I Found Your Money…
September 15, 2008
I found some money in your business and I’d like to tell you who I think took it.
Just do me a favor…
Walk over to the nearest mirror and take a look. See that person? I think that’s the person who has your money.
But the problem is, that person in the mirror is hiding your money from you.
How?
By keeping your TRUE value to the marketplace a secret.
To keep the secret safe, that person is probably telling you that what you bring to the marketplace is “normal.”
And that’s a problem. Because being “normal” is a great way to limit your income and struggle through business.
Now I’m sure you KNOW this. I know it too. But I don’t always remember it. And this week, it bit me.
Here’s how:
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But I’m Not JUST a “Copywriter”
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I had an “educational” experience a short time ago with a potential client.
Called her back after I submitted the proposal and was told, “your services are very expensive…”
I asked her to explain what she meant.
She said, “Well, all of the other copywriters’ proposals are much, much lower.”
And that’s when it hit me…
I screwed up.
I screwed up because I had not properly prepared her for what the proposal was really about. Sure, there was some copywriting in there… but that was just a small part.
The proposal was really focused on showing her something much bigger and much more valuable: I showed her just how much money she was leaving on the table by:
-Not tracking her costs per lead…
-Not tracking her customers’ lifetime value…
-Not having automated lead generation systems that can be measured and improved…
-Not taking advantage of the buying habits of her market (which are common knowledge in this industry) and presenting her offers to leverage those habits.
-Having no consistent path for prospects and customers to follow through her business. A path where results can be measured and improved.
-Not using proven strategies to increase her average order size and the frequency of those orders.
And then I offered to do ALL of that… FOR her.
To create all of those turnkey systems… for her. And I showed her (in dollars and cents) exactly what she was losing by NOT getting this done. (It was a VERY large number.)
As you can see, the proposal was hardly about copywriting.
But her head wasn’t in the right spot. She still thought I was a copywriter.
And that was my fault.
So the big question is, “Why did I do this?”
Why did I make this obvious mistake?
Here’s the reason, and the whole point of today’s issue:
It’s easy for me to take the value of what I do for granted. After all, it seems normal to me.
Normal to be able to launch a big marketing campaign including multi-step online and offline mailing sequences, pay-per-click advertising, web design, autoresponders, PR, etc.
To create a comprehensive lead and sales generating system. Completely measurable and accountable for results (down to the penny).
That’s just what I do. But it’s hardly normal.
And my hunch is that you are guilty of doing the very same thing I did.
You’re leaving money on the table because you’re taking your value for granted. And when you take the value you provide for granted, the market will take it for granted as well.
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Value that is Not Perceived Does Not Exist
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Just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean that your client or customer knows about it. And even if they KNOW about it, that doesn’t mean that they know how valuable it is.
So it’s your job to communicate that, CONSISTENTLY. That means doing it more than once. Over and over again until the message is heard loud and CLEAR.
All that matters when it comes to your value is that your clients/customers KNOW about it and understand what that means for THEM.
It doesn’t help anyone (especially your customers and clients) to play small or to be “normal.”
And as an entrepreneur, you’re cheating yourself if you don’t communicate each and every OUNCE of value that you bring to the table. If you don’t communicate it, you won’t get paid for it.
I was reminded of this lesson. And I’m happy to pass that reminder on to you…
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