FM Walsh & Associates Inc.

Do not set the price for your product or service based on what you can afford. I see so many women entrepreneurs make that mistake and it only ends up costing them revenue.

This week I met with a woman (let’s call her Anne) who delivers a very high-quality, specialized service for clients. She mentioned that she has one current client who is using a lot of her time right now and she was thinking of reducing her hourly rate because of how big the invoice was going to be at the end of the month. As she said to me, “I couldn’t afford to pay this invoice.” This client is a multi-million dollar company.

Now I am not suggesting you gouge your large clients. What I am saying is that the price you charge is based on the value to the client, not on whether or not you can afford to pay the invoice. By the end of the coaching session Anne admitted that she was operating from scarcity mode which was driving her to feel she needed to reduce her price. When we took a look at her service from the client’s perspective, she was delivering a service they desperately needed to launch their new division and her price was no higher than what the competition was charging. The client was extremely happy with her and had no complaints about her price. Lesson learned - Anne did not reduce her hourly rate and the client paid the invoice without a comment.