How To Price Your Online Services Perfectly | DM Agency QnA | AskAviArya | Jolene Fernandes |

How do you come about setting the perfect price for an online service?

We have to make systems which will allow us to win more and fail less. What we do is we talk about cash flow, we talk about operations, we talk about software, we talk about which course to take. You fix yourself from here. This is where people confuse themselves saying the price is set by the market. And you know, I saw my Competitor, they're charging 20,000. How can I charge 70,000? That's the market. That's their market. That is their market. Coming from a general physician who charges 500 rupees to 5,000 rupees to a super specialist. And we have to have the guts to say no to everybody else. Thank you sir. I won't be able to work. Keep saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then one year, no, no, no. But that one yes is going to be one lakh rupees, two lakh minimum and that's it. And we don't need more than that.

Do you think it is in the entrepreneur's best interest to create a wide range of services or we should.

Hi, my name is Avi Arya. Father of two girls, six dogs, husband to a superwoman, a streetcar based in a turned hotelier, then marketer and founder of Internet moguls. What up Internet moguls?

For some of us who desire to control and perfect all aspects of the business, it might be difficult for us to give that control and especially autonomy to a person other than us to help us run our business. So how many team members do you think does a small business owner need and in what roles, like what functions of a business are best outsourced is something that I'd like to know from you.

I believe that an entrepreneur a should never be alone and so therefore he or she should be surrounded with people who know how to lift them up. It could be your best friend, it could be your cousin, it could be somebody who knows how to lift you up. Those people should be in the board. They should come to work on Zoom at least once a week because they're there. And you know, you tell them, you know, I'm starting a company once a week, once a month. I want you to come and just lift me up and my team up and book in the calendar. I'm starting a company. One call a month I'm going to have with you for 20 minutes. Just lift me up. So you know, lift, you can call it lift me up with Priya or whoever your cousin is or whatever and book those calls. So have that Support. See, because the thing is we have to be smart entrepreneurs. Which means we have to have, we have to make systems which will allow us to win more and fail less. Uske BAATH failure. But at least we can try our best to say let's make it as fail proof as possible. So what we do is we talk about cash flow, we talk about operations, we talk about software, we talk about which course to take. You fix yourself from here. So in my office, what I've done for my. I'll tell you for myself. And I share this very openly. You see, I wear, I wear hoodies. A lot of my, my teammates say sir AAP Bina suit, Pennyma Jayakaro or Chani Rakta and all of that. I'll tell you reason. I've got, I've got. See what all I've got near my table. I've got my favorite cologne which is cool water. I've got it here. I've got my favorite race car. I love racing cars. So I've got my thing which I take with me 23. I've got a few stuffed toys which I can't pull out from here. Why have I got stuffed toys which is a, you know, like a Marvel character and because I'm a child who wants to feel safe in the environment. We are all like that when we grow up.

Absolutely.

We are expected to say grow up, be a man and you know, be a strong woman. All this, you know, you cannot, you cannot cry, you cannot feel, you feel anxiety, you feel nervousness, you feel weak. So many times in your day, in your life, during that time when you come to office, you should have fun. You, you should so create a environment of fun. You come to my office in Delhi, there are those video games where you put in coins and you can play video games all day. You know, there are race cars all over. Because I want people, we start, we do yoga in the office. All these are not HR activities. All these things in my office are activities. Because I understand as human beings we are going through so much before and after work. You interview any one person in the office and somebody is like, so I have to start up and then I have take my mom to the listing and I come back and you want me to reach office at 10 o'.

Clock.

So I have to leave the house at 8:30, 9 o' clock and then I leave at 5 o' clock and then I go back and then I pick up my mom by the time I go home and I cook food, oh my God, look at the amount of stuff people are going through. So your office should be a place where you want to go to find respite from other places. Not to say our office in Nicolo put the things around you, pictures of your parents, pictures of things you love, your vision board, your stuff that you like. Like right now on my table, I feel so centered because every, I pray here every day I meditate. This is my mandir, this is everything. I got my mics, everything. So create people and things around you which will make you feel happy. In a happy space. You will create lots of you will work more. More is also very important role in business. The more you do, the more result you get. So less is more. Not in the beginning of a startup you have to do more, more, more to lift the plane off the ground. So when you do more, then, and then when it starts flying, then it's a different science to it. So create an environment of people and tools around you where you feel like going to office. Like when I wear a hoodie or especially my hoodie, like I got this Kobe Bryant hoodie with Kobe is introducing his daughter and himself to all the others. I mean like I feel relaxed in this environment. So create an environment where you feel relaxed.

My field in the fitness consultancy industry, one sees that online service providers generally price more than nutritionists who work offline. That's the general trend that I hope I have observed among my competitors and peers. One of the ways we do that is by not selling time for money as most offline services and service provider steps to do. At the same time, we also expect our customers to be more self led than service owners who are providing services offline. So how do we then go about setting an optimal price for our product which will sound feasible to the customer as well as, you know, which will serve us and pay our bills. Like how do you come about setting the perfect price for an online service?

