Want to increase revenue without having to get more clients, do more work or compromise your value or your values? Of course you do!

Are you an experienced and talented lawyer who struggles when it comes to charging? If so, fear not, you’re definitely not alone. I struggled with that too. Maybe you don’t really know your value or perhaps you’re too modest or possibly you’re just not able to get your clients to understand the value you provide.

No doubt, you’ve heard it before – focus on value, not on price. The question is are you doing that or not? I would hazard a guess that many firms pay lip service to this, rather than really doing it. Fear dominates the world of commerce – there’s always someone willing to do it cheaper. So let’s get straight to the point – no procrastination or shilly-shallying; it’s time to make a decision and the sooner you make it the better.

Let me reassure you that, whatever your problem is, it can be resolved; if you really want to learn how to charge what you’re worth, you can.

Let me share 5 of my secrets with you.

Secret 1

Don’t be the person doing it cheaper. That’s it! Make that decision and stick with it. If you do, you’ve successfully jumped over the first hurdle. Well done.

Secret 2

Spend some quality time, preferably with someone who can help you, to really reflect and understand the true value you provide for your clients. Make this a priority – if you don’t, you may well be losing out on revenue which is rightfully yours.

You have expertise and yet it’s not easy for you to understand your value. The longer you have been utilising it, the easier it has become to you, the more you take it for granted. That’s just human nature.

To help get you started, consider the following questions:

How long did it take you to become a qualified lawyer?

What did it cost you?

What did you have to give up while training/learning/studying?

How long have you been a qualified lawyer?

If you were to rate yourself in terms of how good you were when you first trained on a scale of 1-10*, what figure would you put on it?

If you were to rate yourself in terms of how good you are now on a scale of 1-10*, what figure would you put on it? *where 1 is low and 10 is high

What new information have you learnt and applied in your business in the last 12 months?

How has this added value to your proposition?

Are you starting to see your value? Of course, I’m just scratching the surface here but it’s a start.

Ask yourself what do I actually do for my clients – that’s the features of your service.  However, the benefits are what the features of your service mean to the client. So to turn a feature into a benefit, you can add the words “which means that”.

For example, you could say: “We can manage a complex employment problem with you not only from the legal perspective but also by ensuring that the openness and core values of your corporate culture are preserved, with sensitivity.  This means that wider staff morale and your commitment to the long-term investment you have made in all your team members are maintained.”  Also never under-estimate the enormous emotional value of the work you do.

If you don’t first demonstrate the value of what you do, the client will always regard the quote you give as high. You have to get them to shift from looking at the price to seeing the value and when they see the value, then the price you quote will seem more acceptable.

Nevertheless, if you don’t understand your own value, it will be unlikely that your clients will. Understanding your value is something which takes time – it’s not necessarily a quick job and you also need to review it on a regular basis.

 Secret 3

Are the clients you’re working with in general the sort of clients who will pay you on value or are they looking for cheap and cheerful?

If it’s the latter, then clearly you’re working with the wrong clients! Whatever services you offer, there will always be those who charge less and those who charge more; in fact, the range of fees may be extensive. Decide to only work with clients who really appreciate your offering and are willing to pay accordingly for it. This means that you must be willing to turn potential clients down who do not fit into this category.

This may seem challenging at first; however, paradoxically, very often it turns out that clients who are particularly price-focused are usually the ones who also are the most troublesome. I call them PITA clients.  And if you can’t work out what that stands for and are curious enough, then please email me at vanessa@thetrueworthexpert.com and I’ll let you know.

Working with this sort of client erodes confidence, creates self-doubt and makes it harder to find clients of the right calibre. It’s a vicious circle which needs to be broken.

Whatever happens, if you want to charge what you’re worth, you must target those clients who will value your service and pay you accordingly. This may well mean making some radical changes in your business to be able to achieve this.

Secret 4

Eliminate limiting beliefs

By now, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed. If that’s the case, I apologise. However, I’m not one of those fluffy people who say this is going to be easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it. Rome wasn’t built in a day; you’ll need focus, patience and determination to get where you want to. Moreover, it’s not just about marketing and what you do practically; it’s also vital to work on yourself.  If you fail to do this, you’ll potentially limit your revenue and feel frustrated into the bargain.

