Being there is important. This is especially the case:

• When people are expecting you.
• When people need you.
• When it’s easier for you not to be there.
• And when you’re willing to help out.

Talk is cheap. It’s what we do that matters. And by being there for another person, we demonstrate what they can expect from us in the future. That’s a powerful way to build great relationships, both personal and professional.

The good news: You’ve been delighting your customers or clients for years. You have built an excellent reputation. It’s only a matter of time before you’re presented with a spectacular opportunity. Maybe something life-changing.

The important news: It’s essential you get prepared for your big opportunity, in advance. Now is the time to get that preparation in place.

With all that in mind, here are some things I strongly recommend you get to work on. They’re in no particular order.

• Talk with your suppliers. Find out how quickly they can scale up if you have a sudden, vastly higher demand than usual for certain products.
• Be on the look out for people who you can put in place, in case you need additional team members at short notice.
• Make sure your company’s financial information is clear and detailed, should a serious party ask about acquiring your business. This will help you get the best possible price and show them you’re a professional. It also speeds the process up.
• Talk with your bank manager in anticipation of a future, major project. Make sure you have access to the cash flow required, for what can be a sudden, huge spike in your outgoings. It’s also a good idea in general to get to know your business banking manager, before you need anything from them.
• Get some media training. Learn how to speak on camera, how to talk with clarity and how to overcome any fears about there being a huge audience.
• And if you’re hoping to go ‘viral’ in a way that would put your website under extreme pressure, contact your web host. Ask about their ability to quickly scale your server up, to handle huge volumes of traffic. I’ve seen what happens when a server can’t cope, and masses of valuable sales and enquiries are lost.

Give yourself the gift of preparedness and be ready when your big opportunity comes along.

After all, you’ve literally earned it.

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.

The longest path in the world is the path of least resistance.

Anyone can join it.

There’s literally no barrier to entry.

However, there’s no winning line, either.

A former client of mine has just sold a business for over $5 million. When she purchased it in 2020, it was valued at $250k. Her short story contains an extremely valuable business lesson.

To start, I’d like you to ask yourself the following question. If I work hard and smart for the next 4 years, what’s the maximum I could sell my business for?

Here’s why that question is so valuable

My former client, Jill, called me on Monday. She had some good news. The sale of her business went through. She bought it for $250k in January 2020. And sold it for $5.8 million.

I was working with Jill when she bought the business. It was already in pretty good shape. It didn’t need any meaningful capital investment. What it needed was an owner who could see the financial potential of the business. As she told me at the time; ‘He just can’t see the money.’

• The previous owner saw the potential value of his business as $250k.
• Jill saw the potential value as $5 million.
• Interestingly, they were both proven to be right.

What happened over those 4 years to make all that money? The core difference was that the previous owner made decisions based on a $250k payday. Jill made decisions based on a $5 million payday.

Our beliefs

When we believe that our business has the potential to sell for a certain amount, we act accordingly. It looks like this.

• Jill believed that the business she bought was potentially worth $5 million, so she bought it.
• As owner, she made $5 million decisions… decisions consistent with her valuation.
• Her decisions led to $5 million actions, actions consistent with her decisions.
• And her actions saw her make $5 million.

The key here is that we need to be able to see the money. That’s the spark. We need to genuinely believe in the potential value of our business. Only then will our decisions and the actions we take, be consistent with achieving the potential.

How do we find out if we’re underestimating the value of our business?

A good place to start is to ask a trusted adviser. Someone you know, if at all possible. This could be your accountant or maybe your business banking manager. If they can’t help you directly, ask if they know someone they can recommend.

This is a situation where trust is essential. Without trust we struggle to believe. And belief is what opens our eyes.

Here’s a very common marketing problem, along with a free marketing resource to help you overcome it.

Let’s go.

Here’s what we know. There are prospective clients or customers out there who truly need what your business provides. And there are lots of them, too.

So far so good.

The challenge comes with the next step. Your prospective client absolutely needs a new service provider… but unless they want to buy from you, someone else will get their money.

Fortunately, if you’re not attracting enough new clients there’s a proven answer. You need to look at how big a want your marketing is creating, when measured against your competitors want.

• How convincing is your value proposition, compared to theirs?
• How engaging are your various service levels or product bundles, compared to theirs?
• How compelling is your messaging, compared to theirs?
• How attractive are your payment terms, compared to theirs?

Next, you need to avoid making what I call ‘the excellent mistake’.

The excellent mistake

Never assume that just because your service is excellent, you must be getting your fair share of the market. That’s not how it works.

An average provider with excellent marketing, will almost always beat an excellent provider with average marketing.

So, motivate your prospects to contact you. Inspire them to become clients. If you think your marketing is already doing this, yet your results are telling you something different, take heed. Follow the numbers. The numbers will lead you in the right direction. Every single time.

Here’s that free help I promised.

I’ve put a marketing guide together, which helps countless business owners make more sales, every day of the week. You’ll find it here.