Drumroll: Announcing the Tele-class and Tele-retreat Schedule for 2008 Here’s a sneak peak at what the rest of the year has in store. “Exceeded my expectations.” K.F. “Practical...inspirational.” D.M.R. Smartist-Telesummit.com The Goldilocks Strategy for Getting Clients that Fit Just-Right Six consecutive Tuesdays beginning June 10 and ending July 15, 2008. Noon - 1 PM EDT (9 - 10 AM PDT) The Three-Legged Stool: How to Make a Living at What You Love Six consecutive Wednesdays beginning August 6 and ending September 10, 2008. 3 - 4 PM EDT (Noon - 1 PM PDT) The Goldilocks Marketing Strategy Six consecutive Tuesdays beginning October 14 and ending November 18, 2008. Noon - 1 PM EDT (9 - 10 AM PDT) The Authentic Wealth Tele-retreat Eight alternate Tuesdays 1:30 – 3:00 PM EDT beginning July 8 and ending October 14, 2008. All listings are in Eastern Daylight Time. To find out what time classes are in your part of the world, go to the World Time Server. The Bedside Table This week I’m reading The (Mis)behavior of Markets by Benoit Mandelbrot, the father of fractals. I was inspired by Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s remarks in Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. Also in the queue is Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky, who Oliver Sacks called “one of the best science writers of our time.” Talk Back I love to hear from you, and I read every email personally, even when I can't reply to all of them. Send your thoughts to letters@authentic promotion.com. And if you prefer not to be quoted in a future article, just let me know.

Why Low Prices Don't Attract Clients

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Goldilocks, who went for a walk in the forest. She came upon a neon sign flashing the words: Cheap Eats. And so she followed the sign to a little cabin where she discovered that no one was home…

Say what? You know that Goldilocks didn’t need the promise of low prices to find the home of the three bears, and your customers don’t need one to find you.

There are all kinds of reasons why accidental entrepreneurs tend to offer low prices. One of the most common is to attract business.

The thinking goes something like this.

I don’t want to shout from the rooftops, i.e., I’m not the flashing sign type. I don’t believe in making extravagant claims. I just want to do good work for people who will appreciate it.

So I keep my prices low so that people can afford it. I need to make sure that my prices don’t keep anyone away.

But what actually happens? Are low prices bringing people in?

How Low Prices Work (or Don’t) to Bring in Business
From the Internet to the daily newspaper, we are bombarded with ads offering low, low prices. It’s natural to conclude that one way to attract business is to keep your prices low.

But what we’re overlooking is that, most of the time, low prices get our attention because of the flashing neon sign. Without the neon sign, how can we know that Mary’s prices are better than Joe’s?

Think about the last time you bought something because the price was low. How did you know?

Was it a newspaper ad? Something you heard on the radio? A special offer? Perhaps a friend passed the word. Most of the time we react to low prices because some company paid big bucks to get the word out.

But if you price your work low precisely because you can’t pay big bucks (or wouldn’t make so much noise even if you could), how is anyone to know that your work is such a bargain?

Low Prices and a Low Profile Don’t Work
If you are counting on low prices to bring in clients (or to remove the obstacles that keep people from hiring you), you need to have a pretty high profile.

And if you’re not the type to put up a neon sign, that’s a problem.

When you prefer a naturally low profile, low prices are more likely to keep people away than bring them in.

How Low Prices Affect You, Really
In the marketplace, there is a strong association between price and value. We naturally assume that more expensive things are worth more and less expensive things are worth less.

And when you or I offer our work at low prices and still don’t get work, how do we feel?

Like we’re not very valuable. Like no one is interested. (If they were, wouldn’t they be flocking to our door to take advantage of the great deal we offer?)

And the less valuable we feel, the less we are inclined to show up or to take up space when we do.

The result? When we rely on low prices to attract business, a low profile becomes no profile at all.

You can get clients without shouting from the rooftops, but not if your strategy leaves you feeling like road kill.

Finding Your Just-Right Price
Believe it or not, there is a price that will work for you, one that will help you attract business without neon signs and that will foster the kinds of relationships you want to have with your customers and clients.

Here’s how.

Three components of right-pricing:

1. The right price begins with the body.
   
   Our bodies are faithful recorders of our thoughts and emotions. The worries, dreams, and beliefs that have, until now, controlled your experience of setting prices are encoded in your body.
   
   So step one is to create a safe, peaceful, resourceful state so that you can take a fresh look at this matter of prices.
   
   The point is not to get artificially hyped up. What we’re after is peace, not frenzy or fakery. When you’re at peace, it’s easy to recognize what a right price feels like.
   
   
2. The right price builds reciprocity.
   
   When your prices fit just-right, you are able to care for your clients and customers in a healthy way. There’s a reciprocity that goes beyond keeping score. Unlike a taxi ride where the meter is always running, the right price frees you and your clients or customers to concentrate on the value rather than the cost.
   
   
3. The right price fuels creativity.
   
   Pricing to break even is not natural. You can prove this to yourself by looking at Nature herself. What plant produces only enough seed to replace itself?
   
   In nature and in business, the creative process requires what looks like excess but is actually the juice that fuels birth, rebirth, and change. When your prices are too low, you don’t have the necessary luxury of time to reflect, renew, and discover new things that will bless your clients and yourself.
   

Like Goldilocks, but Different
Goldilocks was a master of what fit just-right. But Goldilocks was a self-absorbed girl in a fairy tale. It’s all very well for her that she got her way, but you’re a grown up and this is not a fairy tale. Can a Goldilocks Strategy work for you?

Yes and no.

Goldilocks can teach us the value of trying this, that, and the other thing until we find what fits just-right. But we have an advantage Goldilocks did not: We get to cook the porridge, build the chair, make the bed.

It’s more work, but it’s our work. Right-pricing, like everything else in business, is both a process of self-development and a skill we need to make a living.

So a Goldilocks Strategy can work and work well, provided we remember that we’re writing the story ourselves.

How about it? Does your business need a flashing sign or a new pricing strategy? If charging the just-right price sounds better than investing in neon, read on.

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How to Get Clients that Fit Just Right

The first step to getting clients that fit just-right is to get and read The Way of the Accidental Entrepreneur.

It’s a book for people who work to have something to give but are stuck when it comes to finding the customers and clients to give it to.  You can learn all about it here.

The second step is to sign up for the free preview tele-class of The Goldilocks Strategy for Getting Clients that Fit Just Right. (If you don’t have the book and don’t know yet if you are going to by it, you are are welcome to sign up for the preview. But you’ll need to get the book to register for the actual tele-class.)

The Goldilocks Strategy for Getting Clients that Fit Just Right will show you how to use what you already have to get clients that fit just-right. It shows you how to build that holy grail of entrepreneuring -- multiple streams of income  -- around your just-right customers. And to do it in a way that respects and delights everyone involved.

Free one hour preview teleconference:  Introduction to The Goldilocks Principle
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Noon EDT, 9:00 AM PDT
Sign up here.

This will take you to a “billing information” page, however you will not be asked for your credit card number and you will not be charged for this class. And while it should go without saying, I will never sell your contact information or rent it or give it to anyone without your express permission. You can opt out of this or any other mailing in an instant with the *** link at the bottom or by phoning 360-421-1985.

If You Can’t Attend
This teleconference will be recorded. If you want to hear it but cannot attend, just register. You’ll receive all the information other participants receive along with a link to the recording. So sign up now if you want the recording.

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U.S. Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-311X
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