There’s an old saying in the consulting world: “Get them in cheap then sell them deep!”

The idea is that you sell a low priced project or service with the objective of moving up to higher priced services and projects as your credibility with your client increases.

There is some value to this and it’s certainly better than working free to build credibility.

Also if you’re charging ongoing fees instead of project fees a $300 a month client who stays with you is worth $3,600 a year.

But a word of warning. Generally speaking you have the least problems with clients who pay you a substantial sum upfront.

And your biggest problem clients will often come from those you’ve charged the least. Often they’ll nit pick over everything you do and nickel and dime you to death.

If you’re going to charge less upfront (which can make some sense if you’re charging ongoing fees month after month) you really want to go to a LOT of trouble to let your client know you’re not charging them the setup fee you normally would and how much your service is really worth compared to what they’re paying.

And you want to invest more time in explaining to a client what they can
expect from you and especially what you expect from them.

You need to explain to them when they can contact you and under what circumstances and the limits to the services you’ll be providing for that special fee.

Ironically to create a problem free client when you’re charging less is actually MORE work than just charging a substantial upfront fee.

It may be worth it for you though if your business model makes sense.

An example might be selling a simple ongoing service
you already know you can outsource easily.

It might make sense to build up to 50 clients paying you $300 a month in that situation because you know the only work you have to do is interaction with the clients keeping them happy.

On a different but very important topic one thing you might want to keep in mind is that many of your best clients have a whole lot less price resistance than you think and they might pay you many times what you’re charging now for more sophisticated services that deliver.

Sometimes our own incomes and beliefs about money can stand in the
way of charging what we’re really worth.

The prospect you sell on a $300 a month service
may not have batted an eyelid if you quoted the service
at $1,000 a month!

Remember you can always negotiate down on price but it’s almost impossible to negotiate up.

If you’re struggling with believing you can charge more for your services read this FREE report Breaking The Belief Barrier.