First thing I believe is that the price is set by the market, right? The market has to set the price. Now who is the market? Market is not the market. The market is my market. This is where people confuse themselves saying the price is set by the market. And you know, I saw my competitors, they're charging 20,000, how can I charge 70,000? That's the market. That's exactly their market. That is their market. That's not your market. What is your market? Okay, my market is somebody, for example, I'm Jolene. My market is somebody who's like Abhi Arya. He's 6ft 3 inches tall, he weighs 100 kilos. I'm a large man. So when I jump, when I exercise, there's a lot of pressure on my knees. So my trainer has to completely change my knee format because I'm not going to do all the jumping around and ruin my knees. So at the same time, I am traveling, you know, I'm traveling a lot and I want a time at 5:00am in the morning and sometimes 5 in the. So I want flexibility. Okay. Number three thing is that I want, for example, I'm just taking myself as a. I want, I love, I don't like as much cardio as I love weights. So I need somebody to change my weights into cardio. Okay. I have to work with India, so I have to stay awake at night. So I'm not going to get those, you know, sleep on time. So somebody needs to understand that I like to work out in sometimes solo and sometimes in a group where there's music and everything. Now if somebody can understand that an entrepreneur may want to have different workout timing. Say if I'm a customer of TAAB and say, fine, Abhi for all this, a normal course is 30,000. For all this flexibility, how much are you willing to pay? Like, yeah, I'm already paying 2,000 or 3,000 rupees for a class. So fine. So that means you're doing three classes a week. So you're already paying 10,000. So you can pay 40,000. So what kind of entrepreneurs are like Avi, who want this kind of a package, right? Because I know a Healthify me and all these people who are amazing, but they're not going to give me maybe, maybe not a tailored solution. So you say that guy is charging you 29 because this is a solution they're giving. I am going to give you what you want and I'll create it for you. And it's going to be 60,000 rupees or 70,000 rupees or whatever. Now one thing that I like is at the end of every session, every end of a strenuous workout session, I want meditation. Now my coach says meditation, meditation. So I wanted somebody to say, fine, now the thing is over, just 10 minutes just make me de stress and then I go to sleep. So there's so many different things that I want that I know that one person is not going to give it to me. So. But there are going to be many people who are going to be as crazy as me wanting a, you know, assorted sort of dish.

So customization.

Yes. So find those entrepreneurs. So maybe you say, I'm Going to find entrepreneurs who are working in Canada and serving Indian clients. So they're awake at night and this thing and they're big and tall. Their size and height and everything is a big. So they need different nutrition. Like my, you can't give me the same 1500 calories. It's not enough for me.

Absolutely not.

Yeah, so, so, so, so a lot of people I've been to have said pandraso calorie. I'm like, yeah, thank you very much. There is any yoga. So all those kind of things you say, maybe entrepreneur in Canada who are big and tall, who are working with India, how do you, how many do you need? If somebody can pay 50,000, maybe you need only 20. And there are maybe 26,000 entrepreneurs who are working with India living here. Out of them, maybe 2,000 of them are the same height and weight and this thing like me. Out of those 2,000, you need only 20 to pay you 50,000.

So.

But.

That is what, that is always my concern. I mean you're asking us essentially to niche down so much but you say that's the solution. Yeah, that's the solution too. Optimize your services and set the right price.

See, because what I feel is that when you niche, since you're niching down, you are becoming a super. You're becoming from a general physician who charges 500 rupees to 5,000 rupees to a super specialist who's saying 50,000 rupees. You say it doesn't matter, my mom is not well here. 50,000 fix her that. Because you're not going to get that super specialist anywhere else now. But it does not limit you to doing other micro. So people are like, okay fine. What? So initially I say you want to make 10 lakh rupees a month. You say 50,000 into these 20 clients. Done. But I mean, what if I want to create an awesome business with one crore rupees a month? Does this, this niche, is it enough? I don't know.

It's not sufficient?

Maybe it's not. But that doesn't mean you can't have another micro niche. Maybe you can go after single women who are traveling between India and New York 12 times a year. Single women and their kids are left alone at home and they eat all kind of rubbish and you can become a nutritionist for the teacher, for the kids. Does that not happen? That also happens. Like you can do anything.

Same marketing channel. But sir, sorry to interrupt you. No, no, please go the same, the same marketing channel. I mean, how do we do we need to create a separate channel for that?

