Kris: If you’re struggling to get clients to sign off on your design proposals and you’re worried that your prices are too high, this episode is for you. You’re listening to Design and Prosper, episode 123.

[Intro Music]

Don: Hello.

Kris: Hey everybody!

Don: Hey there. So today we are talking about pricing.

Kris: Yes.

Don: Pricing can be fraught with so many emotions, right?

Kris: Yes, it can. It’s just, just fraught! Just in general. It’s just like, oh!

Don: I know, it’s a scary thing. Not just for us creatives, but for our clients as well. It’s one of those sort of Icky, taboo subjects, nobody wants to talk about it and it’s, you know, you have a discovery call and it’s the very last thing that you mention just before I go and it’s one of the biggest drivers.

It’s one of the most important elephants in the room to address, you know, and it, it’s, it’s really, it’s incredible that it is so hard on both sides of the fence to talk about pricing.

Kris: For so many designers. So many designers are worried that their prices are too high, or maybe you’re not worried your prices are too high, you may be actually Yeah, you know your pricing is too low, but you’re scared to raise your prices because then you’ll be too high and then what? Right, then what?

Don: Yeah, yeah.

Kris: Because it’s very it gets very emotional. It gets very very emotional because we make it very personal we make it all about us like what if I get rejected and then what does that say about me? What does that say about? My work and my worth in the world. And What does that say about me? If they say I’m too expensive, you know, it’s scary. Does that mean I’m just not good enough? Does that mean that what I’m offering doesn’t have any value?

Don: And even listening to you say all this, Kris, now, like I’m, I’m sort of sitting up a little bit higher in my seat and I’m like, you know, the feels are all there around it. But it really, you were talking, you were saying this to me the other day, you know, it really is ironic that we are emotional beings.

We need to tap into that emotional power to be creative. And then. And we get to understand our clients at their deepest level, right? But it’s that same emotion that trips us up when we actually have to tap into the power of our value, our price, the price that we have to charge in order to have a profitable business.

Kris: So yes, It is ironic because we actually need to tap into the emotions that our clients feel in order to have the correct messaging so that we understand their deepest desires so that we can communicate the value of our pricing to them so that they can get it on an emotional level, right? Cause that’s how we make decisions. So we got to get emotional in that way, but then we really need to put our emotions aside

Don: I know, those things trip us up!

Kris: When we’re to pricing our work, because it needs to be intentional. It needs to be considered and it needs to be very strategic.

Don: Yeah, absolutely.

Kris: It needs to be priced in a way that’s going to help you live the life that you want to live. So that you’re not working ridiculous hours. So that you can live a good life, you know. And meet your family’s goals and your, your personal goals and all the rest of it. So it needs to be very considered.

Don: Yeah, absolutely. Really, we see it time and time again. So many graphic designers, especially those designers starting out, they often fall into the trap of underpricing their services in order to attract those first clients, or clients in general, really.

You know, and that can lead to financial strain, or difficulty, complete difficulty, Scaling their businesses and it becomes a vicious cycle because you’re doing this work and you’re under Charging you’re quoting way too little Then you’re spending hours on that client work or on those projects to To do the type of work that you want to do to fill your own cup up But also you’re spending way too long because you haven’t charged enough You don’t spend time building your business because you’re to focus on this client work that’s not paying you.

Kris: Yeah, you’re doing nothing but client work.

Don: Not getting paid appropriately and therefore not spending time building the business and then there’s not enough cash flow and then all the sudden you take on the next project, you charge too little again because you’re desperate because there’s no cash flow

Kris: I need this job. I need this money in my bank

Don: I need it, I need it. And then the vicious cycle goes around again and again and again. We need to abolish this cycle.

Kris: Yeah, and this cycle happens because of lack of confidence in pricing or just like, just total guesswork, I guess, fear of raising the prices, you know, there’s so much competition out there. Like there’s the cost of living crisis. I don’t know about where you are in the world, but in Australia, that’s, you know, what the news is all about, you know, the cost of living, cost of living global economic uncertainties everywhere.

Like all these things can make designers feel really scared, really hesitant, you know, you’re unlikely to raise prices when you’re feeling all that.

Don: And we take on that, that emotion comes and trips us up again. We take on the woes and worries of our clients, or our poor client in this particular, you know, economic predicament. They, they can’t afford it. They’re struggling. So, I’ll just lower my prices. And that’s one thing we really want you to not take on board anybody else’s problems. Yeah. Do not make assumptions.

Kris: Yeah. Also, just underestimating costs involved in a design project and what it takes. That is another reason why designers get into that cycle.

And we’re going to do an episode on that. So stay tuned about the things that are missing from your cost estimates. The sneaky things that people aren’t charging for. Also just not understanding the cost to run a business. Like just basic financial management stuff. Just a lot of designers are inexperienced with that. They don’t get it, what it takes.

Don: Yeah. They just miss it and And another big one is scope creep there are a lot of designers out there who have difficulty setting or communicating boundaries that leads to. Overworked designers. Overwhelmed. Working, exhausting a project budget where you just eat up all the profit because you haven’t communicated the boundaries properly. You may not actually be charging for all of that scope creep. And therefore, again, we’re doing all this work for next to nothing and we’re burning out.

Kris: Yeah. And then you look at your hourly rate, your overall hourly rate you know, you went into business for freedom. And so your hourly rate for freedom is like 5 an hour or 9 an hour. It’s like, okay, that doesn’t really feel like freedom to me. So in this episode, we want you to get more comfortable with the idea of charging more. And we want you to just try it on, try it on for size because. Getting comfortable with charging fair prices, we’re just really, we’re just talking about fair, what’s fair, you know, like we’re not talking about exorbitant, over the top, crazy prices, we’re talking about what’s fair to charge so that you can live a good life without financial stress, without pressure. And for many of you, this is going to look like high prices. You’re going to think, oh, that’s just high.

Don: That’s such a good point, Kris, because I think a lot of you out there think that these fair prices are so high, and when you really break it down and really understand the value of the work you’re doing, you are literally charging fair prices. It’s not crazy. It’s not crazy to ask that.

Kris: Yeah. So we want you to forget all about your limiting beliefs. Put them on the shelf, at least for the for this episode. . Yeah. Release fear, tune out all the noise. I think there is a lot of noise, like I said before about the, you know, the economic crisis and all that sort of thing. There’s a lot of noise out there. There’s a lot of noise to scare designers, to scare entrepreneurs in general, really. Because fear sells. So people, they’re tapping into it. So just tune it all out because this is what we want you to know. There are many, many businesses out there right now actively looking for designers looking to hire and work with designers who are wanting to pay good money because they want to elevate their brands. And they want to have this aspect of their business completely taken care of. They don’t want to do it.

Don: Yeah, those businesses are in the financial situation or the economic crisis that is happening globally and they want to get out ahead of it.

Those businesses know that great branding is going to help them do that. They know that they have to invest in their brands in order to make it happen. So they’re Many, many businesses out there willing to spend money with designers just to make sure that they are ahead of their competitors. So they are spending money. In fact, they are spending billions of dollars.

Kris: Billions!

Don: Yes. The graphic design industry is worth billions. So you can have a piece of that pie, people.

Kris: Yeah. Yeah, and we just had a member of the academy in our community just this past week say that they closed a $30,000 contract. So there are clients out there. It’s a big world.

Don: Can I be cheeky and say the tool that, that beautiful designer used was our Get Clients Now training. She was thanking us for that, our Get Clients Now training. And she was like, guess what? I invested a thousand dollars and sent out X amount of direct mail marketing packages to X amount of people (I can’t remember the number). And she had a 10 percent response rate. So there’s more percolating, there’s more percolating. But there was one confirmed. Converted client for $30,000. We could not be prouder. It’s so, so exciting. So that happened last week, like Kris said.