What limiting beliefs do you have which are getting in the way of your success? Write them down. Find a coach to help you overcome these.

One of my clients, let’s call her Anne, is proof of what I’m saying. She recently told me that because of the work we’ve been doing together, that she is now charging top fees to her clients and getting them, whereas before, that wasn’t happening. Even though there are others in the marketplace willing to charge significantly less, (their competence level may or may not be as good as hers) because she now understands her value, both consciously and unconsciously, and has no qualms stating her fees; she is able to charge her true worth.

Secret 5

Get help! You can’t do it alone. Be willing to invest in yourself and the firm. Investing in your fee earners will help the firm flourish. Find the right people to support you on your journey. And remember, asking for help is a strength and not a weakness.

I’m Vanessa Ugatti, transformational coach, motivational speaker and author of Amazon Best Seller, True Worth and I help lawyers make more money, have more time and create more freedom by charging what they’re worth and getting it!

Ready to talk? 

Book your free True Worth strategy session. Call 00-44-1202-743961 or Click here or order your complimentary copy of Amazon Best Seller here:  https://www.thetrueworthexpert.com/

 

What could making that call be worth to you?  And what would it cost you if you didn’t make it?

I think it was a guy called Wayne Gretzsky who said:

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

The point is, if you don’t make the call, you’ll never know what you may have missed out on.

Just because I help people doesn’t mean that I don’t have my demons too – on the contrary.  And one of them is making cold calls (well almost cold).  Sometimes it’s the only way, though.  So I wanted to share a couple of recent experiences of mine, one positive and one negative.

Firstly, I had sent a LinkedIn personal invitation to link up to the Managing Director of an international network of law firms who I thought appeared to be a very good connection for me.  He had accepted it.

I then followed up with a message offering him a complimentary copy of my Amazon Best-Seller, True Worth.  I could see that he had seen the message but not replied.  I didn’t follow up any further.

Just as well I noticed, a month later, that he had visited my profile, otherwise I would probably never have followed up with him again.  I looked at his photo and really liked the look of him – by the way, I hold a lot of store by how I feel when looking at peoples’ photos – it may not be scientific, but it works really well for me.  (So if you’re on social media, please make sure that:

1. you have a photo
2. your photo is clear and
3. you look approachable and professional

because I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one who operates in this way.)  I checked out his contact details on LinkedIn and conveniently there was a mobile phone number.  So far so good.

Then the demon voice barged in and stormed – “well, there’s no point in calling him – he/the firms won’t be interested in you.”

Where did that come from?  Who knows and who cares?  I’ll be honest – I heard the voice loud and clear and could quite easily have gone along with it.  However, this time something had changed.

Another, more rational voice exclaimed – “it’s only a telephone call – what’s the worst that could happen?  Make that call.”

And with that I dialled his number.  I needn’t have worried at all.  He was very open to speaking and in fact remembered my name – always helps if you have an unusual one!

We talked for a good half hour – possibly more and got on like a house on fire!  Goes to show that my non-scientific way of choosing connections works.  It was just like talking to someone I’ve known for ages.  The upshot is he’s introduced me to his colleagues who organise their bi-annual overseas conferences – so watch this space!  And he’s someone I genuinely want to stay in touch with.

So let’s look at it from the other side.  What is the worst that could have happened?  He could have said no thank you, I’m not interested or been less polite than that.  In fact, I had one of those experiences about a week ago and that wasn’t actually a cold call.  I’ll admit that immediately after the call I felt quite affronted – and I won’t share with you the choice words that came to mind!

However, on reflection, if that’s the worst that can happen to me when I make a call, then so what?  Would I really want to work with people who can’t even be civil?  The answer is a resounding no I wouldn’t and I’m sure you wouldn’t either.

In any case, much better that someone says they’re not interested outright, even if they haven’t heard what you have to say, because at least they’re not wasting your precious time and you can move on.

Quick Three-Step Process

• Acknowledge your demon voice (if you have one)
• See it for what it is – just a lot of hot air!
• Now take the plunge.  Make that call and see what great opportunities open up for you.

