hear over and over again the little clues in people’s phrases that they don’t feel worthy of that kind of goal. They “put themselves on sale” as Suze Orman oftens refers to it, practically apologizing for being in business and needing to charge for their services. All the “discount this, save money that” messaging in our industry is a symptom and demonstration of that belief system.

I’m just curious about people’s thoughts on this… where do you think this societal guilt comes from when it comes to money and earning well? Why do people feel guilty charging for their services? Is it a gender thing? What do you think would help people (particularly women) increase their self-esteem and feel more deserving of earning a great living? What would need to happen or change in order for them to feel good about charging better and feel confident in asking for their fees?

Dear Danielle: How Do I Get Clients?

By Danielle Keister | March 13th, 2012

13 Comments

Dear Danielle:

Brief question–how do you get clients? I know this is on every Administrative Consultant’s mind in America whom is starting out. I know that this kind of business is referral-based, but my God! I know that you can’t just jump up and think you are going to get rich from this (not my intentions). However, it’s one person I did some donated hours for, I have tried working with another client and lowered my prices to accommodate her. Still a no-go on this one. If I would have said it was free for the service, she would have been all over it. I think if I had at least two clients, I would feel like my business is progressing forward. But not having anyone gets discouraging at times and you wonder if it’s worth it if your business is solely based off referrals, you know? –ST

(FYI: This “Ask Danielle” question was originally posted on my old blog back in March 2010.)

Well, first, I had to chuckle because there’s nothing brief about the question, “How do you get clients?” LOL. Not laughing at you, but it’s sort of like asking, “How do we achieve world peace?” It’s a BIG, complicated question with no quick, simple, pat answer. It’s difficult to start a business, as you recognize. For a large number of people, they are not going to get clients right away. While they’re waiting, there’s a lot of learning and studying they can be doing to better understand marketing and client psychology. Here are a few thoughts to help you get started in the right direction…

1. Stop donating hours. When you give away your value (the very product you are in business to earn your living from), you devalue it in the eyes of clients. Worse, all giving stuff away for free does is attract freebie-seekers. These are not your clients. They will be gone as soon as you take the free buffet away. If they can’t afford professional services, they either shouldn’t be in business, or they should at least not expect you to subsidize their business (to your own detriment) until they can. These are very selfish, self-centered thinking people. You have your own bills to pay and people to take care of. You can’t put your time and energy into those folks. You’ve got to market to people who can already afford you and who don’t expect you to be footing the bill for their business. If you keep giving it away for free, you’re just going to keep getting more of the same. “Why pay for the cow when you can get the milk for free?” applies here. If you’re dishing it out, they’re gonna take it. You are attracting what you are giving. So stop the gravy train and get serious about serious clients.

2. I’m not sure why you think this, but this is not strictly a referral-based business. A business can become mostly referral-based once they’ve established their business, had a chance to get their foot in the networking door, and have clients and others who happily recommend them. If you’re new, you don’t have that right off the bat. But there are things you can do and ways you can network that will better draw/attract prospective clients to you. What will help here is having a target market to focus your message on and give you direction on where to find those folks you wish to be talking with and expend your efforts and energy there (which are limited and need to be conserved for the highest and best possible use). Two of the most important criteria in deciding on a target market are that 1) it must be one where the people in it generally are earning enough money that they can afford professional services, and 2) there are enough of them that it’s easy enough to figure out where they are (offline and off) and then find ways to interact with them, come up in their search terms and be found by them.

3. Never, ever bargain with or negotiate your fee. All you are doing is teaching clients to devalue you and your support. You start doing that and they forever after expect freebies and discounts and that everything is up for negotiation. You don’t even have to tell me what you’re charging. I can pretty much guarantee that you are undercharging–all these issues you describe are always symptomatic of rates that are way too low. They cater to and attract the wrong crowd. On top of that, I’m willing to bet the conversation on your site is all about cost and discounts and freebies and savings and how much cheaper and more affordable than an employee you are, yada yada yada… am I right? That’s exactly the problem. I would tell you to raise your fee. You likely will be ALL kinds of uncomfortable doing that. And while you’re doing that, you also will need to learn how to market differently and change your message. But when you do those things, you will begin to attract a clientele with an entirely different mindset and more professional business sense. Those folks are looking for skill and quality and competence, not handouts. You simply can’t waste your time and energy–and money, because that’s what it boils down to–on folks who can’t afford you and would have you harm yourself financially in order to help them.

4. Adding onto the idea of changing your message, you’ve got to frame what you have to offer in respectful ways. You’ve got to hold what you do in high esteem and talk about it in respectful terms. If you use words like “generalist” and “mundane” and “affordable” and the like, you are lowering the perceived value of what you have to offer. You are teaching prospects to look down upon your work and view it as lowly, and thus, not worthy of professional fees. And the industry as a whole has GOT to get off the cost conversation and all the employee comparisons. If you have any of that stuff on your site, take it off immediately. You are creating and attracting the very mindsets you are complaining about now. If everything you put on your website is about how cheap you are, how much they can save, how much more affordable you are than employees, save this, get a discount on that, guess what you are focusing people on? MONEY. You can’t make your marketing message about that–unless you want to continue to attract nothing but people who are looking for savings and discounts and bargains and cheap and affordable. Stop talking about costs whatsoever. That’s the last thing you should be talking about. And if you don’t have anything else to talk about with regard to what you do for your clients and your value to them (the results you help them achieve), then you’ve got a lot more work to do about understanding what you are and what you do.

Marketing and attracting clients is an area of ongoing learning and study. It’s not anything that can be answered quickly or simply in a mere blogpost, but I hope this at least gets your wheels turning. The very best way I can help you is to recommend that you get my e-book, “Articulating Your Value: How to Craft Your Own Unique Marketing Message to Get More Clients, Make More Money and Stand Apart from the Crowd.” This is a self-study guide that will help you determine your target market, define an ideal client profile, differentiate yourself with your own unique marketing message and value proposition and package up that info in much more attractive, marketable ways.

Dear Danielle: How Do You Cope with Holidays?

By Danielle Keister | February 29th, 2012

6 Comments

Dear Danielle:

I have a question for you. How do you cope with holidays? I’m about to go on holidays for a month. The first year I was doing this full time, I actually worked while I was traveling. Last year I had a friend fill in with a couple of my clients doing some of the work and other parts were left until I returned (mainly database entries). However, this year, I am requiring my friend to take on a lot of my clients (about six of them). One particular client requires my friend to take over everything I do which has required me writing a very long and extensive manual and take the day to train her tomorrow (only part will be for this client). However, when I asked if the client was willing to pay for some of the cost of my time in preparing the manual and for training, they have baulked. It has taken me approximately 8 hours to write the 60 page manual plus there will be another 3 or so hours training tomorrow for just this client. Who do you think should be responsible for paying for this? —Sarah Munro, Sarah’s Office Services

Two questions for the price of one! lol

Let me preface things by saying there’s no right or wrong way when it comes to how you want to handle things in your business. So I’m just going to offer my own personal thoughts on this.

As far as the manual goes, to me, that’s just the cost of doing business. The client didn’t ask you to go on vacation and they didn’t ask you to develop a manual so you could have your support step in to do things. They just want to have the support they are paying for each month. If it were me, I wouldn’t charge the client for this as I initiated it as something to make things go smoother for me while I’m away.

And even if they had asked for the manual, I would still include it as part of our relationship retainer. Of course, you may not be pricing and packaging things the way I do, so that makes a difference as well. I charge and get paid well enough that things like that don’t even need to be a blip on the radar, so to speak.

