What’s Your Value?
By Elinor Stutz
Most female entrepreneurs beginning their own business seem to suffer from their own perceived “lack of worth” syndrome. They are so accustomed taking a back seat as housewives and mothers or volunteering for the community greater good, that their inherent skill set has been greatly diminished in terms of monetary value.
Men, on the other hand, have no problem asking for beyond what they are worth and frequently get what they ask. Many times, when you sign up for one of their events, you will only receive about 90% of the information you expected; the rest of the deliverables will be had when you sign up for another program.
Women need to pay attention to asking for not what you think you are worth, but what your male counterparts believe they are worth. You will find a major discrepancy between their value and yours. Yearly, do your research to find your new value. Remember, most often females are worth more than their counterparts because rather than up-sell a future program, women tend to share everything they know all at once.
The reason women suffer from not valuing their services is because traditionally women have taken a back seat to the men. Many women stay at home to raise children and take care of the household. returning to work they earn 70 cents to the dollar of men. Women in corporate are not promoted as frequently as men. Over the years, women have learned their value has less worth than the men.
Asking for larger sums of money brings fear to many along with a feeling of guilt. But to stay in business you must pay attention to the bottom line and make your time worthwhile. By focusing on service, delivering on promises, adding to your credibility and trust, people will perceive you as a value-add to your services.
Three immediate benefits will come about from asking for more:
1. Prospects will perceive you bring more value to the table.
2. The mere act of asking for the higher price will at the very least put you in a category of negotiating if not getting the full price.
3. You will attract a clientele that appreciates your value rather than one trying to nickel and dime you
Here are a few ideas to ease the pain of “guilt” for charging what you are worth: Offer words of advice without being asked to those coming up behind you. Occasionally offer your services free of charge for those who can’t afford your higher price. Provide articles and audios at no charge and think of these as your marketing effort. On a quarterly basis, adapt your skill set to help communities at large; a side benefit is this good deed will further build your business neighborhood.
My Story:
A friend bragged to me about her ability to get $50 per hour for coaching. This is a woman who raised three highly successful children, went back to school to get her master’s degree and then paved her way to become a manager at a well-known male-dominated high tech company and she was one of the few women who earned a very respectable living.
Considering what she has already accomplished, I encouraged her to research the fees of other consultants and then shared with her what I have encountered. Rather than concentrating on the fee she charges, it will be more helpful for her to describe to her prospects how her program works and how the guidance will improve their life. Then she will be able to ask for higher fees.
To perfect anything takes practice. If you are timid about asking for a higher fee, practice saying out loud, “My fee is $200.” The next time someone asks you what you charge, you will easily be able to answer with a confident smile.
Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC and Author, transformed her highly successful sales career into training entrepreneurs, network marketers and beginning salespeople. “We help you turn stormy sales cycles into a Smooth Sale”.
Smooth Sale Delivers:
Original work in the form of Professional Sales Training, Licensing, Coaching, and Motivational Speaking and a full Product Line.
Products Include:
“Nice Girls DO Get The Sale: Relationship Building That Gets Results”, published by Sourcebooks, “The Sales Toolkit”, “Smooth Sale audio training seminar” and Entrepreneur kit – “How to GROW Your Business: mindset, strategy and implementation.
“Nice Girls DO Get The Sale” was featured in TIME Magazine, translated into multiple languages and is selling worldwide. Elinor writes a column for Bay Area BusinessWoman News and contributes articles to Diversity Edge Magazine.
For more information call 800-704-1499 or visit www.smoothsale.net
Author site: Elinor Stutz | View all articles by Elinor Stutz
Topics: Business, Sales Tips |
January 3rd, 2008 at 7:20 am
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January 25th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Women have long suffered from being devalued. It’s time to truly change that defect in our society. Just this morning I read an article about how Britney Spears GENERATES income for the economy and I had to blog about it on my Road To Diva site.
Here’s the URL to that post: http://roadtodiva.blogspot.com/2008/01/value-of-women.html
We women need to understand our true value and be aware of what we really contribute to society!