How the emotional effect of money and transparent, consistent communication can get you noticed

How the emotional effect of money and transparent, consistent communication can get you noticed

By Jim James, Founder EASTWEST PR and Host of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur.?

Bob Wheeler has over a thousand clients for his business, The Money Nerve. In the new episode of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, he talked about money, emotions, and how your emotional attitude towards your money can infect and affect your business and how you get noticed.

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On Emotional Connection and Knowing Your Worth

Humans are emotional beings, and we connect emotionally. You may have something certain people want, or others may have something you want.?

However, at the end of the day, it’s all about how people will resonate with each other. If someone is feeling confident, you’ll want more of that. If they’re not so confident, you won’t want to go down that path.?

How you see yourself — and how you value yourself — is going to have an impact on your business.

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Whilst being confident is attractive, most entrepreneurs aren’t mathematicians or accountants. The question is: What can they do to increase their self-confidence around money, pricing, and negotiation?

For Bob, it’s important to get clear about what you’re worth and what you’re going to build.?

It could be that you have a spreadsheet where you put in how much time you use these kinds of equipment, factor in your rent and overhead expenses, and come down to, What am I worth? But people tend to discount their worth. They may charge for an hour’s worth of service instead of two.?

What you have to do is get really clear about what those values are for yourself. When you know what you’re worth, you can clearly and confidently communicate that to your client.

It’s also important to know what your competitors charge and what they’re offering in terms of service. After that, look at and evaluate your experience, education, and anything that might contribute to your value.?

If other people out there are charging twice as much as you, what are they doing differently? Are you bringing more value and not just educating your client?

Being Transparent with Pricing

It’s always important to clearly communicate what you expect to charge upfront. This way, if your client has cold feet or they feel like it’s too much money for them, you can stop the process before you invest your time and energy.?

Bob used to do free consults. People would come in, do an hour of consultation, and ask all kinds of things he should have been charging for. When he’d bring up his tax services, those people would say they already went with somebody else and simply thanked him for his free advice.

He spent a lot of time doing that; he didn’t value the fact that he was giving people some good information. Nonetheless, he was able to change that model. Now, he’s stating upfront that if someone is going to consult him, it will cost them a certain amount of money. But if they stay as clients, he’ll apply or integrate the cost into the retainer or ultimate fee.

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When presenting quotes, make it clear and communicate that to your clients: Tell them what they can expect and the timeline. In his case, Bob further transparently says that he becomes a bit busy during the tax season. If a client feels neglected, they can call his staff, and they will come to take him to task.

Lay everything out so you can manage their expectations and so that they can gauge, Okay — I can live with that. Or, this doesn’t work. However, try not to over-promise because you will be disappointing your clients.

Be clear about what the fee is. And if there’s more work to be done, tell your clients that you’ll let them know ahead of time if there’s going to be an adjustment to the invoice and that you’ll need them to give you a go signal before you can move forward with that.

Essentially, you must keep people in the process the whole time. Encourage them to converse with you and go through issues that may arise (e.g., Are they confused about the bill? Does it look too high?)?

How Do You Gain Confidence?

What can an entrepreneur do to make themselves feel bullish and more confident about their offer?

In Bob’s case, he likes making lists and writing stuff down because these activities activate his brain, letting him be clear about what he’s delivering. He has written a book about emotions and money, and it’s called “The Money Nerve: Navigating the Emotions of Money.”?

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If you’re not confident in talking to clients (like Bob is), you must learn how to talk better. For example, he joined Toastmasters to improve how he speaks before the public and meets people in a business setting. He used to very awkward and could barely say his name without having a meltdown. But by doing that, he learned how to talk.

Do wherever it is that can make you feel stronger. Go to the places where you feel fearful around your business and get used to those. If a client has rejected your offer, learn to be cool with it and not worry about it. It could be that you’re not just a fit. If anything, it’s vital to meet with clients to decide if you’re a good fit for each other because you don’t want to waste your and their time.

All this comes down to trying to figure out how you can make them know that you’re all about servicing their needs — but at the same time, not giving away your services. You shouldn't undervalue yourself and apologise that you’re there to get paid to do work so you can help them be the best version of themselves.?

How Not To Underprice Your Services?

To help clients stop themselves from underpricing, this is what Bob does. If they’re currently billing $150 or $200, multiply that amount by one and a quarter. He figured out that most entrepreneurs discount themselves by 25% (or more).

