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Why would you even want to stand out? It's risky. Looking different will get attention, and not all of it will be "the right" attention. Involves breaking from the standard. To be the weird one. Is not a guarantee for success. The opposite: it might feel closer to failure. It gets push back (and the "need" to justify). Why so expensive? It makes you different...
The difference between Will change, Changing and Changed: Intent, messiness and calibrating, and done. This is how it sounds and what your customers hear when talking about your prices. My prices will change → I haven't made the final decision and there's room for you to intervene. My prices are changing → I'm in the process of change and am still trying to figure out which ones will be final. But you can intervene in the process. Is it too expensive...maybe...? My prices changed → The...
How to find value —so that you can sell for more You don't. You help your clients find that out, because THEN you'll be able to capture more of it with what you help. It's not about you, it's all about THEM.
When you're running a business —or you're in a position on learning how to— you have your own bubble. And you have to break off of it. Who are you talking with about your business that is NOT part of your business? Lacking an environment where you get to be pushed in your thinking, compare similar or opposite situations with others like you, will leave you in your echo chamber. Look for others who work in a similar situation to yours.
Or at least, avoiding making anyone upset. Nice thought, but nonsense. Utopia. You can't make everyone happy. Unless you're laughing gas. (And even then.) Your decisions will impact your business, your customers and your relationships. And you can't make everyone happy. Business-wise, they'll upset people —within your business, within your market, or within your customer base. Yet, avoiding making a decision because of the fear of what might come up will not make the situation better when...
Timing. In sales and negotiation dynamics, it's all about who has the more power —there's always one who wants it more. When to be the first to speak? In my experience, talking money early (no, not the first thing that bursts out of your mouth as "What's your budget?") gives you an advantage. It enables you to: Be comfortable talking money. Anchor high. Lead the conversation with your rules. If it's your prospect the one who talks money first, they'll be in more control of the conversation....
Jobs To Be Done is a theory with 2 approaches. They both center on how to find the thing that makes customers tick. This, based on markets and needs. One of them (by Tony Ulwick) has this assessment tool: https://strategyn.com/innovation-assessment You might want to give it a try. :)
You're about to get into shifting the way you do work for a better way. That's what you think. That's the goal. But, what's "better"? It's too abstract. Too fuzzy. Too hard to be on the same scale for everyone —you, your team (if you have one), your customers. A simple way to know and quantify this: Make 3 columns. Past. Present. Future. Choose one aspect that you need to do "better". Write it down. What it's been in the past. What it's now. What you want it to be in the future. This will...
Hard conversations can be simple. They are, actually. Though they feel hard because you're invested into it. You have consequences you'd rather not dealing with. Yet —in the vast majority of cases— they're simple. And here's the thing: you already know in your gut which way to go. Trust. Your. Gut.
If you're trying to create advantage, you'll need to embrace risk. There's no bulletproof way to surprise.