Brains, baby! 🧠
The human brain is a masterpiece — a whole 95% of decisions take place in the subconscious mind!
(Getting to explore psychology is part of why I love geeking out over the content marketing industry).
Because that enormous number proves nearly ALL of your customer’s buying decisions are happening in the back of their mind.
That’s how big of a deal tapping into marketing psychology can be…
Especially if you’re wondering how to raise your prices.
Because your ability to charge more for your services depends on this one factor:
How BIG is the problem you’re solving for your clients? 🤔
Is it so life-changing that they’ll keep paying you to fix it? So transformative that they’ll completely understand your price hike, stick with you, and be grateful they found you in your “early days”?
Because early on in my days of writing and then running a content agency, I learned it all boils down to one important thing in sales psychology.
Pain vs. Pleasure.
At any time, for any person, and with a myriad of different ways we go about it — we all want the same things at the end of the day:
To push away from what we wish to avoid…
…and to rush toward what we want.
Yep, you and I are both driven by these same two primary motivators in human behavior.
And, so are your customers.
Meaning, once you start leveraging both pain and pleasure in the right way through your business, you can absolutely get paid more. And not just once, but over and over again.
Here’s how to raise your prices without losing customers (while gaining trust and monumental impact in the process).
Let’s see how it’s done.
How to Raise Your Prices Without Losing Customers
Truth: You should be getting paid what you’re worth.
But it’s all a matter of market and offer positioning and the value you bring. (Don’t over-attach yourself to a price point: be objective.)
If you’re not there yet, don’t fret. Follow these steps to raise your prices without seeing clients run away screaming. 😱
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #1: Address Your Self Worth
I always admire the confidence and mindset of a kid running a lemonade stand.
They’ll wave, dance, and proudly scream to passing cars about their roadside pop-up business. And even when they charge 25 cents more a cup — we still happily stop and support them without a second thought (besides, “Wow, look at these little entrepreneurs in the making!”). 🍋
So, fellow adult, how can you increase prices without losing customers (and getting clients genuinely excited instead)?
Get your mindset in check.
When you built your business, you probably stumbled across a lot of advice about mindset. There’s a reason: It’s imperative you step into a boss mindset to raise your prices.
Your self-worth will be addressed when you’re considering asking for more money. That’s natural. And that’s when you’ll need to check in with yourself.
It’s not always easy (life, right?), but remember — even children can do it.
Do you have a healthy morning routine? Are you focusing on the positive even when faced with adversity? Do you love what you do?
Mindset can feel pretty intangible in relation to something as intense as increasing your prices — but that’s precisely why you’ll need it.
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #2: Create an Irresistible Offer
If you haven’t already, you’ve got to make sure what you’re selling is something that’ll be hard for leads to say “no” to.
Meaning that your brand…
- Fixes something HUGE (there’s that behavioral psychology at play)
- Paints a picture of the transformation your customer will see after [giant problem] is fixed
Because when you raise your prices, it’s super important to make sure your customers (and unclosed leads) understand why they’re paying more. You must clearly explain how the higher prices are going to reflect the increased value they’re getting from you (or have been getting).
If you can’t do this, you’ll likely lose customers who don’t feel like they’re getting good value for their money. You’ll lose leads, too. A lot.
You know what you’re doing. You’ve turned your expertise into an irresistible offer. You’re the expert now….
And just like you, your brand has grown. You deserve revenue that grows along with you.
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #3: Delegate Tasks to a Team
Carrying the weight of all of your business tasks? If you’re doing everything on your own, this can be enough to halt sales completely. (Just recently I witnessed this happen to a solopreneur I’m connected with on LinkedIn.)
You can build way more trust and impact with your customers when you’ve got clarity on your business. Meaning, you should delegate and automate your tasks to a team you’ve hired.
This is key to scaling efficiently so that you can justify raising your prices. 🔑
You can get help from other hired experts with:
- Content writing
- Brand strategy, skills, and systems
- Video production
- Podcast production
- Graphic design
- Accounting
…just to name a few.
The time is now to get business help:
Roughly 47.4 million people in the US alone quit their jobs last year. Many of them have rushed to the freelancing market to cash in on their expertise. They’re ready and willing to help create content for your business at a super affordable price, too!
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #4: Reassure Current Customers Your Value Is Increasing
Looking for how to raise prices on clients without losing revenue? 💸 💸
Maintain quality in your services. You’ll want to tell customers that the increase is absolutely going to not only preserve the quality of the current services you offer but increase their value.
Customers who are depending on your services to make their world go ’round will be much more understanding when you tell them this — and they’ll want you to keep up the high quality they’re counting on.
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #5: Be Authentic in Your Increase Letter
You’ll need a way to tell your customers your prices are going up. Sending out an email is the perfect way to do it.
Wondering how to implement a price increase to clients with an email? I’ve provided a sample template for your price increase letter below.
Here’s how to tweak it for your biz:
- Even if you’ve already built your awesome team, write the letter as yourself.
- Be personal and authentic — don’t be afraid to get vulnerable and honest.
Here’s a sample of a free price increase letter template:
Dear [Customer Name],
I’m writing you today to let you know I’m increasing my pricing, effective [Date].
I’m incredibly grateful to get to work with you, and I’m optimistic the price increase will only benefit us both!
After carefully analyzing our [product/service/strategy], we’ve decided to make some changes to help serve you better.
