All I Want for Christmas Is You
What Mariah Carey’s song, “All I Want for Christmas is You,” has to do with delivering value as a professional services provider.
The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.
TRANSCRIPT
John Ray: [00:00:02] Hello, I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. Mariah Carey wrote All I Want for Christmas Is You when she was 24 years old. Released in 1994, this song quickly became a holiday standard. And by 2017, it had become the 11th best selling single of all time. According to The Economist, Carey made $60 Million in royalties on the song between 1994 and 2016, averaging 2.6 million per year.
John Ray: [00:00:40] Why did this song become so popular and remain so? Maybe one reason is how the word “you” is used. Two marketing professors recently conducted a study of what makes songs popular using natural language processing to study lyrics and the commonalities in successful songs. They analyzed some 2,000 songs and looked at the Billboard Charts. What they found was that songs which featured the objective use of the word “you” were more likely to be hits. The objective use of “you” is where you is the subject. One example is Whitney Houston’s mega-hit I Will Always Love You, a song written, by the way, by Dolly Parton.
John Ray: [00:01:26] There are important nuances to the findings, but what this study affirms is the idea that, as humans, we are hardwired to gravitate toward messaging that is about us. We like to hear others talk about us and our problems. We like to talk about ourselves. If we have an ounce of self-awareness, we know this about ourselves and others.
John Ray: [00:01:49] So, when it comes to professional services, clients and prospects glaze over when we talk about our process or certifications or any other language which is couched in us instead of them. Instead, if our focus is on the outcomes that clients receive from our work, clients lean in. When we talk about them, their problems, concerns, fears, and dreams, the hard wiring they have which craves attention lights up. When we talk about value, it’s not the value we deliver. It’s the value which clients feel they will receive.
John Ray: [00:02:28] Imagine if Mariah Carey had written a song entitled What I Want for Christmas, do you think it would have done as well? Make it about the client. When you make it about other people, it never goes wrong.
John Ray: [00:02:46] Hope you have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah, or whatever holy days you’re celebrating. And everyone have a Happy New Year.
John Ray: [00:02:55] I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of this series can be found at pricevaluejourney.com or on your favorite podcast app. And I’d love it if you would subscribe to the show, if you’re not already. And if you have, thank you for doing that. If you’d like to connect with me directly, you can email john@johnray.co, and I’ll reply. And also big news for 2023, I have a book coming out. So, if you’d want more information on that, please feel free to send me a note. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining me.
About The Price and Value Journey
The title of this show describes the journey all professional services providers are on: building a services practice by seeking to convince the world of the value we offer, helping clients achieve the outcomes they desire, and trying to do all that at pricing which reflects the value we deliver.
If you feel like you’re working too hard for too little money in your solo or small firm practice, this show is for you. Even if you’re reasonably happy with your practice, you’ll hear ways to improve both your bottom line as well as the mindset you bring to your business.
The show is produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® and can be found on all the major podcast apps. The complete show archive is here.
John Ray, Host of The Price and Value Journey
John Ray is the host of The Price and Value Journey.
John owns Ray Business Advisors, a business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneur and small professional services firms on their pricing. John is passionate about the power of pricing for business owners, as changing pricing is the fastest way to change the profitability of a business. His clients are professionals who are selling their “grey matter,” such as attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, consultants, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
In his other business, John is a Studio Owner, Producer, and Show Host with Business RadioX®, and works with business owners who want to do their own podcast. As a veteran B2B services provider, John’s special sauce is coaching B2B professionals to use a podcast to build relationships in a non-salesy way which translate into revenue.
John is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Alpharetta Tech Talk, and Business Leaders Radio. house shows which feature a wide range of business leaders and companies. John has hosted and/or produced over 1,700 podcast episodes.
Coming in 2023: A New Book!
John’s working on a book that will be released in 2023. The book covers topics like value and adopting a mindset of value, pricing your services more effectively, proposals, and essential elements of growing your business. For more information, contact John below.