Kris: Get Clients Now, we created it because that’s the technique we used. We used it for over a decade to get clients. So it’s a really good training and you can purchase it in our shop. Yeah. Go to designandprosper.co/shop and there’s the Get Clients Now training amongst other design business goodies in there. So yes, it is worth billions and it’s growing and it’s still projected to continue to grow. So three to four percent each year. So at the moment it’s worth around 50 billion and it’s estimated to get to 55 billion by 2031 Because it’s growing about three to four percent every year and that’s even with AI. That’s even with increased competition

Don: Yeah, right? Underline that. Like, whoop whoop, turn the volume up. That is incredible. 55 billion. It’s growing and it’s growing/

Kris: And big side note, I did mention AI and if you are worried about it, we have done a couple of episodes on it. So do look out for those. But the key for designers is to embrace AI as a tool and develop the skills that complement it. Because I think we said it in the AI episode, designers who use AI. Will be ahead. Designers who don’t use AI and embrace it will be the ones who will be left behind.

It’s exciting because you can use it as an amazing conceptual critical thinking brainstorming buddy, and you know, it can help you with communication for all sorts of things. So just a little side note about AI

Don: Don’t be afraid of AI. It’s there to help you. It really is there to enhance your business.

Kris: because I’ve just been seeing like some negative comments about AI and different things. Yeah. particular with regards to the graphic design and just don’t believe a word of it. It’s just a new tool and it’s a really cool. It’s just going to fast track a lot of stuff for us.

Don: I think we said it in the in one of the episodes that we’ve already published, but the quote was, AI, if you’re a graphic designer, AI is not going to take your job. But if you’re a graphic designer not using AI, you’ll lose your job, something like that, and honestly, once you start using AI as a graphic designer, for all of those reasons, not just for creative processes, this is for your CEO role as, as a business owner, as a designer running their own business, this tool is absolutely bang on.

Kris: Yeah.

Don: We are getting so much joy from it for our business.

Kris: We actually haven’t podcast about this but recently we’ve started using BARD, the Google AI tool. And if you haven’t used it yet You’re in for a treat. Go and use it. B A R D. Have a play.

Don: BARD will be your friend.

Kris: Yeah. Don’t share sensitive information, but use it as a brainstorming buddy. It’s really cool.

Don: Yes. Beautiful. Okay, so let’s have a chat about some perceptions around pricing, because there are many.

Kris: There are because you know, whether a price is high or not is all about perception. So whether it’s considered expensive or not, it’s just subjective, right? People will spend $20 on a t shirt and they’ll spend $2,000 on a t shirt. People will spend $20,000 on a car and others will spend $200,000 on a car.

I’m sitting here, I’m looking across at Donna’s MacBook Pro and like, you know, some people would go, well, that is just ridiculous to spend that much money on a laptop. But we saw the value in that, right?

Don: Absolutely. So the bottom line is people will pay if they perceive there is value, right? That’s your job as a designer to make sure that the value is communicated.

Kris: Yeah, and the way that we perceive value can be totally bizarre and can seem like pure and utter nonsense. honestly. I was doing a bit of research for this episode, and I found a case study. It’s from a book called Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion, which I’ve actually been meaning to read for a long time and I haven’t read it, but it’s in our wishlist. Andit’s been recommended so many times, I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be a good one.

Don: Yes.

Kris: There’s an example in the book where a local jewellery store sold out of turquoise jewellery, jewellery, I can’t say, I can’t say the word jewellery. They sold out of turquoise jewellery because they accidentally priced it double, so they accidentally did this.

Don: What a great case study!

Kris: And then the inflated price, so this high price, double the price jewellery became irresistible to buyers. They sold out. And it’s like, isn’t that ridiculous? Like just because we see higher price, we see higher value, you know, in the buyer’s mind. Like, I know that I’ve done this myself, you know, that whole thing where, you know, that, that I was saying, it’s like, you get what you pay for.

