“A personal what now calculator, Cheryl?” I hear you ask. It’s a genuine question – and I do have one.

You see this morning I was talking to a client who was telling me that every time someone says they want to work with her and what are her charges she panics. She doesn’t know what to say. She always thinks she ISN’T going to get the business, so she never has that ‘price’ ready in her head. And she is not sure they can afford what she would like to charge, so she kind of stumbles around and generally ends up quoting half the price that is on her ‘price list’.

What do YOU think when someone asks for your prices, or even worse for a ‘discount’ or ‘mates rates’?

Do you panic like my client above? Do you get aggressive and think – “No discount. Fuck it if they don’t like it”? Or do you think – “That’s interesting! I wonder if they are just trying it on, or whether they are strapped for cash, or whether they just like negotiating”?.

You see, back in the day when I worked for a Bath Mat Manufacturer (stop laughing, no really – STOP laughing now), I dealt with all sorts of big name companies – Harrods, Next, Debenhams, BHS etc And they all had trained buyers. Now the buyers role in life is to buy for the least price possible. They know what their top budget price is but their badge of honour is to get it (whatever IT is) for the lowest price under their budget. Some get bonus’s based on the % they shaved off your profit margin!

As a professional salesperson one of MY objectives was to NOT let the buyer get the lowest price. So in response to the question – “Is that your best price” my answer was always – “Yes it is – for THAT spec. But if you have a budget to work to let me now what it is and what you want me to take out of the spec.” For example, lighter colours cost less, perhaps they wanted slightly less thickness or a different backing.

“But I don’t sell Bath mats Cheryl and I am not a trained salesperson. So how does that help me?”, you might be wondering.

Well – the same principle applies. You just change the service. So if you are a coach – maybe you offer 6 sessions instead of 10, or 45 minutes instead of 90 minutes. Or maybe you ADD more value to the proposal – you say you can’t alter the price but you CAN throw in an extra session at the end, or access to your online materials, or your secret Facebook Group where you go live for Q and A once a week.

It’s All About Valuing Yourself

You see, the key word there is Value. And the biggest problem people have when negotiating their prices, or discounts, or added value services, is – they don’t know their OWN value. And because of that they have trouble getting the price they want for their service.

If you are currently earning £40k a year, but you WANT to be a millionaire, that won’t work if you have a 40k a year mentality. If your current salary, or business turnover is what you VALUE yourself at, then that will never change.

That’s what I often help clients with through Rapid Transformational Therapy – but since you are sat there (where ever “there” is for you right now) – here’s how you can start to change that story you tell yourself – the one where you might possibly be worth 40k a year (or maybe not even that).

The first thing to do is look at your personal story. Look at how you spend your time. Do you spend the evenings watching Dead Enders, Crappy Moaning Street, Loose Tongued Women or worse “The News”? Do you eat crap food, and get hammered at the weekend (ask me how I know about those things).

I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch TV, or occasionally have ‘bad food’ or a celebratory glass of bubbles but I would ask you if you think doing that for the majority of the week is what the average self-made millionaire does?

Here’s the thing, if you don’t value your body, your mind and your time better than that – if YOU don’t, then no-one else will, and you will always struggle to get the price you are worth. Perhaps it is time to start NOTICING what your choices are saying about how much you value YOU. Feel free to contact me on Cheryl@cherylchapman.com for a free consultation if you need some 1-2-1 help getting that ball rolling.

PS Have to confess to having one guilty pleasure – America’s Next Top Model, fast forwarding through all the bitching means the programme is a LOT shorter !!