You don’t need to sell your services or products based on price. You don’t need to waste your time on fee-sensitive clients, either.
In today’s post, I explain why. I’ll also provide you with examples you can learn from, so you too no longer need to sell based on price.
Sort by price
One of the most common features on shopping sites, is the “sort by price” filter. It lets us see products in the category we’ve searched for, listed in price order.
The reason sort by price exists, is that the marketplace demands it. When presented with 5 or 50 options for a commodity product, the lowest price wins. It makes no sense to pay more for it than you need to.
Right?
Wrong!
Here’s an example that explains how you can charge significantly more for a commodity product.
Bob is passionate about helping people worldwide have access to clean drinking water. He then finds a water brand, which donates money from every bottle sold, to build wells in areas where there’s no clean water.
So, Bob is very happy to pay more for his bottled water from this well-building brand. Plus, because people like Bob know lots of other people like Bob, he tells his friends. They do the same.
Water gets sold.
Wells get built.
And people get to make a meaningful difference to the lives of those who need it.
What’s the lesson for your business?
Give them something else to care about
If you want potential clients or customers to stop caring about your prices or fees, give them something more important to care about.
The fastest, easiest way to achieve this is to do what that bottled water company does, and differentiate your story.
Here’s another example.
This time it’s based on a service rather than a product. It’s from the accountancy profession. Instead of competing against their equally qualified competitors for the same prospects, some accountants differentiate.
How?
They choose a sector they enjoy working in, such as design, and focus exclusively on working with design businesses. In doing so, they cease being seen as a commodity provider. The accountant becomes known as a specialist. Their marketing speaks directly to designers and the designers immediately take notice. ‘At last, an accountant who understands us’. Set apart from the pack, the accountant has the freedom to charge based on their uniqueness and the value their uniqueness brings to design businesses.
The good news?
If you’re thinking this approach couldn’t work for you or your industry, remind yourself that it works for a commodity as common and indistinguishable as water. Therefore, whatever type of business you are in, it absolutely can work for you.