Don: Yeah, absolutely. And so, when you think about that case study, where they accidentally priced it and doubled it and they sold out, the opposite of that can happen. You can be too cheap and actually scare clients away because they’re like, what’s wrong with it? There’s a problem. Oh, it’s gonna be dodgy The quality is not going to be there. The value is not going to be there.

Kris: They’re going to take shortcuts.

Don: They’re gonna take shortcuts. It’s that that did I really know what they’re doing. Yeah. Absolutely. So it could be that could be a big problem for your business and keeping you stuck because you are not charging appropriately

Kris: Yeah. So, not charging enough. We’re funny little ego driven beings, aren’t we? Like, we like to be associated with quality. We like to be associated with the best of the best. We like to be looked after. We like that feeling of being looked after and taken care of. And that comes with money, you know.

And it’s backed up by research as well. Like, there was a study from Vanderbilt University in the United States, and it found that in some consumers minds, price indicates quality. So in the study, it found that people aren’t likely to buy if the price is too low. So I’m sure you’ve experienced this in your own life. I feel a bit embarrassed to mention this, but I didn’t buy a shirt from Kmart recently because it was from Kmart. I’m the biggest snob in the world, that’s horrible. But I didn’t buy it because, well partly because, you know, I actually did try it on. And it didn’t fit. It didn’t fall right. It wasn’t like finessed. But if I had had that next to like a $200 shirt, (it was like a $20 shirt) you wouldn’t really know the difference, but it’s funny in my brain. I went, that’s from Kmart. Like something happens in my brain and I’m usually really cool with stuff like that. But for some reason, there’s a little trigger that says. Hmm, is this going to fall apart? Is this just not going to fall right? And maybe if I tried it on as a $200 shirt and I was in a really nice, like, changing room and all the rest of it, and I’d had that service and somebody was looking after me, I might have been convinced, this does fall right. It might have been exactly the same shirt. But I would have convinced myself that this is not going to fall apart. I’m actually going to look after this too, because it’s $200. I’ll take more care when I wash it. I’ll pay more attention when I hang it. I’ll actually take care of this beautiful shirt.

Don: And so too is the same with a brand. When people pay for a brand, they trust it. They want it to work. They take care of it. They honor it. All of those things. I I have a funny little story about red wine. I love a red wine. And in particular, I like a Shiraz. And my favourite bottle of red is, I kid you not, under $20.

Kris: Is it from Aldi?

Don: It’s not from Aldi. I don’t buy wine from Aldi, but funnily enough, it’s actually from a winery in the Hunter Valley, but it is their bottom shelf. It is their bottom shelf and I won’t mention them because I don’t want to embarrass anyone. However, I love this Shiraz and the only reason that I discovered it was I had had it somewhere else.

Otherwise, I would have just completely dismissed this drink and gone, no, it’s too cheap. No, that would be awful. It won’t be great. And then I was talking to friends who have their own cellar. At one point they, they had their own cellar and

Kris: So they know what they’re talking about.

Don: They know what they’re talking about. So that’s the point. These guys know what they’re talking about Anyway, they pull out a bottle of wine and they didn’t show me the label. And they said, we just want you to drink this wine. We just want you to have a taste. And, and I, and I had a sip. And it was my wine, my cheap wine.

And I said, Oh, you’re not going to believe it. I said, I know that will be a really beautiful wine and I’m sure it’s an expensive wine, but I drink a wine that tastes exactly the same and it’s bottom shelf. And I cannot believe it. And they turned it around and they said, so do we! It was the same wine! I couldn’t believe it!

Kris: Oh ok! Well maybe don’t say the name of it on the podcast because it’ll sell out but if you won’t be able to get it anymore, but if you are curious, reach out – DM us.

Don: Yes! Haha.

Kris: We’ll get the name of it to you. Alright, so in that study that I mentioned, consumers were shown an ad for, funnily enough, a bottle of wine.

Don: Ah, there you go!

Kris: And when the research participants were subtly reminded of quality, so the keyword subtle, it was a subtle, like, mention of quality just the concept of quality wasn’t rammed down their throats – consumers valued the expensive wine more than the cheap wine. However, when subtly reminded of value, they rated the cheap wine more favourably. So, what are you going to do?

