Every company is selling ‘value’ and every purchaser (whether another business or consumer) is looking to buy ‘value’. So what exactly is value?

Value is often measured by the usefulness or desirability of something. As such, the concept of ‘value’ is subjective rather than objective. That is, it means something different to each person considering it, and that meaning can change as time, place and situation change.

VALUE IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
Benefits – Costs = Value

Leverage Your Time, but Don’t Devalue Your Offering

The one thing I do want to stress here is not to DEVALUE your service offering for affluent clients by stuffing it with a bunch of useless stuff.  It is absolutely fine to offer additional bonuses or membership benefits, but DO NOT add it all to the main service offering.

Here are some ideas for adding value.

• Relevant and (at least somewhat) exclusive software.
• Proprietary data.
• Bundled services that relate to the product.
• Expanded info on related techniques.
• Audio files to add depth to the process of learning.
• Video, for clarity in learning.
• Worksheets and checklists
• Phone or email consultation, private strategy.
• Exclusive follow-up info or free subscriptions.
• Case studies. (Separate, for illustration purposes.)

In the book, Mass Affluence, By Paul Nunes and Brian Johnson, the authors talk about several product and service offering points as well as pricing strategies.  One of their key points is:

“Give customers the chance to spend more.  Offer new premium versions, adding on product upgrades and differentiated service levels to existing offerings. Honor customers with the recognition they desire. Create status levels that reward willing-to-spend customers. Offer the right price to each customer.”

Here are the 5 most important things to remember when creating products and service offering to compel your affluent clients:

• Focus on offering solutions, rather than products or services.
• Offering them HIGH VALUE services and products that do not require them to “work” for their own solution.
• Ditch the hourly billing and package up your services.
• Use the Goldilocks Packaging Strategy offering 3 solutions to choose from.
• What you offer to them is important, but HOW you offer it is more important.

In order to ensure your affluent prospects gravitate to you, you must demonstrate your authority on a subject they are interested in. Why?  When wealthy buyers see you as a knowledgeable professional whose opinions and guidance truly matter as well as a worthy step above the competition, they are more likely to hand over their hard-earned money. And because you are charging premium pricing with your affluent clients, it is even more important that you are the leading expert.

There are a couple ways to start to position yourself as an expert in the eyes of the affluent:

• Be Confident in Your Expertise Stop taking your skills for granted. The affluent are more definitively affected by how you present yourself and your credentials.  They achieved their status through hard work, determination and ingenuity.  You are even more attractive to them when you present yourself in the same light.
• Create a Powerful Position & Brand In an overcrowded marketplace, if you’re not standing out, then you’re invisible. The best way to captivate your affluent audience is with an authentic and powerful personal brand.  The benefits of strong personal branding will give you an edge over your competition and enhance your value in the global marketplace.

Use the ideas I’ve given to help you devise a plan that works for you and become the star in your field to reap the lucrative rewards of the affluent.

22% of U.S. households have more than 55% of all earned income. This means that more than half of the country’s income is concentrated in one of five households.  The affluent have the money and they are willing to spend it…even in this cautious economy.

If the potential dollars have not convinced you, here are 5 more reasons why you MUST market your services upwards towards this lucrative audience:

1. Marketing To The Affluent Requires Less Energy and Less Effort. If you had the choice between selling to one person to make $10,000 or selling to ten people to make $10,000 which would you choose?
2. The Affluent Are Not Affected By Economic Conditions. Typically, the affluent have enough diversification in their wealth that a blip in the economy is just that and doesn’t significantly affect their accumulated fortune.
3. The Affluent Shop on Value. This means they will pay the asking price even if it’s 100% more expensive than the competition IF they perceive added value.
4. The Affluent Do Not “Nickel & Dime” You. If time and again, you over-deliver on expectations and provide superior service, the affluent are convinced of your value and won’t ask and ask about each charge in your service agreement.
5. The Affluent Are Exceedingly Loyal. Once the affluent consumer makes his or her choice and as long as you continue to deliver value and exceptional customer service, they are your client for the long term.

Affluent clients will help you differentiate your business through their perceptions and their grapevine of referrals and acts opinion-sharing. If you are able to communicate your difference effectively, and then fulfill your promise, you can shape your wealthy client’s views of you within your marketplace (product category).

Here are the benefits of a well defined differentiation:

• You will become a client magnet attracting affluent clients to you instead of you hunting them down.
• You will spend significantly less time and money marketing.
• You will reduce your sales cycle because you will stand out at the clear winner.
• You will increase your revenues.
• You will get to choose the clients you work with.

