How I Added Digits to My Income AND Made My Clients Happier

I’ve experimented with every known business model for selling what I know. It took years to land on the one that was not only better for me in every way, it was the best end-to-end experience for my clients too.

I originally worked by the hour helping small business owners with whatever was painful enough that they’d call to book an hour of my help.

It felt great being a hero and save the day with my advice!

But it meant if I didn’t answer the phone, I didn’t make money. And it meant that people waited to get help until they were really hurting. And still, we weren’t working in a way that would prevent the problems from coming back.

A few of my clients were more proactive and scheduled an appointment when things were going well. They wanted to talk about their strategies for the future. For each of these clients, I put together a proposal for a strategic planning retreat experience which increased my per-client income. But it had all the challenges of proposal-pricing and engagement approval process. And while it was a larger scope of work, it was just a bigger one-off gig. And often, even my recurring clients would strategize annually, but do nothing with their strategic plan until the following year’s dusting off to see how much they didn’t accomplish.

I knew my best work was proactive and strategic, and that the best strategies included resource allocation and oversight to assure progress not just hope for it. That’s when I created my first program offer.

What’s a Program?

A program is a consistently-scoped solution built around the best value and impact you are certain you can deliver a client for a defined fixed price. It’s kind of like a proposal but without variations a consultant typically accommodates when trying to serve a range of clients and problems. (You know, the old, “Meet the client where they are…”)

"Program Pricing Won't Work for My Business"

You may think you can’t possibly design a single program that works for all of your clients. That may be true, if up to this point you’ve served a range of types of clients. But it is possible when you niche down to focus on solving a single problem for a specific type of client.

When you narrow the type of client you serve, and eliminate the variables about how you serve them, you also eliminate most of your headaches - and the whole experience is way better for clients too:

• Package your program to deliver your BEST results, not the bare minimum a client will consider, or any other compromise of the best impact you can create.
• Marketing to a very specific audience closes more engagements for less investment.
• Clients self-select your solution, essentially skipping the “assessment” phase, and you don’t have to create a new solution for each client.?
• No more proposal writing.?And no more giving away how you would approach a problem in order to define scope for a commitment decision. (That’s information you should be paid for!)?
• No surprises for you. No surprises for your client. Eliminate the infinite range of variables from trying to deliver to an infinite range of client types.
• No scope creep for you or your client. You define your deliverable and promises within the program around what you are 100% certain you can deliver.
• Your customized solution for the client is actually only semi-custom for you. The overarching process is the same for each client; the details of your solution are individualized. ?
• Your income isn’t limited by your individual capacity, because you can price your program bases on its impact, not your time. Want more money??Increase the value of your impact and raise your price.

The Results of My First Program Offer

My first program focused on my strengths, a combination strategic planning and mentorship year-round to help business owners proactively prepare for growth - and actually get it.

In that first year, the source of my revenue changed immediately from a wonder-when-I’ll-get-the-next-client, three-digit hourly rate to a four-digit priced program I could bank on. The next year, my clients and I agreed that the impact of that program was worth adding another digit to their investment, so my price doubled. Then, I immediately doubled that number to what became my first five-digit priced program for all new clients thereafter.

The Second Thing That Revolutionized My Business

I’d created a program that addressed a perpetual need, so my clients would renew annually. I still have clients with whom I’ve worked for more than a decade, because for each year’s new ambition, they need new strategies and support.

Above all, my clients were better off for this shift too! They got needed valuable structure and advice for each new stage of their business’ growth, and I was rewarded for my best impact with a commensurate investment. The clients who completed this program with me – once or for years – are among my regions most respected businesses, and the owners among the most accomplished and fulfilled.

I've Got a Program For That

Naturally, I have a program that shows you how to build a program! Change to program pricing and learn the other proven practices to work with more of your ideal kind of client; deliver more of your best impact; make more money for your work for less time; all while enjoying the freedom to choose how, when, and if you want to work.

What more could you wish for?

Let’s make a recurring-revenue program offer for you! Find details here .

What single type of Ideal Client might you focus on, and what solution would you offer around your best impact to build a program-priced new offer? How might you turn that offer into what your Ideal Client perpetually needs, giving you an annually-renewable program and income? ?To inspire your investment in what can be a significant change: do the math! Pull out your calculator to add up the exponential power of a program that meets a recurring need! You sell once and renew for years. Some of my clients have been working with me annually for over a decade and counting.