Is Your Perception Lowering Your Career Business Profits?

NOTE: This video blog is a little different than my others in that the post and video go hand-in-hand. Don’t just watch the video but read the text below to get the biggest ROI for a high close rate and 6-figure-plus income.

Beliefs and perceptions are interesting creatures in that they form our reality and how we act and react. However, they are rarely based on truths.

When career entrepreneurs step out to sell their resume writing and career services, we repeatedly see some interesting things happening:

Not pitching services a prospect may truly need because of the belief that someone at that level might to insulted or should be savvy enough to do this on their own.
Lowering rates and offerings based on the belief of what someone might be able to afford, even though they clearly need more help or you will lose money as a result.
Quoting prices that are too low and unsustainable because you secretly don’t feel anyone would actually pay “that much” and you believe you might be attacked verbally or seen as greedy.
Only offering the services the prospect asks for and not what you see they clearly need because you think you will be perceived as pushy and/or again as greedy.

All of these have certain things in common:

How a person looks and acts, and what they say, rarely equate to how much they will invest in themselves and their future when shown a path that demonstrates they can’t do it on their own and it has tremendous ROI.
They hurt your clients who came to you to help them navigate the job market, and are now left with just pieces of the puzzle.
They hurt you because you have to find more clients, work more hours to make ends meet, and juggle an unstable close rate. Over time this can lead to stress and burnout.

But what can you do?

Certainly, there are some cases where I’ve needed to work one-to-one with a career professional to help them identify where a belief came from, what it represents, and then how to rewrite it for confidence and productivity. For instance, I had a member (not a private client) who off and on over the years would talk to me about her rate and closure stress. With every bit of advice, she would raise prices and improve close rates. But, years later when she became my private client it was still a huge issue of how much to charge. So we did a belief bashing exercise that helped her identify that when she had started in this industry a close professional friend who she admired had laughed at her career choice stating, “No one will pay for that”.

Once we figured out where that embedded belief came from it was like the clouds parted and the sun shined through!

Beliefs are THAT strong and they can be entrenched within you very early on from a parent, respected figure, family friend, personal experience, or even a TV show.

The good news is, that when many of us learn that our services are not like a commodity of bread to be consumed and then repurchased repeatedly, but rather a tool that will ensure your client can pay for every loaf of bread from here on out… Or, we experience a situation like the one I share in the video below where we shot ourselves in the foot by being “fair” with our pricing….

Well, we want to find an easier, more effective way.

Now I get it, the issue is likely that you:

DON’T want to come off as if you are selling
ASSUME your website or marketing presence should pre-sell your prospect
BELIEVE your clients have read about your offerings and made the connection about what they would ask you for
APPROACH your consultation from a conversational place where you hope something will click instead of as a strategic one with edu-fear-acating.

The good news is that you truly can close 94-97% of your prospects on a suite of services they need without lowering your prices or ever feeling like you are selling.

I created this methodology in the 90s when not only did I not want to sell but I felt very uncomfortable quoting prices and worried so much about it my heart would pound every time the phone would ring and I couldn’t sleep when I had a consult appointment on the books the next day.

But what I did know is when I did close sales at my measly rates ($150-300 my first year about 26 years ago):

How my service changed lives and how my clients were willing to go out on a limb to invest when it was “the last of their money”. (This is where the CDI career hero began because folks, we save lives).
The massive gap that existed between what prospects thought they were coming in to get from me vs. the time, effort, expertise, and energy that went in to fulfilling it.

Thus, I decided to go against ALL existing wisdom in our industry at the time — “Prospects don’t want to know how you do it, but rather what’s in it for them”.

On the surface that seems to make sense, but it doesn’t fit when you discover that:

Most people who seek out professional resume writing services think that it really is DIY but they don’t have the time, and that you, glorified typist, can make it look pretty and use 50 cent words to punch it up.

So, if they come in expecting $99-300, and you charge $1500 without helping narrow the gap between their DIY belief and your big time and expertise investment, you won’t close. Instead you will be met with shock, sadness, anger, and even laughter. You didn’t bridge that massive gap that exists.

Most people would invest in career coaching services, according to the Gallup survey I read at the time, if they cost $7.

Yep, $7. That number has risen since then, but with career coaching not covered by insurance like therapy is, it can be a hard sale if you aren’t dangling the ROI. Again, most think their natural charisma or contacts will help them be successful, even when they’ve never negotiated a salary package or navigated the hidden job market.

My edu-fear-acating and show-and-tell process allowed me to maintain a 94-97% close rate with prospects at ALL levels.

In the late 90s I was closing all levels with packages from $1200-1500.

At 2.5 years in business I broke the 6-figure annual mark as a result.

How does this impact you and your business?

It’s a repeatable process!

Over the last two decades hundreds of resume writers have adapted my methodology and gone out to kick butt with their own high close rates at packages into the 5-figure range.

Here’s a couple of examples I love:

Karen Bartell wrote me:

I tried your 97% close rate script and it was like some kind of magic. I described my packages and pitched them $300 higher than previously. He acted like he couldn’t get out his credit card fast enough; like he was afraid I would go away. He tried to give me his credit card while driving! In the past they used to tell me they were driving as a way to get off the phone. But, by using your tried-and-true method, driving was not an object, it’s like I was giving away gold.

Sally Calloway wrote me:

As soon as I got off of the phone with you after our third coaching session, I increased my prices and revised my packages based on your suggestions. I got an inquiry that night, used your 3 step process and the client invested for double what I was charging!

There are 100s more who didn’t have to sacrifice their income, their profit, or their clients’ success because of their pricing structure, lack of packaging, or beliefs.

So again, this video tip and lesson are different. I’m trying to shake you, wake you, and direct you to an easier, softer, and much more effective way vs. laying out the step-by-step path (as that is more time-intensive).

When you are ready, ALL the lessons on how to do this are available free to CDI members (and I’ve included key ones below).

And if you are not yet a member? You could start today for as little as $97.

Watch the 9-minute video now:

Additional Resources (Free to Members)

Ultimate CDI Member Resource Guide to Success >> (Compendium of our most-requested how-to lessons)

6-Figure Blueprint for Consulting, Sales, Packaging & Closing >> (Start with the 2-part Core Process in this resource compendium to get my entire consultation script with edu-fear-acating & show-and-tell)

Get Targeted Testimonials to Easily Close Sales & Boost Your Business (Core Lesson) >>

2019 Resume Pricing Survey Findings (Report) >>

Top CDI Resume Writing Resources and Tools >> (Compendium of the hottest resume writing lessons, including webinars from TORI winners)