Here’s what’s new:
[List all products affected by the price increase and their new cost.]
Why are prices going up? [List the benefits for them here]
I hope you know that [Your Brand] has your best interest at heart — we’ve truly made efforts to lower the impact this change may have on your business. You can read more about this decision here.
We’ll continue to honor current contract pricing if you’ve made purchases before [Date]. After that, renewed contracts will be subject to the new pricing structure.
Any thoughts on this change? We’re here for you to answer any questions you may have.
With all my gratitude,
[Your Name]
Feel free to use this template and add your own hyperlinks! The end result could end up looking something along the lines of the following (fabricated) example:
Pro Tip: If you’ve hired a content writer, consider using them to write an announcement blog and link to it inside your price increase letter. Simply send them the draft of your letter as inspiration for a more in-depth article on why you’re increasing sales.
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #6: Connect Content Marketing to Your Sales Funnel
There are over 7.5 billion Google searches per day. 🤯
Your customers are looking for you through search. Are you putting yourself out there for them to find you? Don’t wait — the explosive content marketing industry will be worth $600 billion by 2024.
To increase sales like crazy, you need to use content types that will grow your business, particularly blogging.
Having zero connection between your content and sales will hurt revenue. Don’t avoid small business SEO blogging. This sales method is all data-backed, yes, but truly feels like magic once set up and implemented correctly.
Haven’t touched content marketing yet? There’s good news. There’s still TONS of room for you to grow.
When your brand has captivating content that people love — when it’s relevant and valuable — you’ll be able to increase sales and raise your prices through SEO, content marketing, and all the exciting systems within it.
My mission to teach 1M+ entrepreneurs how to have a lasting impact through a sustainable business has foundational roots in content marketing (built into a proven strategy). It’s that powerful.
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #7: Increase Trust With Honesty
This is a small tip on this list of how to raise your prices, but I’m including it because, like I teach in my free training, there’s so much power in the way you word your content.
Wondering how to increase prices without making customers mad? Don’t try being coy and finding different ways to say price increase.
Nothing will lose your customer’s trust more quickly. And that’s super scary because brand trust is more important today than ever before. Customers say trust is their second most important purchasing factor after price.
So, just tell them upfront. 📢
Come right out and say you’re increasing prices. You don’t want to be misleading in any way if you’re charging clients more for your services.
Dreading your loyal customers’ reactions? You can try different ways to say “price increase” if you want to switch it up in your copy after you’ve made it clear your rates have risen.
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #8: Justify It
So how do you know when to increase prices? When you can justify it. 🤷
You’re either adding value and impact (or simply suffering from the added pressure of rising costs of labor, parts, and materials). In early March of 2022, a startup’s CEO had to apologize for a 20% price increase that infuriated customers who had already pre-ordered their electric vehicles. 😬
And even though you’re probably not building cars, and the stakes might not feel as high, it can be intimidating to consider customer backlash when you’re first learning how to increase your prices.
This is why you’ll want to justify your rising prices. Not just to yourself (mindset, remember) but to your customers. This should be key in your increase letter, your announcement blog, and any copy regarding your price uptick.
How to Raise Your Prices Tip #9: Stay Focused on Your Goals
So how big is the transformation you’re offering your clients, really?
Be honest here. Does it need to be bigger to justify a price increase? This may be a possibility if you can’t maximize the “pleasure” motivator by offering a wildly positive outcome for your target business persona. But you can’t know unless you’ve got some clarity on what your business does, who it serves, and where you’re headed.
Simply put, you need a business strategy in place to increase your sales. That way, you can focus on your long-term goals and know exactly what to do to scale. I promise you don’t have to keep grinding day in and out to give your business a major sales lift. 🚀
Instead, you can get out of the weeds and get some clarity on your business through developing a strategy.
When executed correctly, a price increase can be a great opportunity to build sales, trust, and impact. Even with your current customers.
How to Raise Your Prices for Massive Revenue + Impact
Leveraging both pain and pleasure is vital to tap into the psyche of your customers and leads to increase sales. This is the key inside the strategy I teach my coaching students to boost your business income.
Because after I implemented a crystal-clear strategy, my agency saw $30k/months turn into $70k/months in just one year. Not long after, and while I was stepping away and working less, we continued to soar and eventually hit $90k/months.
I knew I was onto something explosive, so I exited my company for $1M+ to focus on teaching this system to other passion-fueled entrepreneurial service providers ready for massive change in their business and life.
Now, I’m sharing everything I know in The Content Transformation System, a first-of-its-kind hybrid coaching program. I’m showing entrepreneurs exactly how to raise your prices without:
- Burning out by working endlessly
- Having to overcharge your clients
- Needing to fear you’ll lose customers
You’ll learn how to activate that pleasure + pain psychology in everything your brand touches. From your copy to your core offering.
Using this tactic brings you a river of leads that are highly qualified and increases your sales. We teach this in Phase 4 of my coaching program and I’m seeing it happen for my students every day. 💕
If you decide to enroll and work with me as your business mentor, you’ll get access to a step-by-step path to a six and seven-figure sustainable business, no matter where your sales are right now.
The exact skills, systems, and strategies I used for explosive sales success through a sustainable online business are available to you inside. Ready to invest in yourself and drop all the things that haven’t worked? Apply to The Content Transformation System today.
