Information → Power → Money → Time → Freedom → Joy

                                                   (Click pic to enlarge.)

Our Judy Oldmeadow is going great guns with her dream to breed the world’s finest Morgan horses.

Last time I visited her farm, I asked what her financial goal was.

It took a while to extract, but we got there.

She wants $30K for every horse she sells.

That’s $22K more than she’s getting now.

Is she dreaming?

No!

Show, Don’t Tell

The good news is, Judy’s horses are actually worth $30K.

The problem is, many of their youbeaut attributes are long term, intangible or not part of the normal purchasing decision process.

Things like health, longevity, temperament, social adjustment and blood magnesium level.

We must therefore articulate and prove these points of difference to prospective buyers.

Word of Mouth

Judy’s past customers, having experienced her Morgans’ superiority, have no problem evangelising to others.

One by one, we’re capturing their powerful (and often moving) testimonials in Judy’s blog.

But this is a slow, incremental process.

To fast-track Judy’s message to uninitiated prospects, I’ve proposed a breakdown of precisely what makes her critters so damn good.

Picture Perfect

The pic you see is my first rough sketch of a ‘proof page’.

It lists everything I can think of that goes into (or comes out of) a Samaria Creek Morgan horse.

Judy’s task is to perfect this list and put a dollar figure beside every element.

I know this is hard for her.

She’d rather play in the sun with the herd than crunch numbers any day.

Also, she feels odd thinking of her beloved babies in such rigorous, clinical terms.

That’s why she has a gimlet-eyed townie copywriter to smack her into shape.

It’s one thing to want $30K.

Quite another to convince people to give it to you.

Once finished and posted on her website, I believe this proof page will do much of Judy’s talking – freeing her to focus on her main game.

Your Story

Many of our readers own or aspire to the top end of their field.

• Big sales are fun.
• Rich clients are smart. (Sometimes.)
• Short hours are heaven.
• Supplying world’s best quality is intensely satisfying.

If you share Judy’s desire to be lonely at the top, how about producing a proof page for your good or service?

I’d love to know why your stuff is worth so much.

I might even buy it.

So saddle up!

You could be in for the ride of your life.

Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire

Poor pricing can cripple your business. Too low, profits go. Too high, sales die. As with terms, this fickle field has many pitfalls. To avoid them, I seek your take on the scenarios below.

Think of it as a game of Scruples, without the vodka and fondue.

Perception

A cheap checkout perfume didn’t sell until the supermarket raised its price by 2000%, moved it to the beauty section and put it behind glass.

The perfume was unchanged, but its new handling increased its value in customers’ eyes.

Should we treat our products likewise?

Guilt

As a kid, I pulled aluminium cans from rubbish bins and sold them to Alcoa (well below spot market rates, I suspect). As an adult, Catholic guilt and middle-class angst made it painful to set my copywriting rate at $120/hour.

My business coach said my clients weren’t buying just an hour of my time. They were buying my talent, reputation, two degrees and 24 years’ experience.

Was he right?

Change

A local pub has put digital price display tags on all its bottle shop products. These are linked to a computer.

On Friday nights, just before work drinks end and revellers hit the bottle shop for take-aways, the computer raises all prices by 15%. Prices revert for sober, Saturday morning shoppers.

Is this damnable (or damned good) pricing practice?

Value

A former financial advisor client was extremely fond of contra deals. Because, he asserted, his professional advice was three times more valuable than mine, he wanted three hours of my life in return for each hour of his.

In a man-to-man context, this stuck in my craw.

Should I put him back on my Christmas card list?

Substance

My ebook distils everything I’ve learned (the hard way) about job ad writing. Yet, as a PDF, it’s merely a bag of bytes with no physical substance.

I just doubled its price to $20 (to pay for Google AdWords). Is this the world’s best bargain, or is it a lame joke in light of the billions of free ebooks around?

Your comments on tonight’s fantastic questions will help us discover if the PRICE is RIGHT!!!