The Desert of Arizona
Hot, Hot 91 Degrees
So let’s say I go out and use my wicked smaht power of positioning to sell a client a $10,000 sales letter project. The money is in the bank and I write the letter.
The letter bombs. As it turns out, no one wanted to buy four-fingered mittens. What are the chances I get another $10,000 assignment from this client for his six-fingered fingered mitten product?
Rainmaker Letter Update
On Sunday night, I’m making a change to the Rainmaker Letter. As it stands now, it is offered with a two month trial for only $9.95. Starting Monday, subscriptions are a straightforward $39/month right out of the gate. So that means you have between now and then to grab one of the remaining two month trials of the letter before the trial disappears altogether.
At that point, the realty of the situation doesn’t really matter. That fact that no one should be selling four-fingered mittens is irrelevant.
What is relevant is that the client did not get an adequate return on his investment to warrant another investment. In that situation, I lose.
The reason client relationships can be cut short prematurely is that you have to be careful about extracting profit way too soon in a relationship.
I’ve certainly done that. I’ve gotten caught up in the “how big is your fee?” “well look at MY fee” stupid games that humans play with each other.
Just because you can charge $XX,XXX doesn’t mean it’s smart.
Fees don’t matter. Profit matters. And unless the client game defies the general laws of business (which are that repeat sales are where most of the profit is), to maximize profit over the long term, you can’t push it to its limits in the short term.
Are your services structured to make you a good deal? For how long?
Maximizing your short term fees because you can is a good way to short circuit long term client relationships and ruin your chances for real profit. I wish someone had told me way back at the beginning to be concerned with maximizing VALUE and not FEES in the very short term.