You actually have me somewhat stumped on the month-long vacation, lol. I mean, I have never taken an entire month of vacation away from my business. But I also don’t feel deprived in any way because I’m not working like a slave the rest of the time either. I don’t ever have feelings where I need to escape, which I know a lot of people do have (not saying you do, just saying in general).

My business is part of me, part of my life, so when I go on vacation it doesn’t bother me to keep a certain amount of tab on things and keep up with the most important things and delay or reduce others to half-mast.

In fact, maybe it’s just me, but one of the things I really enjoy when traveling or going on “vacation” is (for example) sitting in front of the ocean and doing a little work or checking emails on the laptop and aircard. When I lived in Europe, one of the things I absolutely loved to do was “set up shop” at my favorite cafe and do work while savoring the sights and sounds, people watching and soaking all the atmosphere in. Cafe society in Europe is so delicious!

Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to actually deprive myself of a real vacation either. What I do is let clients know at the beginning of our relationship my policies and standards when it comes to the fact that I will be closed at times and even go on vacations. I don’t want them to be taken by surprise (which they really shouldn’t be anyway, but still it’s helpful to have those conversations upfront so they expect it and know exactly how things work).

I let them know how and what things will still be taken care of during that time (or not, as the case may be) and how/when they may need to step in and do things themselves. Yes, clients should never be dependant upon you! It’s their business and they should be able to step in when they need to.

I want clients to view our relationship as a whole, in the context of ongoing, so when they pay by monthly retainer, it’s more of an installment type of thing, in an abstract way of thinking of it. At the same time, I can’t justify for myself being paid a full month’s retainer if I plan to take an entire month off without giving them any level of support whatsoever. If I were to ever do that, and really and truly not work at all (and I’m just speculating here because I’ve never fully taken an entire month off), I would probably make sure there is some kind of support still available while still being half mast and/or maybe give them some kind of reduced retainer rate.

The whole vacation thing is one of the reasons I advocate for Administrative Consultants partnering with their own Administrative Consultant in the same kind of ongoing, monthly relationship that our clients have with us. When you do that, you have someone who gets to know you far better than someone stepping in off the cuff, who learns the ropes of your business and is a partner to you, not a subcontractor. This makes it much easier and more fluid for them to step in and take care of things when you are away.

I hope you have a blast on your vacation. And if I do ever decide to take off a whole month, I’ll be coming to you for advice!

Dear Danielle: Should I Post Pricing on My Website?

By Danielle Keister | February 27th, 2012

4 Comments

Dear Danielle:

Quick question. Is it good business practice to place your price list and hourly fees on your website? –Talanda Ferguson

It’s always the “quick” questions that are anything but, lol. Whether or not to post pricing on your professional service-based business website is a frequent topic of conversation and debate. It takes a bit more in-depth learning and education to understand why it’s not really a good idea when it comes to professional services.

I write about this topic frequently so I’m going to point you in the direction of a couple of my previous posts that will help you better understand the pros and cons and the reasons I advocate against posting rates:

Price Is NOT the Bottom-Line
Screening the Tire Kickers

Andy Beale, a well-known marketing consultant and blogger at Marketing Pilgrim, also wrote an excellent article on this topic. His article is directed toward the marketing industry, but the advice is relevant to any kind of professional service and consulting business, including Administrative Consulting:

Why Marketing Agencies Shouldn’t Publish Their Fees

I also want to mention that I’m not an advocate for hourly pricing. I didn’t invent the methodology, but I did introduce our industry to the concept of value-based pricing, and I originated the process for how to employ that methodology with ongoing support, which is what I really recommend you look into. You can visit my Value-Based Pricing Toolkit product page to view a video and learn more about why selling hours is actually killing your business.

Let me know if this helps. And do post your comments and questions so we can keep the discussion going. I’m particularly interested in hearing the reasons and concerns any of you have about why you think you need to post your fees. I may be able to shed some light and give you some info to see things from a different perspective that ultimately will help you earn better and gain better clients.