Don: Ahh..

Kris: Focus on quality!

Don: Of course. So how are you going to do that? That’s the thing. That you’re probably going, yeah, right. Great. Kris and Don. Well, how am I going to do that?

Kris: Well, first of all, go and sign up for our Premium Pricing Training. It’s free because we go into a lot of this in detail all about the messaging. It’s all about the language that you can use to tap into deep desires and really communicate quality, results, transformation, all that sort of thing. So, the perception of high value is there. High value is important. Not like cost cutting, low value. You can focus on value, but it’s like high value, you get an incredible amount of

Don: Yeah, that’s it. The point that we were trying to make there was you know how it’s, ooh, it’s good value for money. We’re wanting to depict high value. And high quality.

Kris: That’s right. Transformational value. You know, it’s really deep stuff. So we go into that over there. I don’t think I gave the URL for that. So it is designandprosper.co/premiumpricing. And we’ll pop the link in the show notes as well for you.

Don: Yes, great. So you grab that, get onto that, and in the meantime, here are some additional thoughts on how clients are motivated to invest with designers. That’s the key, right? We want them to understand the high value and the high quality that they’re going to be receiving by working with us.

So, we want to tap into the psychology of exclusivity and the status of working with a designer like you and getting a custom bespoke design. You know, it’s not cookie cutter. It’s not off the shelf. They want to feel special. They want the luxury, you know, the best of the best experience. It’s really personalised.

Kris: Yeah, personalised experience, so in depth consultations. They want the market research, the attention to detail. They want collaboration.

Don: They want to be seen and heard. They really want you to be the guide and to take them through every step of the way. So, you know, you get to talk about your high quality process. You know, that’s a tip. How will they be taken care of by you? They love it. They want to understand how they fit in that process and how you’re going to guide them and take care of them.

Kris: Yeah, they want to be seen as somebody special, somebody to be taken care of rather than just a number or a template. We’re all motivated by this. We’re all motivated and we know that your clients will be too. We’re motivated by wanting to be looked after in a special way. Not just one of the crowd, like Don said, not a cookie cutter. We want to feel like rock stars, you know, like the hero of the show.

Don: Yes, that’s it. Another thing you can do is to tap into their sense of accomplishment that they’re going to feel when they’ve had a brand or website that truly reflects their business in the best possible light. You know, it really is them. It’s the essence of their of their business.

Kris: Yeah, it truly reflects them. And when that happens, it means that they can make more impact. So we cover a lot of this, like so much juicy language in that premium pricing training. So I just want to reiterate, go and sign up for that after you listen to this episode.

Don: Yes, please do. There’s so much gold in there. I mean, honestly.

Kris: And also clients are going to be motivated by a desire to be admired. They want to look good. They want the influence that comes with having a beautiful brand. They want to make an impact, like I said before, and there’s also this aspirational value of having quality design because it’s going to have these underlying impacts on them. It’s going to help them grow. Which will help them make more money, which will then help them live a better lifestyle, which will then help them provide for their families, go on holidays, buy nice stuff, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Don: Yeah, add to the list, add to the list, add to the list. That’s right. And a big one, it will buy back their time. That’s, that’s a massive thing, you know, for most people in business, time is one of the most precious commodities.

Oh heck, for most people in life, you know, time is definitely one of the most precious commodities. So, you know, that alone is very lucrative. To be talking about that for your business, if you can promise that as part of the transformation and deliver on that, your business could be lucrative is what I’m saying there.

Because time is so precious and people, they’re wanting it back, they’re clawing it back, you know. And a really great design partnership can help them because they won’t have to do all of that themselves. They’re not going to be alone anymore.