Please share with your contacts and if you can spare a few minutes, share your stories with me too at vanessa@thetrueworthexpert.com.

I’m Vanessa Ugatti, transformational coach, motivational speaker and author of Amazon Best Seller, True Worth and I help accountants lawyers make more money, have more time and create more freedom by charging what they’re worth and getting it!

Ready to talk? 

For an initial no-obligation chat, call 00-44-1202-743961 or to order your complimentary copy of Amazon Best Seller here:  https://www.thetrueworthexpert.com/

Want to increase revenue without having to get more clients, do more work or compromise your value? Of course you do!

Are you an experienced and talented accountant or lawyer who struggles when it comes to charging? If so, fear not, you’re definitely not alone. I struggled with that too. Maybe you don’t really know your value or perhaps you’re too modest or possibly you’re just not able to get your clients to understand the value you provide.

No doubt, you’ve heard it before – focus on value, not on price. The question is are you doing that or not? I would hazard a guess that many firms pay lip service to this, rather than really doing it. Fear dominates the world of commerce – there’s always someone willing to do it cheaper. So let’s get straight to the point – no procrastination or shilly-shallying; it’s time to make a decision and the sooner you make it the better.

Let me reassure you that, whatever your problem is, it can be resolved; if you really want to learn how to charge what you’re worth, you can.

Let me share 5 of my secrets with you.

Secret 1

Don’t be the person doing it cheaper. That’s it! Make that decision and stick with it. If you do, you’ve successfully jumped over the first hurdle. Well done.

Secret 2

Spend some quality time, preferably with someone who can help you, to really reflect and understand the true value you provide for your clients. Make this a priority – if you don’t, you may well be losing out on revenue which is rightfully yours.

You have expertise and yet it’s not easy for you to understand your value. The longer you have been utilising it, the easier it has become to you, the more you take it for granted. That’s just human nature.

To help get you started, consider the following questions:

How long did it take you to become a qualified accountant or lawyer?

What did it cost you?

What did you have to give up while training/learning/studying?

How long have you been a qualified accountant or lawyer?

If you were to rate yourself in terms of how good you were when you first trained on a scale of 1-10*, what figure would you put on it?

If you were to rate yourself in terms of how good you are now on a scale of 1-10*, what figure would you put on it? *where 1 is low and 10 is high

What new information have you learnt and applied in the business in the last 12 months?

How has this added value to your proposition?

Are you starting to see your value? Of course, I’m just scratching the surface here but it’s a start.

Ask yourself what do I actually do for my clients – that’s the features of your service.  However, the benefits are what the features of your service mean to the client. So to turn a feature into a benefit, you can add the words “this means that”.

For example, you could say: “We can manage a complex employment problem with you not only from the legal perspective but also by ensuring that the openness and core values of your corporate culture are preserved, with sensitivity.  This means that wider staff morale and your commitment to the long-term investment you have made in all your team members are maintained.”  Also never under-estimate the enormous emotional value of the work you do.

If you don’t first demonstrate the value of what you do, the client will always regard the quote you give as high. You have to get them to shift from looking at the price to seeing the value and when they see the value, then the price you quote will seem more acceptable.

Nevertheless, if you don’t understand your own value, it will be unlikely that your clients will. Understanding your value is something which takes time – it’s not necessarily a quick job and you also need to review it on a regular basis.

Secret 3

Are the clients you’re working with in general the sort of clients who will pay you on value or are they looking for cheap and cheerful?

If it’s the latter, then clearly you’re working with the wrong clients! Whatever services you offer, there will always be those who charge less and those who charge more; in fact, the range of fees may be extensive. Decide to only work with clients who really appreciate your offering and are willing to pay accordingly for it. This means that you must be willing to turn potential clients down who do not fit into this category.

This may seem challenging at first; however, paradoxically, very often it turns out that clients who are particularly price-focused are usually the ones who also are the most troublesome. I call them PITA clients.  And if you can’t work out what that stands for and are curious enough, then please email me at vanessa@thetrueworthexpert.com and I’ll let you know.

Working with this sort of client erodes confidence, creates self-doubt and makes it harder to find clients of the right calibre. It’s a vicious circle which needs to be broken.