No. No. So, so once, once we say this thing, then that's my second level of product. Maybe I'll wear a different T shirt, different hoodie, and I have a different. I'm talking to an, a different audience in a different aftar. And I'm saying this is my second product and then my third product and my fourth product. Maybe I'm aspiring boy, aspiring Bollywood stars. You're standing in line for your auditions six hours a day. Come back home. Nobody's home to cook for you. You're mentally and physically tired. Give me 30 minutes a day. I'll make sure that your abs remain in shape so that the next audition you get, you can crack it. Maybe that, because you know, they want something like that as well. Maybe, maybe an athlete who's broken a limb or amputated a limb and he wants to get back into shape. There are so many micro niches. So make one micro niche. Get your first 20 clients. Make the money to be able to reinvest in another child, another child is another micro niche and then go into another, this thing and then another one. And that's how you build a company.

A lot of people who come to my page or who contact me, they haven't got that much of a spending capacity and there are definitely people who can pay. So do you think it is in the entrepreneur's best interest to create a wide range of services or we should only focus on high ticket services?

Creating two answers to this question. Creating multiple layers of pricing in your business to cater to every kind of customer. When the business is starting, when the cash flow is low, when there is no investment, no funding can sink the business because you will be trying to cater to everybody and you'll have time for nobody. There will be no right positioning in the market. And the people who are paying you low ticket, they will take away most of your time. So Definitely start with 1. Create the money, cash flow from that. Create the second one. Next is, there's nothing called high ticket. High ticket is for a person looking from here and looking up. The person who's already up, he doesn't care about that. One lakh, two lakh rupees. There are people who are paying whatever the people are paying. 10,000 rupees a car. So.

I'm not the ideal audience. So I consulted with a marketing person and she said, you know what? Just don't give a damn about advertising and don't give a damn about followers. You follow like an entrepreneur model, wherein through only organic marketing and through Instagram's algorithm, your target audience will. This is something that I'm not finding very successful. And I see you kind of adopting the kind of an opposite strategy wherein you know, you are an influencer. You put out so much advice and knowledge for free, and you also talk a lot about Facebook ads. So I'm. I'm looking for the middle ground.

So the person who gave you this advice has given you correct advice, but I'll just reframe it. When they said, think like an entrepreneur, what that person is trying to say is, you don't need millions of followers and become an influencer. What that person is saying just, you need. You're an entrepreneur. You need a few thousand people, and out of that, a few hundred people are buying from you every year. So build that up with the right hashtag, with the right stories, slowly, one by one, one by one, it will happen. And there's nothing wrong with it. It will happen. People are building it up. Most entrepreneurs have built up like this over the years, and there is nothing wrong in that strategy.

Very slow, sir. I mean, I'm saying it's not working for me.

Exactly, Exactly. So the thing is, I don't have time because I have a large team and I have large, big missions to do. I have to have 500 to 1000, 1500 people coming for my webinar. I can't fill up those webinars organically. I have to run ads. And I love ads because it is a sure shot of the business working right. If I do the right ad, I know it's working. So then there is nothing called certainty in life or business. If an ad gives me certainty, then I'm going to grab it. An entrepreneur's job is to grab whatever certainty that he can get an ad is saying.

I attribute that certainty.

So, because, see, the thing is, when we were selling for 7,999, we were. There was a time we were doing ads. We were spending 2 to 3 lakh rupees for a webinar. We would sell a 7999 product, and we would still make anywhere from 3 lakhs. Then we would break even, and then we would make up to 9 lakhs on one webinar. Now the seven triple. Now, with the Facebook algorithm changes and everything, we're not able to make money on 7999. Now our product is 125. In next two months, it's going to be 224. By December 31st, the product is the same product is going to be 484 now as the product keeps increasing. Now I don't worry about the ad cost because whatever it is, it's still going to give me.

You're still.

I'm sorted. Yeah. So it always has to be like that. You know when people say, I'm here to say serve the community and I want to make, I want to serve more people, you serve more first when you have the money, you know, they don't have most. I'm not generalizing, but it is a popular saying. When people pay money, they pay attention. When they pay attention, they take action. When they take action, they get results. So if there's no money, no action, no results, nothing. So, you know, go for the people who have the money and go for ads.

I upsold one of my services at a higher cost and this person is doing every single thing, every single day. And I was like, this was a hunch when you said it. And it really does work.

And we have to have the guts to say no to everybody else. Like, you won't be able to work. Thank you. Maybe I can recommend you to somebody else, but sorry, I can't keep saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then one yes, no, no, no. But that one yes is going to be one lakh rupees, two lakhs minimum and that's it. And we don't need more than that.

You have to have the guts and the confidence.

That's why I said it's a mental game. Business is a, is a mental game, mind game with your own self. That's it. Thank you, Jolene. Take care and all watching this. Thank you very much for being part of the Askawya show where we're bringing entrepreneurs like Jolene to ask questions. If you like any of these questions or if you have answered, you want to teach me or Jolene something we'd love to learn from you, let us know in the comments. And we have a contest going on where we are giving away hoodies, caps and the OnePlus 8 phone at the end of the contest as well. So please keep commenting here because the more comments you have, the more chances you have to win. Thank you very much. Look forward to seeing you in the next video. Bye for now. Sam.