Oh! Hey folks, it’s Q & A Tuesday!
Well, today September writes: Q: “Hello Marie, I absolutely love your
Q & A Tuesday. Thank you for your generosity every week and it makes a big difference in
peoples’ lives.”
You are welcome September!
“Here is my question, my business has taken off to a point where it’s overwhelming.
I’m a painter so I can only outsource to a certain degree. I’m treading water keeping
all that I have going afloat. I love what I do so my work is enjoyable but I also evolve
as an artist and want and avoid burn out. What are your thoughts?”
A: Well September, I do have a few. So you want an advice in outsourcing because no one
else can do what you can do which is a very common problem for anyone who is creative
and consider himself as an artist. But I want to tell you September, this puts you in a
great position because it does mean that no one else can do what you do so no one else
can get your stuff from anyone else. Here is a simple strategy that will solve your
problem.
Raise your prices woman. Now I can hear what you are saying right now. “Oh! Wait Marie
if I raise my prices, everyone is gonna say: I can’t afford it, I can’t buy your stuff,
it’s too expensive”. Is that what you are thinking? Well, September, here is a nice
surprise. It’s usually just the opposite. You raise your prices and your customers will
buy even more. There is a great study about how higher prices increase sales. In fact,
Robert Cialdini sites it in his fantastic book Influence Science and Practice. He tells
a story of an Arizona jewelry store owner who at the height of tourist season found
that no one was buying a turquoise jewelry in her shop. It was a really good stuff but
it wasn’t moving. Before going on a business trip, she left a note for a head sale’s
person which said: Everything in these display case: x1/2. And sure enough when she came
back, everything in that display case had sold. But here is the twist, the sales person
misread that little note and instead of selling everything in half, she sold it at double
the price. There is a deeply heald belief in our society that you get what you pay for.
Sometimes it’s true, sometimes it’s not but generally speaking, people assume that
if something costs more, it’s better. It’s also a shortcut that we humans, use to make
quick decisions between products. The more expensive thing automatically gets categorized
in our head as better, more valuable, and of course more desirable.
I know every time I raise my prices, more people want to work with me. It’s as though
that they said, “Damn! she charges that much, she must be good.” And I am. I can’t
think of any field where this is more true than art. I mean think about it, art prices
can be so arbitrary. The higher an artist’s prices are, the more collectible they become
and of course the more people want a piece of them. Here’s the thing September, people
already want a piece of you so that puts you in awesome position to command more dollar
bills girl. hmm..
Even if half your clients leave, think about it. You are still gonna earn the same amount
of money, you are just going to have more time off. But what will likely happen is you’ll
increase your prices and you are going to get more demand for your work, you are going
to get better clients and of course you are going to have more time off so you will not
burn out. So raise those prices girl and let the stampede begin!
That is my A to your Q September when you take these advice, please let me know how
it goes because I love me some follow up. Here is what I want you to do now: I want
your feedback and even more important than a comment, I want a video response.
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