Resources mentioned in this episode:

👉 Start The Profitable Practice Free Course Here

👉 Learn About The Profitable Nutritionist Program

Episode Summary:

Let's talk about your pricing, specifically in terms of “the going rate” in your area or your niche.

We talk about this topic a lot, because, as you know, it is one of the default sales objections our brains love to entertain: not enough time, or not enough money.

Inside The Profitable Nutritionist Program, I teach an entire module devoted to creating an easy yes offer that's easy for you to sell, and it's easy and irresistible for your easiest, dreamiest clients to say yes to. 

And in that module, I give one non-negotiable standard for everyone to follow:

Stop crowdsourcing your pricing.

Stop researching what other people in your area or your niche are charging.

Stop calculating what the per hour charge is.

Stop figuring out “the going rate”.

Let’s talk about it so you can figure out what to charge without all the comparison drama and meaningless calculations.

Transcript:

Note: The transcription below was provided for your convenience. Please excuse any typos or mistakes the automated service made in translation.

Andrea Nordling 0:00
Let's talk all about your pricing again today, again, because we talk about this a lot the topic of pricing, and of money and of money objections and of the going rate, which is we're going to be really digging into today. It's one of the default objections that our brains love to buy into, there are two of them. Not enough time, not enough money. We were talking all about this lately, if you joined me last week, for our five day intensive time management training, this one is fresh in your mind, this concept of not having enough time. And if you did join that training, then you know that there are a lot of strategies available for you to break this belief in that story, that there's not enough time for you or for your clients, so that you can serve them at a much higher level, and that you won't believe that story anymore. And then they won't believe that story anymore. So we talked about for an entire week, I brought you into some behind the scenes of content, I teach inside my program, the profitable nutritionist all around time management and breaking open your brain about what's possible in a tiny amount of time. So that you can be an example of that in your business and for your clients. And you can show them what's possible for them to so first of all, we are systematically breaking our brains of this pattern of believing that we don't have enough time or our clients don't have enough time, it's common objection. And now we gotta we gotta go full circle here. And we can come back to the other thought pattern, which is not enough money, that they don't have enough money, that you don't have enough money that things are too expensive that you have to do more research, or they have to do more research before they invest. That's kind of the angle here with today's chat about the going rate. But I want to just bring you back to before we do anything else, I want to bring you back to two things. First of all, the profitable nutritionist program is open right now get your booty in the program. This is we do all of this work at a very, very deep level. And there's a complete process that brings you through how to audit your pricing, your offer your time, all of the things inside the program. So the doors are open right now they opened a few times a year now happens to be one of them get over to build a profitable practice.com forward slash join for all the details and for the link to sign up. Okay, so do that right now. Pause, go join and then come back to this. If you're listening to this podcast in the future, you can still go to that link. And it will also be linked up in the show notes of this episode. And you will always get the upcoming enrollment dates. So you can put those on your calendar, it always says the next time that enrollment will be open. Alright, second thing I want to remind you of when it comes to time and money, especially money, which is what we're talking about today, this shift happens in your mind first, all right, before you can ever have clients coming to you that have no considerations about the going rate or about not having enough time not having enough money or not allocating money towards an investment that they want to make in their health before any of that shift happens with those people externally, it happens in your brain. So obviously, that is what we are going to talk about today is how to shift this in your mind. Alright, the exciting thing about doing this work, I just want to let you know kind of cast the vision for you is that you're going to see this shift in your existing clients. And then of course, you're going to see this shift in the new clients that are being drawn to you in the most unexpected ways I might add like you are a very strong super magnet for only people that are ready to get started right now and have no hang ups about their time. And they're ready to get started right now and have absolutely no hang ups about the investment that they're making. And they're not shopping around. It's magical. But this shift happens in your mind first. So to have other people have these beliefs about your pricing and about your offer, you have to have it yourself in your brain first. If you want to have the most incredibly motivated and resourceful clients that are just flocking towards you. I'm gonna give you a visual when I think of clients flocking towards you. I think of you as a Jimmy John's next to a high school football field, where all of the teams just got done practicing their second practice of the day, they're on Tuesdays and they just got done practicing and you are the Jimmy John's that's the visual are the clients flocking towards

