… visited the web site of someone whose blog post I had stumbled upon.
He seemed very impressive.
Professionally designed site, plenty of content, brand name client list, lots of social media shares.
I noticed that he offered a one-hour consultation, so I gave it a look.
It only cost $200.
Interestingly, my immediate next thought was not, “Wow, that’s not much for a guy this well established.”
Instead, it was, “Oh, maybe he’s not that good.”
Price is about more than just how much money you put in your pocket today – it’s also data that people use, in part, to make judgments about you.
Is your low price helping you or hurting you?
I found your reaction interesting. I was wondering if you have given any thought to what price would NOT have triggered the thought that he wasn’t very good because the price was too cheap. Is there another way of positioning a “one hour consultation” that doesn’t trigger the too cheap – too expensive response (depending on the perspective of the prospect)?
Hi Thea!
I don’t know, actually. I’m sure that as you point out, “too cheap/expensive” varies by person.
What struck me was the insight that “cheaper is better” in terms of getting more clients – something that a lot of professionals believe – isn’t necessarily true. When you lower your price, some people walk away – it’s not that microeconomics bell curve we all learned about!
Michael, my reaction would have been exactly the same. Every time I see a clients list that includes Fortune 500 companies I expect one hour consultation to be 4 figures, not low 3 figures.
Without knowing the exact situation, I’d guess two possible scenarios: either he worked with those clients in his former life as an employee of another F500 company, and is now trying to build his new gig; or is thinking “this $200 an hour consultation is my opportunity to get paid to pitch,” in other words, the $200 buys you not much value.
Here’s a tip on how to check somebody out quickly: when visiting his web site, check the Alexa.com score. If it’s higher than 2,000,000 you’re looking at a beginner. Real pros rank at least 500,000 and big names should have Alexa ranks in the 5 figures.
You might be right Boris, so hard to tell.
And thanks for the Alexa tip! Of course I went and checked my own site: I’m just inside the 500,000 mark (whew) so I can sleep easy tonight!!