Questioning My Prices?

 

I’m in a conversation with a young man who is questioning my prices.

 

He posted a project on Upwork to interview writers and other creatives who have interesting stories to tell. I pitched several ideas; he liked a number of them, but settled on mentoring and how DeForest Kelley mentored and encouraged me to pursue my dream career as a writer for the many years it took to convince me that I was very good at it.

 

This young man has an extremely (painfully) limited budget because he’s a flailing start up, but because he chose this topic, I knew I could capitalize further on the interview because some of the people who read it would very likely decide to buy my books about De, since they’d only get a thumbnail sketch of the relationship during a brief hour-long interview. So, I settled for a lot less than I otherwise would because of the potential long-term value to me (and of course to him, since it would help raise his profile among Trek/Kelley fans) of sitting for an hour-long interview that would last in cyberspace forever.

 

After viewing/hearing some of my interviews at YellowBalloonPublications.com and checking out this site and the many testimonials I’ve received from clients, he mentioned wanting me to review/audit his website and consult with him on where/how I think it can be improved so the people who land on it will stay and play, since they aren’t doing that in sufficient numbers right now.

 

He suggested a 10-minute audit of the site and then a fifty-minute convo/chat about what I feel I can do to help it convert better. I submitted a quote for $125. (Upwork gets $25 of that.)

 

He responded back that I had quoted far less than that for an hour-long interview about mentoring/De Kelley and wanted to know why I felt the price difference should be so vastly different for the same amount of time I’d be spending interacting with him. He said he was familiar with price gouging and wondered if I was truly well-off and busy enough as a copy/content/feature writer and consultant to justify the higher rate.

 

(OMG!!! Just OMG!!!)

 

Now, even though the question was downright insulting, which I’m sure he didn’t intend (I’m embarrassed to admit that my immediate knee-jerk response was, “Price gouging, my hind end! This twit is accusing me of price gouging when he wants an hour of my irredeemable time that I should be charging a helluva lot more for!”), I took a deep breath and set forth to educate him about the difference between time spent and value received.

 

In the first case–the interview about De–I knew that the long-term value of agreeing to a one-hour paid interview for a seriously puny price ($30–and Upwork gets 20% of that!) would, over time, reap rewards. (Heck, I commonly do interviews about De for free because they frequently result in additional book sales!)

 

In the second case, the only value I would receive from spending an hour of my time and analytical skills would be $100 for evaluating his site and offering insights about how to help create visitor loyalty so it would work better for him, while the value of the consultation to him was potentially huge; he already knew he had a big problem to solve and he knew he didn’t know how to solve it himself, and that I might be able to it solve for him. I never guarantee increased conversions or visits because I don’t control what happens on websites beyond the input I’m paid to provide to them. A copywriter’s job is to get people in the door (virtually or in actuality); it’s up to the  provider–my clients–to keep them there and convert them into loyalists and viral boosters.

 

So I explained the difference in value between the two projects, to him and to me. I don’t know if my explanation will convince him, but at least he’ll understand that it isn’t my TIME he’s paying for; it’s the VALUE of what I will bring to the table to help him reduce risk and reach the goals he has set for himself and his fledgling website.

 

I also pointed him to a couple of Chris Do’s YouTube videos.  I think Chris does a wonderful job of explaining to Creatives like me (and prospective clients like my penny-pinching inquisitor) that the enormous VALUE of what we do deserves to BE VALUED and ADEQUATELY COMPENSATED. We dedicate many of our waking hours helping solve our clients’ most-pressing pains/problems/predicaments, the things that keep them up at night and prevent them from experiencing greater success as business owners and entrepreneurs.

 

 

 

What we do is crucial in most cases. It can literally be the difference between success and failure.

 

I create virtual storefronts (using well-crafted words) that welcome people into new relationships with business owners and entrepreneurs. If a website or a marketing piece isn’t at least three things (welcoming, riveting and sufficiently valuable to a target audience/Ideal Client), very few visitors will ever stay long–and all the client will ever hear will be crickets. Their cash registers will remain silent, which is a result NO ONE wants.

 

UPDATE: Since I wrote this, the young man has apologized for “asking a stupid question” and says he’ll be happy to pay for my wisdom about his website at the price I quoted. I replied that no question is stupid and that if the difference between “time and value” perplexed him, it would probably perplex others, so I had turned it into a “teachable moment” on my blog. He responded with a LOL and then added that he was happy to have “inspired” a blog post!  So, now we’re working together and are both on the same page! WHEEE!  I really do want to help him.