prospects Archives - Business RadioX ®

Prospects Send Signals…Believe Them

December 14, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

Prospects Send Signals…Believe Them

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Prospects Send Signals…Believe Them

Pay attention: prospects send signals when they’re not a great fit for your business. Ignore these signals at your business peril.

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 was chatting with an attorney friend of mine about clients, the signals that they send, and how they tell us who they are if we’ll just pay attention. It reminded me of a client I’d been referred to quite a few years ago now, early on in my journey. I was able to get an appointment with her, but that took an abnormal amount of time to do despite her acknowledgment that she desperately needed to get her house in order.

When I got there several minutes early, I had to wait quite a while for her. Once the meeting finally started, it took only about 10 minutes to realize that her practice was a complete mess. Her books looked like the work product you’d see if Charlie Brown’s friend, Pigpen, was the bookkeeper. Any talk about KPIs or how we could use the numbers to improve her business was meaningless. She seemed to thrive on all the chaos. Every few minutes we were interrupted by her assistant with questions which were not urgent, but which she insisted on taking and answering.

And as I sit there, letting the debris of all this situation wash over me, I fell victim to the thought this can’t be as bad as it looks. Yep, I did it. I waited in where I shouldn’t have. Just like the well-meaning person who thinks they’ll reform their spouse after they get married. I quoted her a retainer to get started, and she wrote me a check. On the way back to my office, I drove by my bank and deposited the check. And that’s when the fun really started.

The next day, I got an email from my bank that the check had bounced. Almost immediately after getting that email, as if the clouds parted with a sign from above, my phone pinged with a text message. “Can you believe that guy went and deposited my check already?”, the text said. And then after a minute or two later, another text followed, “Sorry, meant that for my husband. Lol.” Yeah. Lots of laughs. There wasn’t any reason to be upset with her actually. That bounced check was the apex of a host of signals I should have paid attention to, but I ignored them or explain them away.

The message was there, but I was too hardheaded, determined or blind, take your pick, to pay attention. Clients will tell you with their actions that they’re not a fit for you and your practice. Believe them.

I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of the series can be found on your favorite podcast app where you can subscribe if you’re not already. And if you are, thank you. You can also go to pricevaluejourney.com. Feel free to email me John@johnray.co. And hey, big news. I’ve got a book coming out in 2023. If you’d like more details, just let me know. 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 The Price and Value Journey — **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 1,600 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, connect with John below.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Prospects Who Check References

May 20, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

Prospects Who Check References

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Prospects Who Check References

What indication can you draw from prospects who check references? What does checking references reveal about a client’s price sensitivity or their orientation toward value? The episode explores those questions.

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. I once spoke with a client about better discerning prospects whose sole concern is price. His experience led him to the belief that when a prospect doesn’t check with references, which have been provided, then that’s an indication that the prospect is exclusively focused on price.

Now, I hadn’t thought of this before, but the idea makes sense to me. If a prospect checks your references, they’re interested in the how of what you do, how you work with a client generally, your responsiveness, your ability to explain difficult concepts in plain English or other intangibles, which they value. They may sense you possess these intangibles they’re looking for because of the conversations that the two of you have had up until that point, but they want to confirm them.

Further checking with references takes time. The effort involved in emails, going back and forth with phone calls, all that can be tedious. And a client’s willingness to make this investment is probably a reliable indicator of a client who is not just serious but one more concerned with a decision to buy grounded and perceived value instead of price.

My client’s hypothesis, I think, rings particularly true in an extraordinarily complex service offering, where a client is particularly uncertain in deciding and where the cost of selecting the wrong provider is high. It could be, on the other hand, that a prospect doesn’t check your references because you’ve got stellar testimonials so thoroughly documented that there’s no need to make a phone call. Such a circumstance is probably rare, though, as most professional services providers really don’t spend that much time at all cultivating and documenting effective testimonials.

So, what’s the point? The point is that you’re better off in your practice spending time with prospects interested in making a value-oriented decision. Those are the clients willing to pay a price that’s reflective of the value that they perceive, and they’re the ones that are much easier for you to work with. So, how do these thoughts apply to your own business?

I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. This series can be found at PriceValueJourney.com or on your favourite podcast app. And we’d be honored if you would subscribe to the series. If you’d like to connect directly, you can email John@JohnRay.co. Thank you for joining me.

About The Price and Value Journey

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.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

How to Respond to the “What are Your Rates?” Question

May 4, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

How to Respond to the "What are Your Rates?" Question

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How to Respond to the “What are Your Rates?” Question

It happens all the time: prospects who start a conversation with the “what are your rates?” question. In this episode we offer several suggestions for handling this question.