Kris: They won’t be DIY-ing their brands, which is time consuming and then gets them awful results! They are going to have an increase in quality and consistency and all the status that comes with having a really carefully considered brand created by someone who is thoughtful and intentional and strategic. So this is what you’re doing, right? This is the motivation. This is why people are wanting to work with people like you And don’t underestimate the power of, using time as part of your messaging

Don: A hundred percent. It is huge to offer that as a part of the transformation that you can offer. Another one that will motivate clients to, to invest with you is if you tap into the strategy behind investing in branding, there’s a strategy. It’s a real, it’s, it’s evidenced businesses with big goals understand the power of a well-designed brand to elevate their business, attract their premium customers, and command those higher prices. Without investing in branding, they have the potential for that to just fall away. So they understand that there is an immense value behind the strategy in that.

Kris: Yeah, they see investing in their branding as having a potential return on investment and so they should. They should expect a return on investment with branding.

Don: Yeah, absolutely.

Kris: We could also really tap into the long term vision they have for their business. So companies who want to grow, companies who have a long term vision, they recognize the importance that having a brand that aligns with their values, aligns with their audience…they’re willing to pay more for a strategic asset like that. And that’s what you’re selling. You’re selling a strategic asset that supports their future success and their growth. That’s huge!

Don: Yeah, it’s huge. Absolutely. Love that one, Kris. And there’s also intangible benefits as well. Clients will value the creativity expertise that you have and that you’re offering. And industry reputation associated with the premium design services that they’ve invested in.

Kris: And this is why we encourage you to use referrals and case studies because they’re going to be like tapping into….oooh look at these things that they’ve created for other people. It’s about that reputation and trust. Trust is really important. Once again, we cover a lot of of this, so much goodness in our premium pricing training. Lots of really great language that you can implement straight away after you watch that training.

Don: Get your hands on it is what we’re saying there!

Kris: So next we just wanted to touch on why some businesses won’t see the value not everybody’s going to be a client and some of them just aren’t going to see the value. It’s like that $20 versus $2,000 t shirt thing, you know, I see a value in a MacBook pro, but some people would say, no, you should just get a $500 laptop, that’s silly! So. First of all, they may just not be educated in the importance of branding and the impact that it can have on their business. Which is a little hint there, like your content really should be addressing that.

Don: Yeah, but you are in a position of authority. You are a guide and it is your opportunity to educate your audience on the value, the high value that you offer and the transformation that really great branding offers. To your So don’t ever leave that out. That’s the key, right? To communicate that to your audience.

Kris: They might genuinely have a tight budget. So if you’re thinking like a small startup, for example. They just might not have the funds and that’s okay. That’s okay. And you can decide whether you want to help them or not. And we, we’ve actually addressed that in an episode. Check out episode 61 graphic design pricing, what to do when clients can’t afford you.

Don: Yeah, and we took on a lot of those clients, those start up clients, because they do eventually grow, because you’re helping them, and you’re creating such a beautiful brand for them, and they grow, and they become high paying clients down the track.

So, that episode addresses different ways in which you can work with them without Discounting your prices and without working for free.

Kris: Another reason why they might not see the value is that may not have grand plans for growth. They may not be that sort of business. They might be just happy resting on their laurels and it’s like this, we’re just humming along here. Or it could be a temporary project where the project, and the client, just has limited scope. There’s not much to it.

Don: Yeah, Or they might just be looking for a quick fix, you know. Which is, again, I think we’ve said it, that’s okay, not everyone is your ideal client. But the last two, I wouldn’t want to work with the last two. I would probably say no to that.

Kris: I’d be uninspired by that.

Don: We have said this many, many times, that we are all about long term relationships, so projects that don’t have a plan for growth feels a little bit Like you’re just chopping it, the life of a project way too short.

You know, having said that, who knows what that type of project could be, but that happens. It happens where they’re like, I just need this quick fix thing, it’s very impromptu, I want it one and done, we’re done and dusted. And if you’re not the type of designer that gets excited about that, they’re not your client.

And if people are looking for a quick fix, They might not be your client, but that, these are the people, what we’re speaking to, these are the people who won’t see the value in design. And these are the people that you can go, okay, I’m not talking to these people. No matter what I say, I’m not going to turn these people around and get them to work the way that I need to work with my high, high end processes, with my high end business model, creating high end work. These people aren’t for me. That’s okay.