However, he found that some of his clients are uncomfortable with that. And so they mark it up by 15% instead (they multiply the current fee by 1.15). In doing this, they’re able to start to make some movement towards the point where they can say, Yes, this is what I’m worth.

Interestingly, about 95% of the time, when Bob would change the billing for his clients and increase it by 25%, nobody said a word. In fact, one client even said that he wasn’t being billed enough because he knew what the going rate was. He asked Bob to bill him more.

On Proper Timing

Some entrepreneurs and professionals leave the pricing to the end of the conversation. Some feel it should be at the beginning. However, Bob recommends doing it in the middle.

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In his case, he first lets clients know he’s interested in connecting with them, human-to-human. Then, he states what he can provide.?

Right after that, he reminds them that there’s a fee involved, which is what it will cost them. He doesn’t want to leave that to another conversation or the end because he wants to ensure they have time to process and integrate that information and decide whether they’re on the same page. If there’s some hesitation, they can talk it out and decide from there.

If pricing is brought up towards the end, it will feel like a surprise, which won’t quite feel good. Keep in mind: Your clients want to know early what they’re getting into. They want to know if your fee is way beyond their expected price point or if it’s in line with what they’re expecting.

The Case of Tax Practitioners

Shifting payment terms can position your company differently. The timing of payments can be part of your proposition as a service provider.

There are fields where the professionals are cash-poor. For instance, in tax practice, many tax preparers and Certified Public Accountants like Bob aren’t getting paid until April, May, or June. Bob was struggling with that as well.

When he attended one seminar, one guy said that, in his case, he bills everybody upfront. Though that statement was unsettling, he got some idea from it.?

After the seminar, he sat down, wrote an email to his clients, and said he could either be a banker or a tax strategist. He can focus on helping them save dollars and give them the best bang for their buck, or he could run around trying to collect money, worried that he can’t pay his staff.

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What he then suggested was that he was going to ask for half of the money upfront — a retainer. They can also deduct it from last year's taxes if they pay early as a benefit. If they do that, Bob can focus on them instead of how he will pay the bills.?

Upon saying that, he didn’t have a single person push the idea back. People actually loved it. By November and December of that year — before the tax season — he had $100,000 to $150,000 in the bank. He was already solid in his financing.

In any business, if a customer says they’re going to give you a deposit, don’t say no. Let the cash flow towards you.

Incentivising Clients to Pay Early

Bob offers a 10% discount on the back end to incentivise his clients if they deposit upfront.?

Additionally, he tells them that if they provide him with information two weeks before the taxation deadline, there will be a rush fee of $500. He and his team start reminding clients a month ahead of time that if they don’t give information in two weeks, they will be hit with a rush fee and will be charged extra money.

They try to communicate as early as possible that they’ll give discounts for early payers and charge premium fees to those who will pay late or will be late in providing information. He also chose to do those rush-fee charges because he wants his office to avoid getting involved in his client’s crisis.?

If a client is late and doesn’t deliver on their end, they will get charged for that because it has to be a win-win for everybody.

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When people come on board as a client, Bob will let them know that they will send them an engagement letter around November. It will include the pricing, and it will also ask the client to pay the retainer. If they don’t pay the retainer, they won’t get discounts and may not get a face-to-face appointment with him before April.?

He ensures that clients are well informed about the benefits they’ll get if they give that retainer.?

During the tax season, they also send out communications in email, reminding clients how many weeks they have left or that they haven’t heard from them in a while (Because after clients have given them the retainer, they need to see some information and know what’s going on with clients).

They constantly communicate because they know that people get emotional around money. People shut down when it comes to doing their taxes. Or they might think that they could owe some money.?

Bob wants to reassure clients that he and his team are with them along the way. Though people can get emotional, preparing and filing taxes are things that need to get done — they’re a requirement.

In tracking their emails, they use MailChimp. In the accounting world, there’s also a program called OfficeTools that lets them track, list, and modify documents like performance letters.?

Getting Himself Noticed

Bob engages authentically with his clients. People know that he’s going to bat for them.

He’s out there to help people — he genuinely likes people. And if you want to work with him, he’ll work with you. But it’s a two-way street. He needs you to be a team player to give you the best service.?

On his part, he makes sure that he’s truly engaged. He follows up and checks in with clients after the tax season. He sends emails and makes phone calls. He’s fully invested in the relationship — he’s not looking at it like a transaction.

To learn more about him and access essential resources, visit www.themoneynerve.com.?

This article is based on a transcript from my podcast The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, you can listen here.??

Cover image by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash