Welcome And The Pricing Vortex

Why Lowering Price Backfires

Value Beats Cheap Every Time

Create A Lane Others Cannot Match

Make People Feel Seen

How To Learn What They Want

Subscribe And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Well, hello friends, this is Kimberly. It's episode 335, and I am so happy that you're here today because we're talking about pricing again. We talked about it two weeks ago in episode 333. So by the way, when you're done with this episode, go back and listen to that. It's about how to raise your prices confidently. But today I'm talking about how to not get stuck in the pricing vortex. And what I mean by that is that so many of y'all have so much mind drama around pricing. And you get stuck thinking that the reason that customers and clients aren't buying more is because your price is too high. And you're like, they're not buying. Should I lower my price? Now, there may be legit reasons why you need to actually lower your price, but in general, many of you do not. And we're going to talk about why and what it really takes to be happy with your price and to stop thinking about it and to make it irrelevant because it needs to be irrelevant in your life after a certain point. After you make the price, you need to be done and move on. How do you do that? How do you get out of that thinking that price is the cause of customers and clients not coming to you or buying more and to realize that it's something way deeper? It's way deeper. And we're going to talk about it today. If you're new here, welcome. I'm so thankful that you found this podcast. I have no doubt it's going to help you along your journey of making money doing what you love, whether it's a side business, whether it's a full-time business, or whether you're doing work, whether it be for a salon or another company where you're building customers and clients, this is for you. You can take what you know and love, you can build a career out of it, and you can make money doing it. How awesome is that? I'm so happy for you. You make sure, first of all, you hit subscribe. You don't want to miss out on any future episodes of this podcast. I usually drop the episodes on Thursdays. And I got all of my information and all the links below at Kimberlybrock.com. So you can follow me there. And if you're on Instagram, start with Kimberly Brock. Come join me because we're having some fun. And I'm just so overjoyed to have you in my life because I know that you're like me. You just want to use your God-given gifts. You want to do something greater. You want to build a career that's fulfilling. And this is all for you. So that's it. Okay, let's get on to the episode. Many of you today, as business owners, or maybe you're about to start your business, or you're doing work with a client or a customer base that you're trying to build. And again, all of you are doing something that you love, right? But you're all wondering, how do I make more revenue? And then you realize I need to get more clients and customers in the door. And you're sitting there going, what am I doing wrong? Is my price wrong? Is my price too high for the market? And I think so many of you question your price. Do you do that? Like, are you constantly questioning your price? And I think this is a dangerous game to be in. A lot of you think that if I just lowered my price to so-and-so's price down the street or online, then I'm going to get more business. And you might for a little bit. But I want you to realize that if you get caught up in the pricing game, it is a race to the bottom. It is a race to the bottom. If your people are just looking for the lowest price, then you have something that is a commodity that is not super valued in terms of the value that you are personally bringing. Now, I can say this to all of you because again, you've turned a passion or something you feel strongly about, something that you've always felt called to do. A lot of you tell me you felt like it was a calling. And you're doing this for that reason. And because of that, you have heart. You have heart in what you are doing every day. And you, a lot of you are dealing with your customer and customers and clients, if I can say that maybe one-on-one, right? Or you're dealing with them through email, maybe they're ordering online or through how your website looks. And I guarantee you are offering, or I hope you are, offering some kind of value above just a commodity item. You are not just some type of drive-thru business where they're picking up. Because if you are, if you're like a Walmart and people are just price shopping for something that they can get everywhere that has no really added value besides what's in the product, then you can get caught up in the race to the bottom. And you all have to realize that this can't be the game that you are in. You have to be providing value and you have to be providing something beyond that. But how do you do that? What does that mean? What does that mean? So I want you to think about it right now. When you shop at certain places, and I've talked about this before if you're a longtime listener, think about the places that you frequent and why you frequent them, or even people that you follow on YouTube or advice that you get online. There's something that kind of draws you to those people where you feel maybe connected, maybe you're what they stand for means something to you. And you will gladly give your business to that person over another one. I mean, just think about it for a minute. Even like when you go to the doctor, you like certain doctors, you like certain dentists. Like my dentist lives a couple doors down, and she's the sweetest thing in the entire world. And we totally connect. And so I go to her. Sometimes I have to wait a while to get into her, even though she's my neighbor, right? But she brings value because I know her. She gets me. She will see me in the neighborhood. I know she has like some sense of accountability. Like, I'm going to see these people that I serve, right? But that's not really what's it about. She's super sweet. And I want to give her the business. I want her to be my dentist, right? And so we we go to certain people, again, whether it's for medical needs, whether it's for retail or restaurants, you like certain local restaurants that are right near you, maybe because you you like how convenient it is and that's what you're looking for, and they're right there and they're friendly and a good service. But are you exactly going back and forth on price every time you decide to do business with them? And I just want you to think about it for a minute. All the things that you do on a weekly or daily basis, why? Why do you go to them? And what is it that makes it special? And is it necessarily just the price? And my thoughts are if it's something that means something to you that you're buying, then it's not necessarily the price. Like, for example, I was for a while a member of Lifetime Fitness. And I don't know if y'all are familiar with those, but they're almost like a country club slash spa with a gym, and they're awesome. So many amenities. They just added pickleball not long ago, but they have swimming pools, sauna, steam room, towels, showers, all kinds of fitness classes. I mean, all kinds from like CrossFit style classes to spinning to yogas. So I mean, it is awesome, but it's expensive. Forgot how much it was for a month, maybe$250. And then there's other gems near me that are like seriously, like$50 a month, I think, or something. And they're just equipment, right? You just go in. And if I was just doing it on price, I would pick the cheaper one that's even closer to me, right? But I don't because, or I didn't when I was a member of the gym, is that I valued all the extra things, and they're kind of in a league in their own. They are in their own lane. They they are not comparable to these other gems around here, right? I think about pickleball. My husband and I joined a pickleball club. We joined Ace Pickleball, shout out to Ace, and we pay, I think,$120 a month each, something like that, right? We could just use our neighborhood tennis courts that have the pickleball courts, but we would have to sign up and we have to worry about the weather because that's outside. Our club is indoors, right? And we choose that and we pay more because of the value that it brings. And we see these same people all the time. We always have people to play with. We don't have to schedule courts, we don't have to reserve courts. It's like almost like a TV show where you go and the same characters are there every time. And it's like our same people that we play with, and we absolutely love it, right? So there is a reason why we pay for what we want. We don't just go on price. So if you are sitting there worrying about your price every day, I think you've missed it. I think you've missed what's really important and what's important to your people. So think about it. For me and all the things that I'm doing, I'm not necessarily looking for the best price. I'm looking for a place that understands what I actually need. I need an indoor place to play pickleball, that I don't have to worry about scheduling and doing courts. They have set up their business so that it's like literally you show up and you can play anytime, any day. The gym is set up, like lifetime fitness. Now, the only reason I'm not a member right now is because y'all know as having some health problems and I have a lot of equipment at home. And we joined the pickleball club. So I kind of figured maybe I don't need to be a member of Lifetime right now, but I love it. And I would join back should I need that gym again, right? So it's nothing that they did wrong. It just wasn't exactly me needing a gym right now, right? But if I was gonna pick one, that's the gym I'm gonna pick. Right. So I want you to think about it. They understood me, someone who who liked the whole idea of having this whole pampering while I'm there and feeling like it's a country club and fresh towels and beautiful spa and sauna and cold plunge and and indoor and outdoor pools and all this stuff, right? They understood what people like me wanted and the pickleball. They understand that we don't want to have to be reserving courts all the time. We don't want to have to be scheduling people, we don't want to have to be worrying about the weather, right? And so you think about it right now. The places that you buy from understand you a little bit. They understand you maybe a lot. And that's why you do business with them. Even when I was having my online boutiques for years and years, right in the 2000s, like early 2000s and then 2010 to 15. I closed them in 2018, 19. It was right around that time. Probably, it was probably end of 2018. But I had those online stores and we offered personalization and monograms. And people weren't doing that online, especially in the early 2000s when I started in 2003, right? They they the stores were not offering that. They were just selling goods. And what was different about us is they maybe had to pay a little bit more, but then they had to pay for embroidery and we did gift wrap. And so you could have all these cute monogram gifts for kids, for girls, for women, everything. And so it was in a different lane at the time. It was in a different lane. And like when I had my online kids' collegiate baby goods site. So it was called a kids or fans too, and we had all kinds of collegiate baby gifts from pacifiers to blankets to bedding, and it's college themed. So like University of Texas, University of Florida, Ohio State, et cetera. And we had a gift registry. And so it was like a boutique with a gift registry for super fans. They wanted their kids to be all due up and all the on the fan gear too. We were in a different lane. We weren't just selling like what you could get in Academy or Walmart, which with college-themed goods. Like you could get any school, you could get it gift wrapped, you could get a gift note. There was a gift registry and all these things, right? So it was in a different lane. So I want you to realize that I understood when I was building those businesses what people wanted. People wanted fan gear, but the women wanted it to look cute and they wanted to give cute baby gifts that were wrapped and actually meaningful versus just picking it off the shelf somewhere, right? And they didn't want to have to go get it. They wanted to order online. So I think the moral of this story is stop being consumed with what your prices are and really make sure you understand the people that you seek to serve. Who are the people that you seek to serve? Think about them, think about this ideal. They usually, you know, in the past would say that you should have an avatar, you should have this ideal thing. I don't know that I agree with the avatar that you come up with, but I do think that you have to understand people's needs. If the avatar is about needs, then I think that's good. But what are they really wanting? Do you understand their pain points? Do you see them? Do they feel seen? Y'all, this is the key here. Do they feel understood? Like, yes, you've taken care of everything that I could want. Do they feel seen? I mean, I'm even thinking about just right now, like my husband and I went to Europe for the first time. This was when did we go? Did we go in October? We did. It was our 29th anniversary. And we went, and my husband got us, like upgraded us to the Polaris seats on the United Airlines on the flight. Have y'all sat in the Polaris seats? They lay down. You have your own like private little sort of booth. You have like awesome headphones or like Bose headphones or something. I mean, everything you could want was right there in our little Polaris, each of our Polaris little booths, our seat. Now we had to pay a ton more for it, but we had points and stuff. So it kind of offset some of the costs that were like, we've got to sleep. This flight is so long, it's going overnight. We needed to be able to lay back. It had blankets, cozy blankets, cushions, uh, pillows. Like, y'all wouldn't have believed snacks, drinks, meals. Polaris was amazing. And then they even have their own like United Polaris Club lounge in the airport. So not just like United Club where you could go with the airport, but the Polaris Club. And it, I mean, amazing coffee, food, showers, like anything that we could need because we were traveling overseas and we needed these amenities. We were willing to pay for them. So you have to realize your people have to be willing to pay for what you want, but they know us. They they knew exactly what we wanted at this time and were willing to pay for it. You have to think about your people and really making them feel seen. Like if you had to stand in front of them and make them feel seen, what would you be saying? I mean, it's even with this podcast. In order for this podcast to be successful, I have to ensure that you feel seen. That I'm connected to what you are really searching for. And you're searching for a career that's fulfilling and impactful, and it's something that you actually love, you want to make money doing it, whether it be on the side or full-time, like all the things that I'm talking about, I hope make you feel seen. And I think that's why you come back. That's what people tell me. Right. So even with a podcast. So if you have a podcast or a YouTube channel or even your Instagram, are your people seen? Or are you just like showing a price and a product and that's it? And you've turned it into a commodity without the value that you actually add. I hope you're hearing me today that the real