“OK, so would you send me a Proposal”, he said.
“No.”, I said.
“Oh.”, he said.
“But I will send you an Action Plan”, I said.
And that’s what I’ll do later this morning.
Anyone who’s dug into my stuff in any depth or been in Elite will know exactly why I don’t send Proposals, but we’ll come to that in a moment.
But first… the content of the thing is very different from anything he’s seen before, that I guarantee.
Because what you won’t find in any of my Action Plans is special offers or discounts aimed at getting a new client on board (the exact opposite of virtually every business owner out there, except, of course, the ones who learn from me).
Why no discounts?
Well, we’ll ignore the whole thing about the damage discount pricing does to your bottom line for now and look at it a different way.
- It’s not fair on my existing clients. Imagine… I’ve got loyal clients who’ve been with me for almost a decade. What a reward for loyalty it would be if I took on new clients for less. More like a slap in the face, I reckon.
- It’s a terrible way to start the relationship. It sends the wrong message to both of us. Either what I do is worth the fees I charge or it isn’t. Cutting my prices would instantly undermine everything I do with my Positioning. And it’s unnecessary. By this point, if they’re going to walk away because of a few hundred quid a month, I’ve done something terribly wrong already.
- If I’m not making a decent profit myself I can’t adequately focus my time and attention to make them a decent profit. And this cuts deep. I take on clients with the expectation and desire of getting into a long-term relationship, and not just a quickie up against the wall in some dingy alleyway. Cutting my fees over a long period just to give them a short-term saving would be insane. My goal is to make them a fuckton of money over the long term. That takes work — work I can’t do if I’m scrabbling around for new clients all the time because I’m not making a decent profit from my current ones.
And the Proposal/Action Plan thing?
It’s neither arbitrary nor a distinction without a difference.
And if you want to know exactly what my reasoning is and the massive difference it makes…
… get thy name down for the Ground Zero initiative because I’ll be sharing all this deep philosophical stuff with everyone there (my reasoning strikes right at the heart of some of the most fundamental and basic principles we need to get a grip on if we want our businesses to be successful).
Click here for Ground Zero details
Witheringly,
P.S. I may go quiet for a couple of days.
Mrs EBG and I are going up to Kenmare for the weekend to get some hiking done.
Alas, they also have a fucking triathlon running (cycling, and swimming) this weekend, so it’s bound to be fucking heaving.
Whatever.
The upshot is I probably won’t get much work done this weekend, although I’ll stick to my early morning routine as much as I can (but go back to bed once I’ve done it).
You?
If you get one useful and productive thing done between now and Monday…
… click that link below and get in line for more info. about the Ground Zero initiative.
You’ll thank me later.