Special guest Ron Baker talks about overcoming pricing objections, managing scope creep, safely offering guarantees, and much more.
Today I’ve got a very special episode of Ditching Hourly for you. I'm joined by value pricing pioneer, Ron Baker.
Ron is a recovering CPA who began value pricing in 1989. He’s the author of seven best-selling books, including: Pricing on Purpose; Measure What Matters to Customers; and Implementing Value Pricing. He’s the founder of pricing think-tank VeraSage Institute and a radio talk-show host on the VoiceAmerica.com show: The Soul of Enterprise.
This episode clocks in at nearly an hour - which I realize is longer than usual - but you’re going to want to listen to every single minute of it because Ron drops non-stop value bombs.
Just to give you a taste, here are some of the killer quotes Ron shares:
- “The billable hour takes your focus away from measuring what matters to the customer.”
- “The billable hour delivers a lousy customer experience.”
- “Focusing on the tasks comes at the cost of focusing on the value.”
- “People don’t want to hear about the contractions, they want to see the baby!”
- “Value pricing is a skill like golf or tennis. The more you do it, the better you get.”
- “Don’t ask your client ‘What do you need?’ ask ‘What are you trying to achieve?’”
- “If you prescribe without diagnosis, it’s malpractice.”
- “A professional takes responsibility for creating an outcome, not delivering a series of tasks.”
- “What the client is trying to achieve determines the scope of work.”
- “Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted.”
- “We have to get over the idea that we are pricing a series of tasks.”
- “Value is not a number, it’s a feeling.”
- “Two options encourages a price decision. Three options encourages a value decision.”
- “It’s a huge fallacy to think that just because you’re giving a fixed price, you’re not scoping.”
- “When would you rather find out your client is unhappy with your price: before you do the work or after?”
Links
- Ron Baker on Twitter
- Implementing Value Pricing
- Pricing On Purpose
- Verasage Institute
- Seinfeld clip of indecisive carpenter
- TSOE #76: Lessons from the Trading Game
- Change Order Boat
- Extraordinary Guarantees by Christopher Hart
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Sales Conversations That Don’t Feel Sleazy — live Oct 20 at noon ET
Learn how to structure sales conversations so the buyer tells you what the outcome is worth without feeling sleazy or trying to manipulate them.
The live 90-minute Zoom workshop is $450 and includes the recording, transcript, summary notes, and a practical worksheet.
Learn more and register » https://jonathanstark.com/sgs
Sales Conversations That Don’t Feel Sleazy — live Oct 20 at noon ET
Learn how to structure sales conversations so the buyer tells you what the outcome is worth without feeling sleazy or trying to manipulate them.
The live 90-minute Zoom workshop is $450 and includes the recording, transcript, summary notes, and a practical worksheet.
Learn more and register » https://jonathanstark.com/sgs