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. So, how do you respond to the what-are-your-rates question? I received a form of this question from a B2B services professional in an email. And in her email she said, “I was thinking over some of the things you said to me at lunch. And you said that if someone asked you about your price right away on the phone that maybe they’ve contacted you because they’ve seen you on the internet somewhere, you mentioned you may not be a good fit.” Well, she continued, “Someone came up to me at a networking event, and introduced themselves, and asked right away what I charge. I know she isn’t a good fit for a few reasons, but I just said similar to what you told me, something to the effect of it really depends on what you need or want and we need to have a conversation.” “What would you have said?” she asked, “in that situation.”

So, first of all, I told her, “You did the right thing. Your gut on this stuff is usually right.” For folks I meet face to face, I just say, “I don’t know what I would charge. We need to have a conversation about your situation and needs, and see if we are a good fit because I’m not a good fit for everyone.” If the client is willing to take me up on a conversation, then I’ll take the meeting, even if I really don’t think that they are a fit. Not everyone would do that, but I will.

First, you never know until you have the conversation, right? They may surprise you. And second, if they are taking me up on my terms, which is having a conversation about their needs, then I need to fulfill my part. I’ll schedule them at some time and place that’s easy for both of us, so that if it’s not a fit, as I anticipate, then I’ve not lost a lot of time.

I told her that her gut is usually right about her judgment, but that’s not always the case. We all make mistakes. Further, even if our initial judgments are confirmed, there’s nothing lost in being kind and meeting with someone who is just starting out in their business, for example, but can’t yet afford your services. This meeting may be an investment in a future client. It could be an investment in someone who will refer you to another client, which just happened for me. It could be that you are just taking a few minutes to be kind, to listen, and to offer a few helpful suggestions to a new business owner. For me, that’s part of giving back.

Now, I also say that no one client of mine has the same price because every client is completely unique with their own needs. And this reinforces the need for a conversation. If it’s someone who’s calling me on the phone, I thank them for calling. And I say, “First, how did you get my name? If you’ve been referred by someone, I want to thank that person.” If they’re a referral, then I need to engage with them and stay on that. We need to have a conversation track with them. Now, if they got my name off the Internet somewhere and their first question is about my rates, my experience is been that it’s largely a waste of time for me to spend much time on someone who finds me that way and calls with a first question of, “What are your rates?” If that’s what that client leads with, then my response is something like, “I don’t know what I would charge until we have a conversation about your needs. First, we need to determine whether I’m even a good fit. And if I’m not, I’ll try to help you by referring you to someone else. If we are a fit, then we can discuss different options. I can offer to meet your needs.”

Now, if the client insists on getting my “rates,” I’ll let them know that they seem to be more interested in a transaction than a relationship. And I invest my time and energy in relationships with clients, clients that are interested in relationships. It’s important for us as B2B professionals to focus on prospects who are willing to discuss their needs upfront and in some detail. You’ll end up with clients whose needs you’re meeting and who are a good fit for you. You’ll also end up working for a price which is appropriate for the value you are providing.

I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of this series can be found on your favorite podcast app. We’d be grateful if you would subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app. And if you’d like to give me feedback or to connect with me with a note, you can send that to John@JohnRay.co. Thank you for joining me.

About The Price and Value Journey

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 is the host of North Fulton Business Radio, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Radio, Nashville 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.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

The Elephant in the Room

April 27, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

The Elephant in the Room

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The Elephant in the Room

The elephant in the room is the preconception, often negative, a prospective client brings to the table when they think about your profession. In a lot of cases, the elephant offers an opportunity to build trust, depending on how you handle it.

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.

John Ray: [00:00:03] Years ago, I had coffee with a financial advisor, and during that meeting, he told me that one of the attributes of his firm that he was most proud of was the average length of tenure for financial advisors at the firm. He said, “I think it was about nine years, if I recall correctly, while the average length of firm tenure for the average financial adviser in the industry was nine months.”

John Ray: [00:00:30] Now, I was in a chamber group with this professional and I asked him why he had never mentioned this in our meetings, as I thought it was an important differentiator. I don’t remember his answer and not much else, frankly, about what we talked about in that meeting, but I remember this particular fact. I haven’t seen him in a long time, but I looked him up recently and he’s still with that firm here years later, so he and his colleagues must be doing something right.

John Ray: [00:01:03] For this financial adviser, this length of tenure issue was his elephant in the room. You see, the elephant in the room is the preconception a prospective client brings to the table when they think about your profession. For financial advisors, clients wonder whether they’re going to change firms because financial advisors jump around. If you’re an attorney, the elephant is most likely charging by the hour. Everyone remembers the bill they got for that six-minute phone call. If you’re a CPA, it might be not returning calls or answering emails during tax season.

John Ray: [00:01:46] It could be something which isn’t profession-specific. Age is one example. I was running an investment management firm at age 29 and that was a big elephant I had to deal with at that time. It could be that you’re a solopreneur and the client is wondering what happens to their work if they hire you, and then you get hit by the proverbial beer truck. Now, I know it’s not intuitive, and sometimes, it might be uncomfortable, but I’ve come to believe that it’s always helpful to call out the elephant in the room.

John Ray: [00:02:22] If you don’t bring it up, the prospect often will, and you might as well deal with that elephant in your own way. Now, if the prospect doesn’t ask about it, that doesn’t mean they’re not thinking about it, they might just be letting that question fester, and out of courtesy or some other reason, they’re not asking the question. They may be hoping you bring it up yourself. In any case, that question sticking in their crawl won’t get resolved and it will work against you if it doesn’t.

John Ray: [00:02:58] Further, if the prospect has a problem with your elephant even after you’ve addressed it, then you’ve done both you and the client of favor, you’ve quickly figured out that the two of you aren’t a fit, and you’ve granted yourself the freedom to move on. The most important reason to pet the elephant and talk about it is that doing so builds trust with clients, and all of us, as professional services providers, are in the trust business.

John Ray: [00:03:28] If you’re willing to initiate and calmly engage in a particularly thorny discussion about this elephant or anything else for that matter, your trustworthiness in the mind of the client goes way up. And that’s even true for the clients who don’t select you, by the way. Your willingness to talk about the elephant is a sign you’ll be straight with them during the engagement when problems arise, and that’s what clients are looking for. So, what’s your elephant? And how do you address it?

John Ray: [00:04:05] I’m John Ray on the Price and Value Journey. Past episodes of this series can be found on your favorite podcast app\ or you can go to pricevaluejourney.com. And you can also send me an email, john@johnray.co. Thank you for joining me.

About The Price and Value Journey

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.

Connect with John Ray:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Business RadioX®: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Experts Don’t Chase

March 25, 2022 by John Ray

North Fulton Studio

Experts Don't Chase

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Experts Don’t Chase

Experts don’t chase for a lot of reasons. One reason is that they’re too busy. The unsolicited pitches of a business and life coach prompts thoughts on expertise, chasing prospects, and the unintended signals some professional services providers send. 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] And hello. I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. Dogs chase, experts don’t.

John Ray: [00:00:10] Sometime ago, a business and life coach connected with me on LinkedIn. Almost immediately, the automated private messages followed in a steady beat. My usual response to all this is simply to ignore. But the bots kept delivering the appeals, though, and they were progressively more urgent.

John Ray: [00:00:32] One note promises that her suggestions can help my business get back on solid ground. Never mind that she’s made no attempt to engage me in any personal way to find out exactly what I do, what’s going on with my business, what my needs are, and even what my favorite flavor of ice cream might be. Nothing.

John Ray: [00:00:55] In all these bots – yes, bots. Automated robot messages – she doesn’t offer me any insights that might help me in my business. Not even a pointer to the book she’s got for sale, an e-book, or even a blog post. Not even a pithy quote. Nothing.

John Ray: [00:01:16] Finally, in the last message I received, I got this, “I get it. You’re busy. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on you.” Good grief. That’s awesome. It’s great to know that I’ve got someone out there, someone who doesn’t know me from Adam’s house cat who’s not giving up on me.

John Ray: [00:01:38] Now, maybe you think I’m cranky for my critique, and maybe you think I have something against LinkedIn Sales Navigator or other similarly generation tools. But the tools and the technology aren’t the issue. The problem is how they are employed. These tools can be a godsend for professional services providers legitimately trying to expand their network. When used to chase people, though, with what amounts to spam, these tools devalue the brand you’re trying to build.

John Ray: [00:02:13] I’m thinking about this situation from the point of view of the coach, not me and the hundreds of other people she’s spamming on LinkedIn. Frankly, I feel a little bit sorry for her. She may be the best business and life coach one could ever hire, but that’s not the vibe she’s giving me. The signal she’s sending is that she has to chase people to get business. And that dents my perception of her abilities as a business coach.

John Ray: [00:02:41] If she’s so great, why does she need to chase me or anyone else with automated bots on LinkedIn? She’s not offering me even a glimpse into how she, out of the thousands of business coaches I could find on LinkedIn, might be able to help me with the particular problems that I have. She’s offering me no glimpses of her expertise, even though she clearly has some. Yes, I went to her website and poked around. All she’s doing is chasing.

John Ray: [00:03:10] That’s what dogs do, chase. Experts don’t chase. They’re too busy to chase. And let’s suppose she’s actually fortunate enough to shake out a few leads from this hunting she’s doing. If any of these leads turn into prospects, will this coach be able to command prices which reflect the value she delivers to clients? The chances are slim, I think, because she’s sending signals that she needs the business arguably worse than I or any of our other targets need her coaching. She’s fostering the perception, whether intended or not, that she badly needs the business.

John Ray: [00:03:54] And if you’re a coach who wants to receive prices commensurate with the value you offer, it’s a bottom line killer.

John Ray: [00:04:02] I’m John Ray on The Price and Value Journey. The show archive for this series can be found on your favorite podcast app or at pricevaluejourney.com. And if you’d like to connect with me directly, you can send an email to john@johnray.co. Thank you for joining me.

About The Price and Value Journey

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.