Make It About Value, Not Price

“You’re telling me, you expect people to pay that much for this?”

I didn’t respond to him because I knew the answer: Absolutely I expecteded certain people to pay that much for this particular swimsuit!

This was a sports retailer whom I was talking with, and right when he made his comment about the woman’s swimsuit I was showing him (made out of white ceramic yarn, specifically so that it wouldn’t go see-through when it went in the water), his female assistant walked out the door. And as soon as she saw the suit, she raced over to it, and said, “You guys are making these?” She held the suit up, and she pulled at it a little bit, and said, “This is so thick, there’s no way this is going to go see-through in the water! Can I try it on?”

Immediately, you could see the question mark start hovering above this guy’s head. Sure enough, she tried the suit on. She came back and said, “How can I get one wholesale from you, immediately?” She knew the value of having a white swimsuit made thick enough so it wouldn’t go see-through when it got wet. Most females who like wearing white in the water know the value of that suit. To a typical guy, like myself, that’s a super-expensive suit! But to the right person, this is exactly what they want. When you find the right people who know exactly what they want, and you have what they need, price isn’t an issue. They understand the value. They understand the worth. No, not everyone was going to buy that swimsuit, but the ones who were going to buy it were not going to get hung up on price.

That needs to be your approach as a financial advisor. When you are describing financial planning, and you have a price point that you expect people to pay (let’s say $3,500), and they balk at that, don’t start talking about the little details of what you provide in the financial plan. You can simply say,

“We have all of our clients doing a financial plan so they know the choices they can expect 10, 15 years from now, and where the hardest decisions are, at that point, whether they’re going to go to Hawaii and vacation for that extra week, or whether they’re going to travel to California to visit their grandchild. They’re the fun, “tough” choices we enjoy seeing people grapple with. That’s what a financial plan allows, and, so, that’s why we charge for that. It’s dynamic in nature. It’s a one-and-done pricing deal. It updates with you as you grow and your financial landscape changes. But yes, we do charge for this because we want to see people enjoying the choices they most want to have as they figure out how they want to live their lives.”

So when you mention a price point for a particular service that you offer,

1. Don’t make it about price. Clarify the value that person is going to receive.


2. Use language to show them there will be regrets if they don’t do this. By using this kind of language focusing on creating choices that people want to have rather than consequences they’ll be stuck with if they don’t follow your advice (and that’s another sound bite to consider using), you show them this is what is super valuable about this plan.


3. Stick to it.Don’t back down if people balk at your price point. What you offer and what you charge aren’t going to be for everyone, just like that ceramic-yarn, white woman’s swimsuit isn’t for us guys. But find the female who wants to swim in a white suit that’s not going to go see-through in the water, and you’ve immediately got yourself a customer, no matter what the price is.

I look forward to bringing you another Distraction-Proof Advisor Idea next week.