Whatever happens, if you want to charge what you’re worth, you must target those clients who will value your service and pay you accordingly. This may well mean making some radical changes in your business to be able to achieve this.

Secret 4

Eliminate limiting beliefs

By now, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed. If that’s the case, I apologise. However, I’m not one of those fluffy people who say this is going to be easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it. Rome wasn’t built in a day; you’ll need focus, patience and determination to get where you want to. Moreover, it’s not just about marketing and what you do practically; it’s also vital to work on yourself.  If you fail to do this, you’ll potentially limit your revenue and feel frustrated into the bargain.

What limiting beliefs do you have which are getting in the way of your success? Write them down. Find a coach to help you overcome these.

One of my clients, let’s call her Anne, is proof of what I’m saying. She recently told me that because of the work we’ve been doing together, that she is now charging top fees to her clients and getting them, whereas before, that wasn’t happening. Even though there are others in the marketplace willing to charge significantly less, (their competence level may or may not be as good as hers) because she now understands her value, both consciously and unconsciously, and has no qualms stating her fees, she is able to charge her true worth.

Secret 5

Get help! You can’t do it alone. Be willing to invest in yourself and the firm. Investing in your fee earners will help the firm flourish. Find the right people to support you on your journey. And remember, asking for help is a strength and not a weakness.

I’m Vanessa Ugatti, transformational coach, motivational speaker and author of Amazon Best Seller, True Worth and I help accountants lawyers make more money, have more time and create more freedom by charging what they’re worth and getting it!

Ready to talk? 

For an initial no-obligation chat, call 00-44-1202-743961 or to order your complimentary copy of Amazon Best Seller here:  https://www.thetrueworthexpert.com/

Hi It’s Vanessa Ugatti here.  And today I want to talk to you about a very troublesome word.  And that word is no.  Now what do you feel when you hear that word.  Are you mildly uncomfortable?  Do you want to run away and hide? Or simply bury your head in the sand?

Whatever your reaction is, I’m really not surprised because I could pretty well bet my bottom dollar or even my bottom pound that as a child either one or other of your parents said to you N O spells no!  And of course, they would have said it more than once.  So as a child it’s likely that you would have interpreted that as total rejection and of course that would have then been stored in your unconscious mind and every time you heard the word no again, that memory would be brought up.  So that’s pretty harsh for a child and that would have been from people who you as a child expected to love you the most.

So let’s fast forward to today.  You’re in a business meeting with a  client and you’ve just got to the point where you’re discussing your fees and you’ve told them your fees and they say no so you immediately jump to that reaction of rejection and you stop dead in your tracks and do nothing.

So what I’m proposing is that you recognise that you will have that reaction until such time as you consciously realise that you no longer need to react to it and then you go beyond that and you challenge the client, not in an aggressive way but just find out what their concerns might be.  If they’ve said no to your price or your fee, the chances are that you haven’t sold them your value so you need to make sure they understand that.

So in my next video, I’m going to continue on the theme of the word no but this time look at it from the perspective of you delivering a no.  So if you found this useful, please do share it with your colleagues and your contacts and if you’re looking for more tips, you might want to access a copy of Amazon Bestseller, True Worth: How to Charge What You’re Worth and Get It at www.thetrueworthexpert.com.

Whether you know it or not or believe it or not, you already have your very own super power within you right here, right now. You don’t have to acquire it – it’s just a question of discovering and developing it.

Before publishing this, I sent it to my internet marketing guy as I always appreciate his feedback. His response was better than I could have hoped for:

“I was feeling overwhelmed but, as I read through your article, I started hanging up the things going around in my head. I actually felt it leaving my brain and I became relieved. The power of words … incredible. It had an immediate effect on me. Keep up the good content, Vanessa.”

Let me get straight to the point. There are probably very few things you will do today that are more crucial than finding out how to do this. Why? Because it will make everything easier for you.

So, while what I’m going to suggest may strike you as radical, it also makes perfect sense. Put everything aside for just a few minutes and read this article now, because let’s face it, you and I both know if you put it off “until later”, other things will get in the way and later will never come.

