Do you believe in your value?
As a small business owner, do you know when you (or your employees) are leaving money on the table?
Consider this story: D.J. and I are on a road trip to Central California for a bike race he has Saturday in San Luis Obispo. He wanted to avoid the traffic near LA, so we left last night and drove to Santa Barbara.
I’m not sure what was happening in Santa Barbara, but the first four hotels we passed had no vacancies. We found a Best Western near the end of the strip and decided to try.
The nice clerk at the desk pulled up the availability on the computer.
“Well, we do have one room left,” he said. “It’s normally $185, but since it’s so late I can give it to you for $155.”
Huh? He was looking at an exhausted couple, ready to find a room for the night. His room was the only one we had seen available in miles. If he had said the room was $225, we’d have hoped for an AAA discount and paid the money (I’m pretty sure).
But, without any whining, bargaining, prompting or even any sufficient reason to pity us, he offered a fairly good discount off his only remaining room.
I have been in sales. I AM in sales. I sell myself and my service every day. And I have to admit it’s still tough when I state my price and hear silence. I have to stop myself from saying, “Ok, ok, I’ll drop it to X.” But I know much better than to walk into a selling situation offering a discount that no one has asked for.
Ask yourself — are you selling yourself short? If so, chances are you don’t believe in the value of the price you’re charging. If so, repeat after me: I am worth the fee I charge.
Rachel Toyer on 26 Sep 2008 at 3:01 pm #
When I first started out as freelance writer, I was very unsure about how to “sell” myself and my writing. I was working for a upstart magazine in Honolulu and at first they offered me 50% trade and 50% cash. I was new to the game I accepted. It more than a year later and I know what is reasonable and fair now. But very wise person once said, that when you are doing what you love to do, you can’t put a price on it, but if you must put a price then make sure it matches with the effort and passion you put into it.
steph on 27 Sep 2008 at 7:37 am #
Oooh, this is a good one.
I would have been raving about how nice the guy was. But your point is excellent and thought-provoking. It’s something I’m totally struggling with right now as I set up EditQuest.
Rae on 27 Sep 2008 at 8:47 pm #
Hope the bike race in San Luis went well. That’s my old home town area-actually Pismo is where I was raised. -Rae
Sara Best on 29 Sep 2008 at 12:01 pm #
Great post Beth and such an important thing for those of us who are self-employed to remember.
One of the parts I hate about this job is when the question comes, “so what are your rates?” Because, like you say, that dreaded silence usually follows whatever you say. The problem is that we’re writers and, let’s be honest, everyone else in the world is pretty sure that they could do what we do fairly easily if they just had the time. It’s not like when an electrician or mechanic states their rates. Those are skills that most people know they can’t do – or can’t do as well as a professional – so they think it’s fair to pay. I wish good writing got the same kind of respect.
Mark McClure on 30 Sep 2008 at 1:04 am #
That’s a great lesson on the sales process, Beth.
However, in a roundabout way that nice clerk gained some great free publicity for his hotel through an act of kindness.
Is there a web link for that hotel? Perhaps an article in the local paper about late night customer service would go down well? Heck, you can even write it and charge them for it…