Do you use price to promote what you do? Do you ever tell potential clients that what makes you better than, or different to your competitors, is that you’re cheaper than them? How often do you offer to drop your price, to encourage a prospect to work with you?

If you provide a service – something like coaching, consultancy or training – then you should NEVER use price to sell your time and expertise.

To show you why this isn’t a good way to promote your business and build your reputation, I’d like to share a short story with you.

Six months ago I was recommended to Maggie, a potential client. She works for a professional services firm that has been around for quite a long time, with a solid reputation. Maggie was looking for some help with the firm’s marketing – they wanted a better way to keep in touch with their clients. We had a meeting and she said she would discuss the ideas we talked about, with her partners. She seemed quite happy with the prices that I had quoted her.

After a meeting with her partners, I called Maggie to see when she wanted to start working on her marketing. “I think I should get some prices from other suppliers before I make a decision,” she told me. “Please do,” I replied. “I can tell you now that they will probably be cheaper than me.”

Maggie asked me why I said that. I told her that I knew I wasn’t the cheapest, because my business has been going since 2000 and we have a strong reputation. Over the years, we’ve gradually increased our prices, as our levels of experience and expertise have increased. Does this sound like blowing my own trumpet? Yes! Who else will do it, if not us? I explained to Maggie that many newer, less experienced marketing companies will undercut our prices, just to get the work. Because we’ve been around for a while, we receive many lovely referrals from clients and other contacts, many of which turn into work. We don’t have to do much active chasing of new business and we can be selective over who we work with. We certainly don’t want to work with people who ask us to drop our prices just to get the job.

Maggie and I had a conversation about how her firm works on the same principles – how value and service are far more important to her clients than pricing. We agreed to speak again in a couple of weeks, to give her time to get some other quotes in.

As promised, I called Maggie two weeks later. “How did you get on finding some other prices?” I asked. “I decided not to bother,” Maggie told me. “Can we just get started on the marketing, please!?”

This shows that if you sell a service – your time, knowledge and experience – you don’t need to promote your business on price. Focus on the value and the service you provide and the right sort of clients will find their way to your door.

If you don’t believe that this is the best way to promote your business, or you need some help communicating your expertise and reputation, just get in touch and I’ll show you how we can help you.