Andrea Nordling 4:23
you with their credit cards in hand ready to buy now. That's what you want. You have to get your thoughts about your pricing and your offer cleaned up. Okay. Inside my program I teach an entire module devoted to creating an easy yes offer and that means it's easy for you to sell and it's easy and irresistible for your best dreamiest clients to say yes to in that module. I give one solid non negotiable standard for everyone to follow and we give it to you here right now. Stop crowdsourcing your pricing. Stop researching what other people in your area or in your niche are charging. Stop calculating what the per hour or charge is like stop breaking down your pricing into what it is per hour, I'm serious do not even know the going rate. This goes back to the going rate. That's the one big, huge non negotiable standard for everyone. I give this in my program, like I said, But I'm giving it to you now, do not know the going rate, do not even look at what anyone else is charging, don't even know, the going rate is not a thing. Okay, I hear this all the time, it's like, well, the going rate in my area is blank, or the going rate in my niche is blank. This is false. It's not a thing, there is no going rate. That's a myth. It's not a fact, it's not even a thing. If you're looking at other people's pricing as a guide for where to set your pricing, what you're doing is you're adopting other people's beliefs about money and about the value that they're creating. And you're taking their beliefs and you're applying it to your business. They're not the same thing. They don't matter what other people believe about themselves and about their clients and about their offer, and about the transformation their people are getting, and about their time and what it is worth and what they should charge for it all other people's beliefs about that are going to show up in their pricing. That doesn't mean it is the going rate, it just means it's a collection of beliefs that they have that they assigned $1 value to. And doing this research, I put research in big giant air quotes, research, it's only confirming a thought that you have about yourself, which is that you can't trust your own decisions and you need outside validation or you need outside direction. That's all that's happening. If you're doing this research, looking at the going rate. So you're saying I don't think I can do this for myself, I don't think I can make these decisions for myself, I need to see what other people are doing. And it seems really smart and practical and very pragmatic to understand the going rate like you're doing market research, don't do that. Now, first and foremost, you want to build trust with yourself that you do know what's best for your business and your clients hands down. Okay, so that's the skill is putting on the blinders and saying, I know what's best, I can do this for myself, I can make these decisions myself first and foremost. And like I said, crowdsourcing, your pricing and your offer details is not building that trust with yourself at all. It's just taking on someone else's beliefs about what's possible for them, what's possible for their clients, and what they think is possible in their business. And here's why this is a problem. Well, several reasons. But a big reason this is a problem, the honest truth is up to 95% of health and wellness practitioners are not profitable in their business. Most say that, again, up to 95% of health and wellness practitioners are not profitable in their business. So think about that. If you're modeling your pricing, or your offer strategy based on what the going rate is, which isn't an actual thing, you're just racing to the bottom, because you're modeling it after something that isn't working for someone else either. Now, secondly, another reason why this is a problem. And I've talked about this quite a bit already. And I did an entire episode episode nine called Stop under charging. So you definitely want to revisit this topic. If it's pushing some buttons for you go back to Episode Nine, stop undercharging. And here's the big elephant in the room. You are not a commodity business. You are not Walmart, Walmart, or Amazon or any other big business that selling a commodity product at scale considers price to be the top differentiator and whether or not someone will buy. So if you go on Amazon, and there are 30 of the exact same products available that would do the task exactly the same way and get the job done for you, you're likely going to sort out which one you buy based on price, and you're going to make your purchasing decision that way. It makes sense in that sort of a business, it makes sense for that sort of a purchase. But this is why we think that price matters so much. Because we are shoppers of these types of products often and we just are consistently creating evidence in our brains, that price is the different differentiator price is the thing, price is the thing, price is the thing, when at the end of the day, it comes down to the price. But what you're selling, which is a life changing results for someone literally life changing result. It's not available on the end cap at a super Walmart by the way,

Andrea Nordling 9:04
and cannot and should not be sold like a piece of Tupperware or a gadget on Amazon. Like really think about that what you're selling is not a let's get the cheapest one commodity product. That's not what you're selling. It's not it's completely apples to oranges. These are not the same thing. Do you see what I'm saying? There's no going rate for what you offer. None. It's not a thing. You get to decide the going rate. And that's how we're changing this industry. By the way. That's how we are lifting this entire industry out of the weird starving artists complex, which is pretty prevalent, I must say for many, many, many health and wellness practitioners. It's kind of celebrated. It's kind of like the crunchy granola. Look at me. I don't even have to make money. I'm just helping people. That starving artists complex is what we're leaving behind. And we are lifting this entire industry into a professional cat glory that is blowing up. Specially right now, because of the demand of so many millions of people that are fed up all puns intended, with the direction that their health has gone. It's no secret, people are really sick, and they're really sick of getting sicker. Each visit that they make to the professionals that they have trusted, that's a fact, people are really looking for real solutions. And that's what you offer. If you're listening to this podcast, I know that that's what you offer real solutions to people, the lasting actual results that people want to get. That's why they're hiring you. It's not a commodity, it's not a thing where you just get the cheapest one, and pop it in your Amazon cart and you go check out the going rate does not matter. If you were selling some sort of a plastic gadget on Amazon, of course, you would want to look at what other people are selling it for, because it's going to be apples to apples, right next to each other on the same page. But that's not what's happening in our business. It's not what's happening, people are looking for real solutions, they want lasting actual results that are going to change their life. And that's where they're hiring you. And they're not looking at, I guarantee you please hear me when I say this, they are not pulling up five different websites side by side, pulling up the pricing page on each one and just deciding on the cheapest one. And if they are, those are not your people. They're not the people that you want to work with. If price is the only differentiator in someone's mind between you. And someone else that kind of does that thing you do, that's not the client that you want, because they are not looking at the value of what you're offering them and the long term results that they're going to get, you want someone that has a connection to you and your process and really is committed to the results, that you are helping them get the stamp, this transformation that they're getting, it's the most important thing, that's what they're buying. So I want you to really hear this, your clients are buying their results, they're buying the future results that they're getting with you. They're not buying your time, they're not buying your process, I know that that's a bruise to the ego, of not buying your process, they're not buying the snuggles with you, with your time, they're not buying your assets. And they're not buying the pretty PDFs that you have made that you emailed to people after each session. Don't break any of this down into an hourly rate and do not think that those are the things that people are actually buying. This is a really a common thought error that a lot of people have is thinking, Okay, I'm going to break it down. Like this is what they get when they work with me, I'm gonna break it down into per hour when I spend with them. And if it's an insane number that they think will people never pay that because some so and so down the street is charging $100 An hour or $75 an hour or $50 an hour. And that's the going rate. hear this all the time. It's what's keeping people very, very stuck and their businesses are in the red. So don't do it. Don't do it. It's a non negotiable do not break anything down into an hourly rate. Don't do it,