Kris: So as a designer, it is your job to bridge the gap so that they understand the value, the high end value that you bring. So things that you can do to clearly communicate the value of your services and explain how it can contribute to their success. Because the perceived value is key. The perception of value is what is important here.

Don: Yeah, High value. Remember, go back to that Vanderbilt, is it Vanderbilt study? The focus on quality. It just needs to be there. Have that focus on quality and have that focus on high value and you’ll turn heads, you’ll turn them you It’s your job to educate your clients about what is going to happen. What is the impact of investing in branding long term, is going to happen?

Kris: What is going to be the impact on their business? And you can do this By showcasing client testimonials, success stories, case studies, stories to demonstrate the return on investment of working with a designer like you. And if you’re thinking, I don’t have those,I’m just starting out. Well, you can reference studies. You can reference, industry knowledge. There’s a lot of studies out there about the impact of branding.

Don: Yeah. We’ve got the Australian Graphic Design Association here in Australia and there’s the AIGA in the States, and I’m sure that there’s industry bodies all over the world.

They would have information you could tap into, studies and research that you could tap into, to actually then, rework and, and reword and just deliver with, with a reference to, to let people know, to educate your clients. But I want to come full circle back to the type of client that won’t see value in you know, there are just some clients out there that won’t see the value. And one of the last types that we mentioned were the quick fixes. I’m just in it for the quick fix. Just do this thing for me.

Kris: Just whip it up.

Don: Just quickly do this for me, and you know, we don’t whip. We have actually successfully converted some of those clients. We have converted those Simply by sitting down with them and bridging the gap. Educating. We’ve sat down and we’ve said, Okay, you want a quick fix? Let’s talk about what that means for your business. What that means is you’re going to inevitably be doing this again. And you’re going to be doing it in a year’s time. And whether you like it or not, you will have a brand that has been unplanned because you have not allowed us to put the time and effort and energy and research into it now. And that brand will exist. And your clients will know you as that brand, whether you like it or not.

Kris: A brand is a brand, unplanned or otherwise.

Don: Essentially, you’ll have an unplanned brand. And then you’ve got to literally unpack that and rebuild again. It’ll cost you momentum, time, money, and trust. All of those things.

Kris: So what that can look like is a client might come along to you and be like, I just need a sign. I need a sign out the front of my office or I need a sign at the, at the front of the factory. And that’s the quick fix that they’re after. And that’s all they think they need.

Don: Yeah, and then you go, okay, so let’s have a look at that logo of yours. And they go, I don’t have a logo yet, but can you just do me a sign?

Kris: Just neon, so it stands out.

Don: Yeah haha. Exactly. Actually, we had one of our beautiful academy members have this exact example where a client came to them and their first request was to do a sign. They had nothing else. So, in effect, what they were asking of her was to build their brand with the sign being the catalyst, with no thought into branding whatsoever. Anyway, with our help, and with our processes, and, and systems, and approach to how we would deal with a client like this, she was able to turn that client around and get them to understand the value of branding and actually create a proper, full pathway to create their brand. You know, the signage was done as well I’m pretty sure, but it was a part of the overall deal. So you can turn those quick fix clients around via education.

Kris: Yeah, have to be low cost clients, where you’re charging too little to service them and just help them out. We are planning on doing another episode, actually, on what happens when you charge too low. Because there are consequences. And just quickly, our experience has been, when you charge too little, that’s when you have the clients that are the biggest pains in the bums.

Don: Oh!

Kris: The most difficult ones, the most demanding.

Don: yeah.

Kris: It just comes with the territory.

Don: What’s that meme, Kris? We’ve talked about this before, I’m sure/

Kris: Oh yeah.

Don: It’s like, you charge a client $500 and they say things like, they pretty much they want to sign their, you both just sign your name in blood and you know, they want you to name your firstborn after them and the

Kris: to impact my whole life and my family and my children’s families and just everything. It’s all hinging on this investment.

