The Client Letter
May 27, 2013
The Northland
Cloudy 43 Degrees (Could someone cue the sun?)
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When you’re trying to attract clients, it’s easy to get caught up in the “positioning” of you and mesmerized with figuring out new and innovative ways to charge high fees, etc.
Never lose sight of this simple question though:
Are you a “good deal” for your client?
I wish someone had slapped me silly from the beginning about this. Because it really is the secret to quality clients that stick around.
You must be a good deal, or soon your client will find someone who IS a good deal.
Being a good deal doesn’t mean you’re cheap. It simply means that the value you provide is way, way, WAY more than the fees you are paid.
Figuring out what that looks like gets you thinking less about you and more about real value from the perspective of the person that is paying you.
Can you think of ways to double, triple, quadruple the value your client receives (perceived or realized) as a benefit of working with you?
What is the offer you’re making to clients? Is it a good deal?
For the longest time in my copywriting business, my offer was basically…
“Hey, you pay me a lot of money. I’ll work hard to write something that will perform somewhere in between homerun status and dud status. We won’t know which until we’re all done.”
Wow, don’t everyone jump at once… Not so compelling now is it?
Is that a GOOD DEAL? The answer is, it really depends on who you’re talking to and the value of what you’re doing for that person.
In other words, it’s messy. Full of shades of gray with very little black and white.
(I’ve gotten a lot smarter over the years. That’s why I offer things like the Rainmaker Letter for $99 for an entire YEAR. That’s a good deal even if you don’t read 90% of the issues. You still make out. That’s the type of value exchange I’m aiming for.)
It pays to keep “the question” high on your list of things to focus on.
Are you a good deal? If you are, keep it up… if not, fix it. This is one of the few things that’s totally under your control.