When it comes to Market Research, there are many ways to approach your audience depending on who they are:  surveys, panels, online forum, focus groups… just to name a few.  But at the heart, the questions you ask are the key. As you begin your venture, always keep your eye on your end objective or what you hope to learn and backtrack from there

My mentor, Alan Weiss, says there are three basic key questions to answer prior to establishing any marketing approach:

1. What is my unique value for buyers? Questions about the problem your services can solve will help you understand this better.  For example, I offer coaching to clients so I might make statements like:

• How much do you typically spend on business improvements or training?
• What do you find most challenging in business?
• What premium products or services would you like to see more of?

2.Who specifically will write a check for that value? It’s critical to completely understand both the demo and psychographics of your customers so you can fully understand how to affect and appeal to them:

• What is your approximate age?
• Are you employed?
• How do you like to spend your free time?

3.How do I reach them? Individuals consume marketing messages and media differently. For example, some read the newspaper every day, checking out the ads.  These folks might delete every email blast they receive.  I prefer to keep up electronically.  The best way to learn what works for your clients and prospects is to ask them:

• For what purpose do you generally utilize free content?
• How often would you like to receive a newsletter?
• In which medium to you wish to receive time sensitive information?

All this detective work will pay off, either by helping you validate your business plan, sending you back to the drawing board, or convincing you to shelve it altogether. And don’t worry if that happens – inspiration will strike again. Plus, your affluent clients and prospect will appreciate you taking the time to ask.

The most effective way to gain a thorough understanding of your ideal affluent clients and to get at the insights that really make them tick is through Market Research. Although the term Market Research often conjures up big dollar signs in most business people’s minds, there are many ways to justify the minimal implementation expense with the maximum knowledge you gain as a result.  Let’s look at the important reasons why Market Research helps you hit your mark:

Why is Market Research CRITICAL?

Market research is an essential part of any business that wants to offer products or services that are focused and well targeted. Market research is the study of groups of people that you would like to sell your products or services to.  Researching your ideal target market can provide you with sound and objective data.

Why You Must Complete Your Marketing Research:

1. You can’t determine what your potential customers want unless you first know who they are
2. Once you know the type of product that your potential customers want and need, then you have to determine who else is selling similar products and how each competitor is perceived in the market place
3. There’s nothing worse than spending time and money developing and marketing a product, just to learn too late that no one wants to buy it

Without a clear understanding of your ideal affluent clients, you are doomed to lack any real authenticity to incent action.  Take the time to conduct market research and learn everything you don’t know before getting started

A client of mine came to me shortly before launching a major, new product and wanted to be sure her branding was spot on.  I asked her a really simple question: “Who are your ideal affluent clients and what are their needs and desires that this product will fulfill?” I knew we were in trouble when she looked back at me with a blank face. It quickly became obvious that she was unclear as to who her market was and what they really wanted.

Suffice is to say, most entrepreneurs I work with have a similarly difficult time answering the same question and often rely on a method of “throwing” products into the market place and waiting to see which “stick” so to speak.  Let me tell you this, without truly understanding your market, you will waste an astonishing amount of time and money on marketing and creating services that won’t sell no matter how well executed.  Take the time to conduct market research and learn everything you don’t know before getting started.

Branding is the process of creating distinctive and durable perceptions in the minds of consumers. A brand is a persistent, unique business identity intertwined with associations of personality, quality, origin, liking, and more. Although most people associate brands with big companies, the smallest of companies can use branding techniques with great rewards just like I have.

A strong brand will project an image of a large and established business to your potential affluent customers. People usually associate branding with larger businesses that have the money to spend on advertising and promotion. If you can create effective branding, then it can make your business appear to be much bigger than it really is, which also creates a greater sense of trust with the affluent.

An image of size and establishment can be especially important when an affluent customer wants reassurance that you will still be around in a few years time.

When you invest time and resources to leverage technology – as well as to leverage time, resources, and knowledge (both your own, and that of other people) – you have a recipe for unprecedented success.

Consider leveraging your time to expand your streams of revenue. Instead of providing service 1 to 1, leveraging your time means you provide service of 1 to many.  As an example, I do coaching.  I coach people privately and in groups.  The truth is that sometimes I make MORE money doing groups than I do privately.  It is even better when your income streams are passive. Basically, you’re making money without it taking any more of your time.

Use what you and others have to your advantage, and see how far it will take you. At a simple level, it can free up your time to concentrate on things with the highest priority. At a more complex level, it helps you achieve at a much higher level.