Don: that’s it. And then you get the $5,000 client who responds with, thank you, invoice paid.

Kris: I think it was the $50,000 client.

Don: Oh yes, please. That’s even better. So, well, it’s unbelievable. When you try and help someone out, I’ve been guilty of that early in my career and you think, Oh, I’ll just help them out and it’s a low price and, and then those are the draining clients who take up so much time.

And one of the biggest consequences, and we’re going to talk about it in a future podcast, but one of the biggest consequences is that it takes your eye off the ball for attracting the right clients who are willing to pay the value that you’re worth. So don’t get caught up doing work like that where you are, you don’t have time in that vicious cycle we were talking about before where you’re so embedded in doing this work.

Pretty much for next to nothing. And then you are charging too little again. You’re charging too little again. It’s just that whole vicious cycle. So be very careful.

Kris: Yeah, it can really bite you in the bum. Alright, so just to finish up. Getting confident with pricing, there are so many layers involved, and there is no one size fits all for the best approach to pricing in your business, because your price has to be your price for a reason. It’s got to be based on your business because we always say your business, your way.

It has to be based on your business model. It has to be based on the different financial goals and the lifestyle goals that you have. It has to be based on how much you want to work. And we have all the tools in the Design and Prosper Academy to help you work that out. Because you need to work out your unique business model. You need to work out your unique pricing strategy, your unique costings, and it needs to just flow with ease. And if you’re looking for more goodness to listen to after this, cause you’ve gone and you’ve downloaded it. You’ve gone and watched the premium pricing training you want even more, we have another episode number 86 that would be really helpful, which is 20 ways you transform your client’s business as a designer so that you really understand the value that you provide. Because once you understand the value, that high value, then you can actually communicate it. And in this episode, we’ve shared lots of language that you could use.

Don: So much gold inside this episode. If you have a pen and paper handy, or just grab the transcripts really.

Kris: We should have said it at the start. Grab your pen and paper.

Don: Because we love taking notes. We are big believers of, note takers and money makers, because of the evidence between the act of writing on paper, gets into our brains. So we love it. But, take it from the transcription, if you don’t have the ability to take notes for whatever reason. But there’s lots of gold in there, there’s lots of language that you can start to dissect to really see where you can speak to the value of the work that you’re doing for your clients. So that’s the key, speak to the transformation, really honour the quality of the work that you do and make sure you communicate that to your clients so that you’re not undervaluing the work that you do. It is in your best interest not to undervalue your work. You know, remember that freedom that we all go into business for? We’re not going to get that if we do work for free, right? I went into work for freedom, not for free.

Kris: Yes.

Don: And even though we’re charging, like Kris said before, if you’re measuring your hours properly, sometimes it works out that we’ve literally done the work for next to nothing. So it’s almost for free. So let’s take our power back and really understand what it takes in order to deliver a project. Make sure that there is enough profit margin in there that is fair, and you are charging the right amount of money for your work. You are so deserving, beautiful.

Kris: You are! And it will take a bit of courage, be brave. It will take a bit of courage to step into these shoes of being somebody who is deserving and to communicate that you are somebody who is deserving and communicate that you are a person to be trusted with this. You’ve got this.

Don: Get educating your clients people. So before we go, we have a favour to ask. As always, if you are loving this podcast, it would mean so much to us if you would subscribe and leave us a positive review. super easy. Ah, it’s just a button on Apple.

Kris: Press the plus button

Don: Press the plus button. And there’s..is it a follow on spotify?

Kris: Yes.

Don: Super easy. It is really important for the growth of the podcast. So like we’ve said before, we dunno how that works, but it is important and so we are asking for help

Kris: Yes.

Don: Yeah, so thank you. We love you all so, so much. We’re so honored to be in your ears. So thanks for being with us today. And until next time be brave.

Kris: Get those prices where they should be.

Kris: Bye.

Don: Bye.