99: Stop Charging What You're Worth...It's BS

There is always a valuable lesson in something that pisses you off. Helps you understand what you stand for - and if nothing pisses you off - I guess you don't stand for much (chew on that). 

This advice gets tossed around a lot in the business world "charge your worth." 

Let me preface this conversation with - I fully believe in humans being paid well AND doing what they love. I do not love seeing people struggle to get by, or giving so much away for free that they can't pay the bills, hence why I teach a sales course as well. I equally do not love seeing people charge fees that could be considered extortion or not in line with the value of the service/product. 

Why I think "charging what you're worth" is bullshit...

We see this "charge what you're worth" concept all over the place:

 • You deserve to earn six figures! 

 • You work so hard, you deserve it! 

 • Don't listen to that, you're worth it!

 • Raise your prices - you are worth so much more than that!   

This sense of entitlement is fed to us that we deserve more than we're earning and that if we're not earning the way we desire, it's framed as evidence that we don't believe in our worth. 

But this is where I call bullshit. 

We are all worthy of having our needs met. All humans deserve that.

BUT we don't deserve whatever we want (that includes other humans' dollar bills y'all) just because we feel good about ourselves. 

What we earn has nothing to do with our personal worth. 

Attaching our personal worth to the value you provide with a product or service makes no logical sense and can lead to more pain than pleasure. 

I think it can actually make us pretty neurotic since it only reinforces the idea that our worth as a human is, in any way, connected to the amount of money we should be charging. It has us look constantly at our own reflection and selves versus looking out into the world and the impact we have on others. 

When you're hiring someone to do something for you - do you pay them for their value as a human or for the results they are able to provide to you? 

The latter of course! 

What if they do a shitty job? Does that have any reflection on their worth? What if they still think they're "worth it"? This isn't about their value as a human, it's about the value of service that you may or may not have received. THAT in itself is the only indicator of price. 

No one person is worth any more than another...can we agree on that? Please. 

Or for example, if you stop doing work that pays money are you worth less than you were when you did work that paid? 

Or if you have no money (or worse are deep in debt) are you worth any less as a person who make millions?

The answer is NO. 

It has nothing to do with our self-worth. So, how can we keep throwing around this "charge what you're worth" statement?! 

What the hell does that even mean?! I bet it doesn't help you slap a price on your product or service either...probably feels pretty weird and ambiguous when someone tells you that. 

It's also a DISEMPOWERING question that can lead down a slippery slope. 

It calls into question something personal that goes beyond the actual value of your skill or service. 

There's also a dangerous connotation that links price with love or acceptance -- "if you like me, you'll pay what I'm worth and if you don't, I must not be good enough."  Eww. 

Okay, so now what, right!? I blew your whole pricing strategy. Faccckkkk. 

Here are some reasons it makes no sense:

Your work is not priceless. You are.

There’s really no way to quantify what “you’re worth” because you can’t measure the value of your life. However, skills, products, and services are definitely quantifiable. They're quantifiable because there's a going rate. And then there's also the option to increase or decrease those prices based on how you position the product/service in the marketplace.

2) You left out the customer.

There is no value without the customer. How much is a house worth if no one will buy it? The answer is nothing. It's worth nothing. So if someone doesn't buy your product/service it's worth nothing, but that doesn't mean that YOU are worth nothing. Your product/service has ZERO value until a customer is willing to pay for it.

Dave Gray states: “A company can’t create value on its own: value is only created through exchange. The customer must participate in defining and determining that value.”

Let me help.

Instead...separate what you do for people from what it means about YOU. In other words, take your ego out of this whole thang. 

What you charge has absolutely zero donut holes to do with what you're worth as a human being and absolutely everything to do with the value people perceive they're getting in what you're offering. Period. 

Understand the whole market. Understand there is no set price. 

There’s no one set price for a cup of coffee. Go to the grocery store and pay the equivalent of 25 cents per cup. Go to McDonalds and pay a dollar. Go to Starbucks and pay three. Go to a local boutique coffee shop and happily pay seven.  

It’s just as much about the entire experience, or current circumstances and urgency of your ideal client as it is about the actual coffee in the cup. 

Your market is the same. Do you know what the bottom vs. top-of-the-line looks like and how much it costs? You need to understand both ends and where you want to fit in.

So instead of asking what "you're worth," the better question is...

What are the results of my product/service worth to my potential client? 

Because believe it or not - this isn't about you - it's about the value of the product/service you provide and how your potential client perceives it. 

Hence why it's SUPER important to understand your audiences pain points, their urgencies, their highest goals, AND the value & results that your offer provides. 

So, stop charging what "you're worth" and start charging based on the value of the results to your potential client (even if this price is the same - there's a totally different energy and feeling when you detach it from self-worth). 

So how can you address this in practical terms?

Determine what influences your price. From both YOUR side and the customer's side of the equation. 

Price goes well beyond materials, overhead, labor, experience or even skills. Those are just factors from YOUR point of view. 

But many other factors influence price from a customers’ point-of-view.

Think about:

what the product/service means to them personally how urgent their problem is the experience you deliver what results the product/service promises, and how your customers perceive your business in relation to the rest of your competition

Determine what you need to change to create better results for your clients and better position in the market for your business, and then create a plan to make it happen!

And stop charging what you’re worth!

Join me in this FREE 'Make More Sales' Masterclass: www.adriennedorison.com/makemoresales