Introduction to The Price and Value Journey

John Ray: [00:00:01] Hello everyone. I’m John Ray, and welcome to The Price and Value Journey. That’s the name of the show. But if you’re a solo or small professional services firm, this title describes the journey you’re already on, whether you call it that or not.

John Ray: [00:00:18] When we start out in our business or our practice, you see, we’re trying to demonstrate the knowledge and experience we bring to clients. We’re trying to convince prospective clients of the value that we offer. Over time, hopefully, we grow. Our practice grows beyond friends and family to the contacts and referrals that have come from our marketing efforts.

John Ray: [00:00:42] Now, at a certain point, the activity of our business gets more fevered. We may have to hire a virtual assistant or maybe a full-time staff person, maybe we take on a partner. As we grow, there’s a gap between where we thought we’d be when we started out and the reality on the ground of where we find ourselves.

John Ray: [00:01:05] Maybe we’re not happy with the results of our marketing. Maybe we know we need to work on our branding or our social media game. It could be we need to do better in sales, but we don’t know how to or we just don’t like the idea of selling. Maybe we’ve got too much client turnover. It could be that we’re quite busy or even overwhelmed. And it may be even worse than that, we may feel like we’re working too hard for too little money.

John Ray: [00:01:37] Now, if that’s the case, then we’ve got a pricing problem. Maybe we know our rates or pricing is too low, but we don’t know what to do about it. Or we’re scared, if we’re really honest with ourselves. Maybe we don’t even know that being overwhelmed or too busy in our practice really is a symptom of a bigger problem that our pricing is too low.

John Ray: [00:02:06] Pricing is a particular passion for me, because I’m convinced that pricing is the biggest problem most professional services providers have. It’s not getting new clients or servicing them. It’s getting the best clients at better pricing.

John Ray: [00:02:25] Now, here’s the deal. Changes in pricing are the fastest way to change, not only the bottom line of a business, but the mindset of you, the business owner. The changes we make in our pricing mean the difference between frustration and a newfound enthusiasm for our business. Better clients to work with and working smarter instead of harder. And, of course, a stronger bottom line.

John Ray: [00:02:58] That’s where this show, The Price and Value Journey, comes in. Wherever you are on your entrepreneurial journey, the idea of the show is to share ideas and commentary, which help make you more money doing the work you enjoy doing for clients you love working for. I’ll share, not only what I’ve learned myself, but what I continue to hear and learn from clients that I work with. I’ll give you short commentaries and ideas and extended interviews with leaders in the professional services world.

John Ray: [00:03:37] I’ve been in the world of professional services in some form or role for 40 years. I’ve got plenty of t-shirts on the mistakes I’ve made along the way. I have my own business advisory practice, part of which includes helping professional services practitioners with their pricing. I also have a separate but related business, helping business owners, mostly professional services providers, who want to do their own podcast.

John Ray: [00:04:07] I welcome your feedback on the show. If you’d like to connect with me directly, you can email me at john@johnray.co or just visit my website, johnray, J-O-H-N-R-A-Y, .co. I’m also very active on LinkedIn, so you can connect with me there. My LinkedIn handle is johnray1, that’s J-O-H-N-R-A-Y-1. Thanks for joining me on this journey, The Price and Value Journey.