Do you value what you do?
Do you hold it in high esteem?
Is what you do less worthy of respect than any other professional service?
Is it flunky work? Or do adminstrative services require every bit of critical thinking, experience, knowledge, talent, intelligence, and problem-solving skills as any other professional service?
What is the worth of your 10, 20, 30 years developing your skills, knowledge and expertise doing what you do? What value does that hold for clients?
Your pricing will subliminally, but directly, answer these questions in the minds of your prospects and clients; it’s one of the critical ways you shape your own marketplace’s perception about the value of your service. If you don’t value what you do, clients sure as heck aren’t going to.
If you price too low, you focus clients on price instead of the results you achieve for them.
If you price too low, you risk coming across as a cheap commodity instead of a valuable professional service.
If you price too low, you will get more price-shoppers than value-shoppers.
When you price appropriately, you get a whole other calibre of client. It’s the same difference between Nordstroms and Walmart.
Low price is a seduction, but one that rarely leads to anything more meaningful (or profitable) than a one-night stand. If you understand that long-term business relationships, higher profits, and business happiness are integral to success in the solo Virtual Assistant professional practice, make sure your pricing is in alignment with those values.
Children love candy and would eat it all the time if we let them. Does that mean it’s good parenting to feed them candy and junkfood whenever they want? Of course not. We’d have cranky, spoiled, demanding children bouncing off the walls and driving us crazy, wouldn’t we? And neither should you let clients pressure you into devaluing your service to them and pricing too low.
If a prospect is serious about their business, and you do a good job of illustrating the results you can achieve for them, pricing your services professionally and profitably is NOT going to deter them.
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, the virtual assistant term is really completely idiotic to...