reason that people buy from you is because you have provided what they were actually yearning for. They were yearning for something. People tell me, for example, with this podcast, people were yearning for just like real talk and simple talk, and it sounded authentic, and it wasn't just like corporate mumbo jumbo, and it wasn't highly produced. It was just real from a real person who took her gifts, her God-given gifts and her passions and her skills and turned it into successful businesses, and then passing that on to you and giving you insights that you couldn't find, maybe online. Maybe you couldn't find this, or maybe you don't really want to follow YouTube and you want to be on, you know, you don't want to be watching video, but you want to listen. I don't know. I don't know what it is for you, right? But there was something that you were looking for. And for whatever reason or reasons, I was able to provide that. But it's because I am you. That's why I feel like it's not something that I've had to, what is the word, like ponder over all the time. I mean, I do for some of these episodes. I have to ponder where you are in your phase, and I have to think about you and what you're going through and what your struggles may be. But I get it because I was there and I am here now. But again, I'm not in your exact same situation. So I have to listen to you, right? I listen to you too, and the things that y'all share me and what share with me and what clients say. So for you, for for you trying to get more customers and clients for whatever line of business you're in, whether you're a hairstylist, whether you're a small business owner, you make products, whether you're some kind of maker, an artist, designer, consultant, coach, health coach, whatever it is, are you making them feel seen and heard? Because the minute you're providing what you're providing based on what you know they are struggling with and they are searching for, and maybe they don't even know they're searching for it, but if you know them enough and you're saying, listen, you're this kind of person, look what I've got. Bam, you have them as a customer. The pricing goes out the door. With Polaris, when we had to get on our flights, you know, it was double or triple the price of like a first class flight at the time, I think. Um it was worth it because we needed to sleep and it was our anniversary trip. So there were all these reasons why this was worth it for us to upgrade during that trip. We we don't do that all the time. We'd never do that all the time. But it was something special and what we wanted to feel good when we arrived in Europe instead of being exhausted and grouchy, right? So you have to think about that. Do you know your people? Do they feel seen and heard? Do you understand? If you do not understand them truly, what they are looking for, talk to people today. After you stop listening to this podcast, email some people, text some people, poll some people. You can read about them in Reddit groups or search online. You can ask Chat GBT what ChatGBT has seen that your type of people are struggling with. Like what are the things that they are needing? This is gold, y'all, because this is how you get out of the rat race of trying to price it perfectly. I think we all try to price things perfectly. And we have to realize that we're adding value. And when the times that I've known, like in coaching, when a client books with me, there is no haggle over the price. And I'm not saying that because I have the perfect price or anything. It's because they felt seen and understood and they knew I could solve that problem. And like, they're like, let's go. Yeah, and for some, it may have been out of the price range and maybe they didn't do it for that reason. But most go ahead. Once I'm talking to them, they say, Yes, I need this problem solved and I have the solution. I have what they need now. They want a real person right now hashing things out. Right? So think about that today as you go on with your business, or maybe even you haven't started your business yet or your business idea. Make sure that you know what people want. Don't just get stuck in the lane of what you want to offer. Make sure you understand what they are really searching for and what, because you know them so well, you may even have other ideas of things they hadn't even thought of and go, this is why we provide this, this, and this. And it's sold. And that's it. So I hope this makes your life a lot easier. I hope it helps you stop worrying about pricing. And I hope that it helps you get more customers and clients. I know it will. Once you get in this mindset and you make them full scene and you see them for what they're struggling with, the world opens up for you. So I'm so excited for you. That's it. Thank you for being here again. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

And until next time, bye now. Now, this episode may be over, but our relationship does not have to end here. Head on over to Kimberlybrock.com, and yes, you can get more valuable information for your journey. And you know what? You don't need to go through this alone. I would love to help. Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye.