Learning from a Martial Arts Studio
A flyer from a martial arts studio offers a lesson to professional services providers who want better results from their business development activities: focus on client outcomes, not inputs such as certifications or experience.
The Price and Value Journey is presented by John Ray and produced by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX®.
TRANSCRIPT
John Ray: [00:00:00] Hello. I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. Recently, I ran across a flyer for a local martial arts studio. Now, here are the bullet points this flyer prominently displayed to attract parents who are interested in possibly enrolling their children. Better academic results. Now, to reinforce this point in the background of this flyer behind an image of smiling children was a report card with straight A’s. Improve self esteem, develop discipline, character development, respect for others, increased concentration and focus.
Now, what’s missing from this list? Well, there was nothing about the experience of the instructors. nothing about the belt level of the instructors, whether even the instructor uses deodorant or is pleasant to be around. There wasn’t anything about the instructor. The point is that this martial arts studio understands what parents are looking for as they buy for their children. Parents are looking to help their kids get ahead. They’re looking for transformation, for outcomes for their children. It’s not that the instructor isn’t important. It’s just that the experience and expertise of the instructor is assumed, as is, of course, the use of deodorant.
Clients of professional services firms are no different in the way they assess services providers. They are looking for improvement in and transformation of themselves and their business. It’s not that our certifications, degrees or even our experience don’t matter, but what gets us to the table with our best-fit clients is demonstrating an understanding of what they’re looking for. You see, clients buy outcomes, not inputs.
And what else was missing from that flyer? Well, there wasn’t any mention of price. No exclusive offer, no discounts, no freebies. If we understand the wants, dreams, problems and hang-ups of our clients, we don’t need to lead with price.
I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of this series can be found at Price Value Journey or on your favorite podcast app. We’d be honored if you’d subscribe to the series, and we’d love to get your feedback. You can email me John@JohnRay.co. 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 1,300 podcast episodes.
