Signs you need to charge more

Information today. Hello. Because it's so necessary to know when you're supposed to be raising your rates. And hello, everyone. Thank you for joining. I'm going to be going. I'm going live right now through Streamyard and on Instagram. Oh, my God. It's Liz from wine class. Okay, so Liz from wine class is watching on Instagram. Welcome, Liz. So good to see you. And for everyone on the facebooks and on LinkedIn and on YouTube, welcome. Also today I want to be talking about the five signs that you need to be raising your rates. And I want to talk about this because I see this all the time. People are undercharging for incredible services that their clients would like, die without. It just makes such a huge difference in their lives, in their businesses. And here's what happens when you don't charge what you are worth, okay? A few things. First and foremost, it's really easy to go out of business, okay? You might have a business that offers an incredible service and serves in a community that's very appreciative of it, but you can't pay the bills, okay? And you're not going to be able to stay in business if you can't pay the bills. Okay? That is pretty critical to success. Hi, Charlie. Anyway, so that's number one. Number two is you create an energetic mismatch. I have a very needy labradoodle right here. I don't know if you can see, she's very demanding. Hi. You create an energetic mismatch between you and your clients. And what does this look like when I say that? Sounds kind of woo woo. So basically, we all know what it's like to get something for free. We all know what it's like to get something that's super valuable for free. And what happens when that happens? We feel like we owe that person something. And because we feel like we owe that person something, we aren't able to be truly in business with them. Okay, so how does this show up with your clients? So say, you know, you know I'm a coach and a business strategist, right? So say I'm giving my services away for free to one client and I'm giving them a ton of value. Now they may need something from me that I'm not actually providing them. And they may not feel comfortable asking for that thing because there's this energetic mismatch, which means that I'm actually not able to be the best version of myself. And I have the poodle now too. Oh, my God, you guys. See, I don't know if you can see all the animals that are demanding my attention. It's kind of distracting. They have very cold, wet noses on my elbows. Liz, I hope you're enjoying this. And LinkedIn. Gabriel Tunis. Hi. Nice to see you. And LinkedIn user. Hi, dog. Yes, I'll let them know you said hi. Thank you. But you're not being of full service to your client, and that's the last thing you want. You want to be the person that they go to for everything. You want to be giving this them this amazing service. What can often happen in those relationships is they stop coming to you, they stop booking with you because they feel so guilty that they're getting too much for free and they're not able to even out the relationship. So we're going to be talking about some signs that you need to be paying attention to to tell you if you need to raise your rates. This isn't for everyone. Your rates might actually be perfectly on par. Because I'm tight, Lily. Because I'm tight. Your rates might be perfectly on par with where you need to be, but here are some signs that they aren't, and you need to up them. Okay, so number one, this is going to sound super counterintuitive, but I say this to all my clients. Your yes no rate, meaning the amount of people who say yes to working with you after a sales call should be about between 25 to 50%. Okay? You do not want 100% of people who are who go on a sales call with you to say yes to working with you. Okay? 50 to 75% of those people should say, you know, this is. This is a little too expensive. I don't know if I can afford this. I need to go and think about it. Oh, my God, we're having dog drama like crazy over here. I hope you can. Can you hear this? It's crazy. Anyway, so. So you should have 50 to 75% of people saying, no, I can't work with you. This is too expensive. Okay? If you're getting 100% yeses, people are thinking they're getting on a phone call with you and they are thinking, damn, this is such a good deal. I'm going to land this person super cheap and hopefully lock them in. At this rate, these are not the best clients. I'm going to be talking about this in a little while. You want to be getting higher, being like, oh, my God, guys. You guys are being so distracting right now. I'm just gonna show you guys what is going on. We have Luna, who's in a cone. I don't know. I'm. I have two things, as you can see. This is very distracting. Oh, my God. Hi. So anyway, okay, so first and foremost, don't, don't be impressed by your 100 guest rate. Okay? It is a sign that you need to be raising your rates. You can't stay there forever. You know, successful businesses have people who say, no, that's not worth it. Let's look at Louis Vuitton. Okay. I'm not personally a Louis Vuitton fan. However, they sell their bags for an insane amount of money. And there are people who say yes. There are also people out there like me, who see the quality and who say, no, that's not for me. That's because they have that niche, because they