Overview
- Does Your Customer See You As An Investment Or An Expense?
- Why some clients make you feel like closing your business
- Expenses get minimized while investments get maximized
- Different goals result in a different perspectives on the same service
- Become an investment and your business will thrive
Whenever I ask my clients to think of a project they loved working on, there is a common element in their answers.
In all cases, the client who hired them saw their service as an investment, not an expense.
Figuring out how to find more of these clients is key to a successful transition.
You know that already.
But what many miss out on is this.
Working with clients that see your service as an expense keeps you stuck in delivery.
CUSTOMERS HAVE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF QUALITY
It never crossed my mind. I thought all customers were the same.
A person with a problem, who is willing to pay me to have it solved.
But with time, I noticed some relationships were different.
Some were more stressful, more demanding, and more time-consuming.
I thought it was because of different personalities.
Some people told me it was because of our low price.
And while price does play a role in who we attracts, I discovered later there is something else that matters more.
The way people see our service.
Do they see it as an expense? Or do they see it as an investment?
Is it something they need to run their project? Or is it something that will help them make more money or save time?
The goal is to work with people who see our service as an investment.
THE KEY IS TO LOOK BEYOND THE PRICE
Those who see your service as an expense and those who see it as an investment will not only end up at your door.
But more importantly, they both look the same!
The key is in filtering out those that see you as an expense.
The challenge is to spot who is who.
Because it’s not always who you think it might be.
Back in Venezuela, a friend of mine worked in the marketing department at Procter & Gamble.
What he shared with me was very insightful.
It turns out that people from low-income households buy more expensive detergent than those from high-income ones.
Why?
They want to make sure their clothes last longer.
Since they can’t afford to buy clothes often, they invest in higher-quality soap.
ah?!
Not necessarily our first guess.
Well, the same thing happens with people buying your service.
So rather than trying to find the abstract “Dream Clients,” finding clients that see your service as an investment is actually easier than you think.
FINDING CLIENTS THAT SEE YOU AS AN INVESTMENT
So how can you spot those clients that will see you as an investment?
2 steps.
First, figure out what is the ultimate goal of the customer.
Why are they buying your service?
It may be obvious to you that your service helps customers make money and save time.
But, do they know it? Is that why THEY buy it?
Do they have the capacity to capitalize on it?
YouTube first started as a dating site. If they wouldn’t have adapted to the way people wanted to use it, they wouldn’t exist today.
So this is key.
Second, figure out if you are a key element of their business model.
While it may seem strategic to position yourself in somebody else’s business to help them make money, in reality, this is awful.
Not only you will compete in very saturated and commoditized markets. (Since everybody else is trying to do the same, pushing prices down)
The client will have every incentive to save money on your service since this will increase their profit.
For example, we sold our production services to event organizers. Event organizers make money through events. That means, the lower the cost, the more they make.
That’s what I mean, we were part of their business model.
TAKING ACTION
Figuring out who values your service and is willing to pay the price to get it, leads to growth.
So ask yourself, are my clients buying my service to improve their business? To increase revenue? Save time? Etc.
Try to avoid working with clients that see your service as an expense.
They tend to drain and consume your focus.
If the vast majority of clients are trying to push your prices down, it’s a matter of time for you to feel unappreciated, and undeundervalued
This leads to resenting clients, yourself, and your business.
I know it because I’ve been there.
So to bring it all together in 4 steps:
1. Stop selling to everybody that shows up at your door with money
2. Understand what the ultimate goal is with using your service
3. Avoid positioning yourself as a key element in somebody else’s business model
4. Simplify your service so that you can deliver the same thing at scale.