Step 1 – Hang Your Mind on a Stand

Put to one side all your ideas about what you think life should be like, should have been like or could be in the future. Leave all your ideas you have about yourself and your desires for the future of how you want your life to be. Leave behind all your memories, identity, stories, judgements and fears. In essence, all that useless mind chatter which does nothing but get in your way.

To make this easy, imagine you have a stand (like a hat stand) for your mind.  Hang your mind on that – just temporarily – you can pick everything up again afterwards, if you want.  This will give you the space, clarity and power to be able to perceive without confusion.

Step 2 – Ask Open Questions

Whatever the challenge is you have, either business or personal, you can ask yourself an open question, such as:

What would be the best course of action?
How can I solve that problem?

By asking such questions, without attaching to the answer or making any great effort, you allow your super power to do the job for you.

And that is the key.  Don’t ‘try’ and solve the problem with your conscious mind – it doesn’t have all the answers.  Trust that your super power will come up with  answers for you and allow it to do just that.

Let me share a true story with you of that process in action – it was even more interesting since I was solving someone else’s problem.  Here was the scenario.

I was at a seminar and sitting next to the Managing Director of an engineering firm – nothing to do with my target market at all.  However, as a coach, I naturally ask open questions.  Once I had found out his name and what his firm did, I asked the following question:  “What’s your biggest challenge?”

Answer:  Recruiting skilled staff.

He explained that finding staff with both the skill and the right mind-set to do the work was proving more and more challenging.  Many of his staff were older and at some point would need to retire; however he did say that mature people were much better for his firm than young ones.

I explored further to see what he was doing to find staff and then turned the problem over to my super power.
Very quickly it came up with what appeared logically to be an excellent idea:

Recruit ex forces people – they are disciplined and so have the right work ethic and many are trained in technical areas.  The question was then how to connect with the relevant people.

When I returned to the office, unbeknownst to me, my super power continued to work on the problem.  It then reminded me of one of my contacts who is ex army.  I rang him up to find out if there was a particular organisation to help with this.

He immediately gave me the Career Transition Partnership website details which help ex forces people get jobs in civvie street – and apparently engineering is one of their preferred choices!

I was quite impressed with my super power.  After all, what did I know about recruitment, let alone engineering?

Frankly, not a lot!

How much effort did I expend?  Very little.  However, the solution could save this M.D.  countless headaches and worries in the future, not to mention time and money.

Step 3 – Easy Peasy – Just Do It!

Acknowledge your super power, thank it and repeat the process.  Like anything, the more you use it, the more it pays dividends.

Would love to hear your experiences of how your super power has worked for you.

In a recent video, I promised to share vital information with you about your conscious and your unconscious mind.  So your conscious mind can be likened to the captain of a ship.  It steers the vessel and it gives the orders.  But the unconscious mind can be likened to the crew of the ship so it accepts the captain’s orders to the letter and I mean to the letter because it has no ability to judge or to say whether something is right or wrong.

Your conscious mind only holds between 5 and 9 bits of information at any one time whereas your unconscious mind holds millions nay gazillions of bits of information.  In fact everything you’ve ever heard, seen, touched, tasted, smelt all your experiences, all your beliefs going right back to day one when you were first born.

So you could consider your conscious mind rather like the adult and the unconscious mind like the child.  So when situations come up and situations are happening all the time, your unconscious mind brings up thoughts and ideas for you to look at.  Now what happens usually is if they’re negative they just get accepted and believed and therefore you then take action based on those thoughts.

In a previous video, I talked about the thought cycle which is thoughts create feelings create actions create results feeding back into thoughts again.  So of course if the thought is negative, that creates negative results for you.  So say for example, you’re in front of a client and you’ve just got to the point of discussing fees.  A negative thought comes up.  You believe it.  And so you discount your fees, you under value yourself and you don’t charge what you’re worth.  So what I’m proposing you do is the next time one of those types of thoughts come up you get your conscious mind to take control and ask the following question:

“Is that really true?”

It’s a simple enough question.  It’s not necessarily easy to do because in the heat of the moment you go with what you feel but, if you challenge yourself to do this, I promise you that with practice you will succeed.

So if you found this useful information, then please share with your contacts and if you’re looking for more valuable tips or a copy of Amazon Best-Seller, True Worth then please subscribe to www.thetrueworthexpert.com.