When marketed correctly, it’s possible to massively increase your fees and attract more clients, than you did at the lower fee.

It sounds counter intuitive. But it makes perfect sense. Allow me to explain.

I was prompted to write about this, after speaking with one of my clients. We talked about what’s happened since she tripled her fees. Yes, it took a lot of courage, however, not only is every client now massively more profitable to her, she has never been busier with new clients.

So, why did a 300% increase in her fees result in more clients, rather than fewer clients?

My client is highly experienced and provides an excellent service. However, her fees used to be around the average for her industry.

In other words, she was claiming to offer a top quality service for what sounded like a bargain basement fee. She was giving people a mixed message. Mixed messages create doubt. And doubt destroys marketing.

The kind of people who seek out excellent service and are willing to pay for it, would have ignored my clients former marketing. They would see the service being offered, compare it to her cheapo fee… and get suspicious. They’d assume she was another bargain basement provider making claims she couldn’t back up.

Of course, those looking for a cheap provider were not attracted to her either, as they shop around for the lowest fee and hers were close to average.

So, my client had previously failed to attract the best clients and the worst clients. She was left with the overcrowded middle of the market, where it’s exceptionally competitive, low profit, and very hard to stand out.

A lesson. A challenge and an opportunity

The lesson: If you genuinely provide an excellent service and want to attract lots of great clients, you need to make sure that your prices match your promises. Remember, people are told from childhood to avoid offers that sound too good to be true.

The challenge: You need to market this correctly. Simply increasing your fees is unlikely to achieve anything much. The value needs to be clear. The marketing needs to be compelling. It needs to inspire prospective clients to trust you and motivate them to hire you.

The opportunity: As my client discovered, if you get the marketing right the rewards can be huge.