When you are even a bit unsure about the value you deliver to your clients or your bosses, you will likely drop your price or accept less money. You will set the value bar low and it will take you years of proving yourself to raise it again. Along the way, it will be a struggle because you will want to do a good job while you will be feeling underpaid. And your clients or bosses will then likely not get all the results they want. No fun at all for anyone.
When you know the value you deliver for clients or your bosses and they know it, too, you get to charge top dollar. They will think they are getting a deal and you will feel well paid.
Start by having confidence in your own work through understanding your SweetSpot. Then foster trust and learn from your clients or bosses what is going on now (e.g. “we can’t turn our inventories quickly” or “my team is disorganized”), what result they want (e.g. “inventory turns surpass industry norms” or “my team is on top of things and our customers are confident we know what we are doing”) and how much, in dollars-euros-yuan-pounds, that result is worth to them. Then charge them a small percentage of that value.
If your boss or client still says they can’t afford you or that someone else if offering a lower price, do negotiate on value. While remaining dedicated to them getting the results they want, take away some of the deliverables in your offer, offer alternative products, see if they can handle some of the work themselves. Just do not drop your price.
In your corner,
Mike
Today’s photo credit: chrisinplymouth via photopin cc