have that, that loyal group of people who see the value, they're able to charge that much more. So it's kind of a cyclical thing. So when you charge more, you get more loyal clients and you also are able to pay the bills. That's amazing. Right? The dogs have gone. Hopefully they're not coming back. I don't know. I feel like this should be the dog show. Anyway. Hi, Margo, Welcome. Thank you for joining. Okay, so you're not getting a 100% yes rate. Okay. That's not impressive anymore. You should be getting 25% to 50% of people who go on a sales call with you who say, yes, I can afford this. I want to do it. Let's go. Okay, so no more 100%. That's number one. Number two is, you know, we all have this moment. I'm going to own this. When I first started out, I charged very little for my coaching. And. And it's because I didn't feel like I could justify it as like a new beginner baby coach. I felt like I had to build up more experience and do all stuff. But here's what happens. You get that experience really fast. And what happens when you start raising your rates for newer clients is you can sometimes become resentful of the clients that are paying less. So if you find yourself feeling resentful of any of your clients for the amount of work you're doing, for the amount of money they are paying you, this is a sign that you not only have to raise your rates for your new clients coming in so you can create a buffer, this is a sign that you also need to turn around to those old existing clients. Unless you have a contract in place that said otherwise and say, hey, how? I'm working with Clients has changed a little bit, and I love our work together. I so appreciate working with you, and I love the project, the progress you've made up until this point, and I want to continue further. However, I've had to raise my rates, and this is what that looks like. And then you just stay silent. Okay. When you start a business for yourself, the point. The point of starting the business for yourself is so that you can feel good about the work that you do. Okay? Yeah, we all want to make some money. We all want to be able to pay our bills. But ultimately, those of us starting a business to help other people, we don't really care too much about the money. I mean, it's nice and all, but we want to make a difference. It's really hard to feel good about making that difference when you are resenting the clients that you're making the difference with. Okay? So let's just mitigate that charge. Something that's fair, that will allow for you not to feel resentful about doing the work for your clients. All right? Okay. So don't feel resentful. Your clients. This is number three. Okay. Another signal that you need to raise your rates. Your clients stop doing the work. Your clients aren't doing the work, or they're not getting things to you on time. So say you're a copywriter, and you need research stuff, and they're not getting that to you in a timely manner. Okay? You might be a lawyer, and you need documents back. I don't care what. What you do if your clients are misbehaving in what they are doing with you. So for coaches, if your clients are no longer doing the homework, they're just coming in there, just wanting to talk through everything. There is value in talking through things. Don't get me wrong. However, that's not what a coach is there for. A coach is there to help you make movement in your life. And if you're not doing the work, this is a signal to the coach that the coach is not charging enough. Okay? So specifically, in coaching, when we charge a lot to our clients, yes, it's nice for us to make money, but charging a lot is really so that our clients feel like they have some skin in the game. Okay? Because if I'm paying you 20 bucks an hour to show up and talk, I might not even show up to all my sessions. I might blow it off. I might be late. I'm definitely not doing the homework. Okay? And actually, I can tell you my barrier, my personal barrier. I have paid, like, 5, $500 for a group that was eight weeks long and I never showed up to it because it wasn't enough to have me have some skin in the game and block off that time in my calendar. Okay, now what happens? So this is more serious than I'm making it sound because you have these clients who've signed up with you. They feel like they should be getting something out of your, their work with you, but they're not bought in enough to actually do the work. So what ends up happening? They go throughout their entire engagement with you. They show up to the calls. Sometimes they might do some homework, but probably not. And ultimately they don't see any results because they haven't done much of the work. So then they get out of the engagement with you and they feel like they kind of got taken advantage of or they didn't get what they paid for because they didn't do the work. It hits your self esteem really badly because you're looking at this client who you poured your heart and soul into and they didn't see any results. You're thinking, oh my God, I must be a bad coach. Like there must be something bad or not good or not sufficient about what it is that I do and what I offer. And the dogs are back. They are behind the camera. Oh, God, do you guys have dogs? Like, am I the only one who's dealing with dog drama? I see Tim Lockey. So true on the client resentment and not doing homework. I have to sign off. But this is great content. Keep it up. Oh, thanks, Tim. I hope to see you soon. So anyway, your clients need to have some skin in the game to be committed to doing the work. And when they do the work, they get incredible results, which, when they get incredible results, what do you get? You get a kick ass testimonial, which in turn helps you get more kick ass, hardworking, committed clients. So if you're not charging enough for your clients to have skin in the game, the fact that they're not getting results is actually on you. And it's so easy to fix. All you have to do is raise your rates. Okay, I know I say that's easy. I should say it's simple. The solution is simple. You have to raise your rates. I know it's really hard to have that conversation with people, but it's so critical to the success of your business and the success of your clients. And I know you care a lot about your clients. So let's, let's make sure that we set them up for success. Number four, this is a really obvious one that you have to raise your rates, you can't pay your bills, okay? So if you have started a business and you're in the business and you're working in the business and you have no other form of income and you're starting to dip into savings or you're starting to like, borrow money from people or from institutions to try to pay the bills, honey, you have to raise your rates, okay? There's no if, ands or buts about this, okay? You are not going to be able to have a sustainable, successful business if you cannot have a sustainable life, okay? If you're not able to buy food without stressing, pay your mortgage or your rent, pay any other bills. Also, if you're not able to save for a rainy day, if you're not able to save for vacations and retirement, you're not setting yourself up for longevity and, and sustainability in your business, okay? So that is a key signal that you have to raise your rates. And finally, this is my favorite one, because you have some incredible clients. And I guarantee you, if you are undercharging, you have heard this, you've heard one of your clients tell you that you're undercharging. They tell you, hey, you provide so much value to me. This is so incredible. You are undercharging. Let me pay you more. Or you need to charge other clients more. Because sometimes people don't necessarily want to pay more themselves. I pride myself anytime I work with someone where I'm the client and they're undercharging me and they're over delivering, I will actually have this conversation with them where they we design together what the new rate is going to be. Because for me, I know that I won't show up and do the work. And I will feel really guilty about using anything that they provide for me or accessing them in the way that they have, you know, designed in their business. If I feel like I'm undercharging, okay? And I actually won't work with people if they undercharge too much. There's an example. There was a writing coach that I was considering working with a while ago and I opted not to work with her because she didn't charge that much. And I knew I wouldn't do the work if. If I didn't have someone who had me have some skin in the game. And by the way, if you're asking about my book, I know it's taking forever. Computer issues, all the things. Don't write a book. It's a Lot of work. I mean, do write a book, it'll be really great for your thought leadership. But it's, I'm in it right now and it's exhausting. Anyway, I didn't plan this well, I didn't plan as well because my phone is about to die, the dogs are going crazy in the background and you know, it's just, this is Friday. This has been basically how the week has gone. Luna got spayed on Tuesday. I've been sleeping on the couch so she doesn't have to go up the stairs at night and so I don't have to carry her 60 pound body up and down the stairs in the night and evening. So I'm a little tired and my phone is tired and I'm just noticing my computer's tired too. So I'm going to leave it there and I hope this was super helpful to everyone. If you are curious about what you should be raising your rates to, an option that you can use to do the math. There's a really simple formula. It's called the Money Map for coaches. And it's not just for coaches, it's also for consultants and copywriters and you know, anyone who's in a service based business. And if you wanted to download that, it's in my bio on Instagram, it's also in my featured posts on LinkedIn and it's also my website at www.katiemcmanus.com. we all deserve to make a good living doing work that we love and it's easier than you think. And so I want to leave you with that. Also, if you have any questions about how to grow your business beyond the level that you have up until this point, you don't know how. Reach out to me. We'll set up a time to talk and see if it's a fit and if it is, we will get you off to the races. Anyway, I'm Katie McManus. Thank you. For those of you who joined, it's been so nice to hang out with you for a little bit this Friday evening. I'm going to go and have dinner, probably something easy like pizza and go to bed early because I'm exhausted and I hope you all have a great weekend and if you have a long weekend, I hope you're doing something super fun. Anyway, love you all. Have a great night. I'm going to end it on the link.