Here’s something I try to always keep at the top of my mind…
Clients don’t care about your service, they care about what they think your service will do for them.
Most clients don’t really want to buy an app, or a logo, or a website, or some well-written text.
What they want is the result from the website, logo, etc.
As a highly-skilled service-provider, it’s easy to turn your attention inwards and put your attention on the things you do…
…But the most highly-paid among us are instead putting their attention on the problems they solve.
💡Here’s a simple step-by-step formula for earning more…
- Find a valuable problem to solve for your clients
- Demonstrate – ideally with hard numbers – what this problem is costing them (wasted money, missed profits/opportunities, etc)
- Show them how your work can solve their valuable / costly problem
- Show them how the price of your work is less than the amount they’ll save/earn as a direct result of your work
Most freelancers who struggle with not earning as much as they want have a deficiency in one of those 4.
Which of those 4 do you think are damaging you the most?
Any ideas for what you can improve in your client interviewing process or positioning to strengthen yourself there?
With this framework in mind, here’s a quick worksheet for you to try this week…
(If you get in the habit of doing filling out this worksheet regularly, I’m confident it’ll result in you earning more.)
👟 Take action: fill out the “Client Fundamental Needs” worksheet
A big part of raising your rates is getting a pulse on the true value you provide to your clients.
I designed a worksheet that will help you do just that.
Click here to download the worksheet
I recommend you print out several copies and fill them out for different past clients, as well as prospective clients you talk to moving forward.
Doing this exercise regularly will help you stay grounded in the “forest through the trees view…”
And it’ll keep you focused on what’s actually important to your clients, rather than subconsciously slipping into the “technician’s inward focus.”
The goal of this worksheet is to help you get in the habit of “peeling back the layers of the onion” to find the fundamental motivations behind client projects, rather than their stated surface-level motivations.
🎥 Follow along
Want to watch me fill out the worksheet for my most recent client?
Follow along in the video below.