Disclaimer: In celebration of my company Nel’s Tax Help, LLC completing its second year of business, I decided to share some words of wisdom to other new business owners that will help them along their entrepreneurial journeys. Tips provided are purely for informational purposes only. Enjoy! 

You established your prices based on multiple factors. The cost of your time. The cost to operate your business. The value of your service and your products. What is average pricing in your industry. What you consider is an attractive and competitive price for your ideal client. Needless to say, as business owners, we typically do not pick random numbers from the sky when we establish our prices.

Yet you will always come across two kinds of potential clients that will take issue with your prices – the bargain shopper and the price terrorist.

The bargain shopper

This customer is looking for the most value for what little money they have. This potential client may honestly have a fixed income; and regardless of the value your business can bring to this customer, this potential client just cannot afford you.

This customer will even acknowledge that your service or product is valuable. But the money is simply not there and this potential client will accept the price you quote. This is that kind of customer that will either stay on a mailing list, go with a cheaper option, or merely fade away. This is the gracious customer between the two.

The price terrorist

This customer might have the same issues of inability to pay as the bargain shopper. But the defining difference between the bargain shopper and the price terrorist is the price terrorist has an attitude of refusing to pay your prices yet still wanting you to provide the service or sell the product. This refusal to pay attitude is usually accompanied by telling you why your prices must be lower — or why your prices are way too high.

The price terrorist will use scare tactics such as telling you no one will ever use your services or purchase your products at your price levels because there are too many competitors that are cheaper than you. The price terrorist will keep calling you back or emailing you asking you to explain what is included with your price in hopes to negotiate a feature or service to reduce the price. The price terrorist may even accept your price but then still tries to control the situation by insisting on establishing their own payment plan with terms the price terrorist created.

DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH PRICE TERRORISTS!

Save yourself the headache. Just tell them that your price is your price. When they are able to pay you at a later time, you will gladly service them or sell to them at that time at your established price.

If you currently do provide an installment payment plan, stand by your established plan. Because once you start making changes to your prices and business model to accommodate the price terrorist, they will most likely ask you to change other aspects of your business. You don’t want to change who you are (see tip #1) for anyone.

Come back tomorrow for Tip #4: Have Good Cake – Marketing vs. Substance

Disclaimer: In celebration of my company Nel’s Tax Help, LLC completing its second year of business, I decided to share some words of wisdom to other new business owners that will help them along their entrepreneurial journeys. Tips provided are purely for informational purposes only. Enjoy! 

You make the first connection with a potential customer. You might even provide a quote or have them sign an engagement letter or contract. Then nothing. It is like this new customer disappeared. I have found there is magic in the following up with customers.

You never know what is going on in someone else’s life. They or someone they know could have gotten ill. An unexpected expense could have became priority over the fees they promised you. Or, and it is not an excuse, everyday life happened and they honestly forgot.

This is not the time to take it personal that your potential customer went missing. Reach out either via email, text, phone, or all of the above to see if the client wants to continue to use your service or purchase your product.

When you do follow up, provide a deadline in your message. I usually give a week. If I have not heard back from the potential client after the week, I usually leave a voicemail and an email stating I have made several attempts to help them and this will be my last attempt to contact them to help provide relief for their current tax issue(s) we previously discussed. And then I wait…

That last message usually catches their attention; and within 7 days, I usually hear back from the missing potential client. Rarely, I still might not hear back from the potential client. It is at this point that I cut my loses and I move on to other clients who are willing to work with me and pay me.

But if I had not followed up with the missing potential client, I could have missed the opportunity to help another taxpayer and gain additional revenue.

Follow up with those potential clients because they came to you for a reason, and those potential clients most likely still want to work with you and purchase from you. Do not allow life and the unexpected to prevent you from making more money and gaining a potential recurring client. Stay golden and follow up.

Come back tomorrow for Tip #3: Do Not Negotiate with Price Terrorists

Disclaimer: In celebration of my company Nel’s Tax Help, LLC completing its second year of business, I decided to share some words of wisdom to other new business owners that will help them along their entrepreneurial journeys. Tips provided are purely for informational purposes only. Enjoy! 

Many people will tell you that what will help you stand out as a business owner is if you find purpose for going into business, or better known as finding your “why”. Others will advocate finding something that separates you from others in your industry, or better known as your “niche” and lesser known as your “what”.

But I find there is a third component that helps business owners stand out from the rest and helps their business be sustainable to sooner they discover this component. That is knowing who you are as a company, or better known as your “who”.

The best example I can provide for this is Chick Fil A. From day 1, the company let us all know who they were by not serving any beef products and being closed on Sundays. Yet Chick Fil A continuously ranks high against other preexisting fast food chains.

I knew for my company I wanted it known that I was a woman owned business. So my face is on everything. I also knew that I did not want to work on Sundays or Mondays – even during tax season. That is just who I am as a company.

Who are you as a company? Trends come and go. Some will fit your business and some will not, and it is easier to know what will work for you once you know who your business is. This is when you know who you are and what are your businesses’ values.

Come back tomorrow for Tip #2 : Following Up is Golden