Andrea Nordling 12:53
do you hear me don't look at what other people are charging, do not try to figure out the going rate, it's not a thing anyway, and for goodness sake, do not break break anything down into what the hourly rate is, it's terrible. I want to say this too, is also a way for making it seem like you are making more money than you are or like you're you're charging more than you are. So here's another thing that I see a lot of people do is they say, I'm fully booked, I'm so busy, I charge 250 an hour that it out, which is completely a lie, because they're also spending an hour preparing for every session and an hour afterwards taking notes and compiling resources and doing follow up or answering for emails in between sessions, which is taking a ton of their time and not accounting for that. So this hourly rate thing can either be used against yourself what it can be used against yourself in two ways either to justify that something is affordable by like having a really low hourly rate, which is obviously not going to be great for your business. Or it can be a high hourly rate that you tell yourself you're charging. And then you're very confused about why you're not making money at the end of the month and why there isn't enough to actually pay you because you're not taking into account all of the extra hours that you're putting into each client that they're not charging for. Do you see how you can rationalize this either way, just why it's a terrible idea. It's a terrible don't break things down into an hourly rate. Either way, it is a race to the bottom do not do this. Okay, do not do this. Another thing I teach my students, which is a follow up to this is to never sell one off sessions. Never don't do this. Your clients are not going to get lasting, measurable life changing amazing results that they want to take a bullhorn out and tell everyone in their life about to go hire you for they're not going to do that for meeting with you one time and getting some PDFs emailed to them afterwards. That's not going to happen. You know it I know it they on some level know it as well. So don't sell them that it's a disservice to people to sell them a one off session. No, no, no, don't do it. I recently coached someone on her pricing Who actually isn't a student of mine, we met at a different event. And so she wasn't a student of mine. So she wasn't yet familiar with this, and hadn't had it broadcast to her in 10 different ways. And she was telling me how she was fully booked, and very busy, but still not making enough money to contribute in a meaningful amount to her household finances. She was frustrated, because she's pouring so much time into her business. It's consuming a lot of our time, but she's not being compensated accordingly. And the reason she was giving me for that is like, this is what the going rate is in my area. And so this is why I'm charging. But I and I'm fully booked now. But I'm still, like, I can't actually live off that it was this whole thing. When she's explaining it to me. I'm like, I see what's going on here. But I also see why you're believing this story. It's a going rate problem, because the going rate isn't a real thing. That's what the problem is. Okay. So she's telling me this whole thing. And I asked her, Well, why aren't you charging 4000 for four months? And I just pulled the number out of thin air and I was like, let's just go for it. Why aren't you charging 4000 for four months? And her answer, she kind of stepped back. And she thought about it for a second. And then she said, I gotta get on my phone. And she started calculating how much that would be per hour. And if that would be in line with the going rate. She like wanted, she her brain instantly was like, I need to know how much that would be per hour. And if I could do that, or if I should do that, or what people would think about that it was so fascinating to me. And again, this person saw my client. So she, she's like, hold on a second,

Andrea Nordling 16:26
let me get back to you. After I calculate what the going rate is. As if the going rate is an actual thing that someone smarter than her created. Like someone, some mayor of the internet somewhere created this and she has to abide by the rule of the going rate. See how ridiculous this is. But so many people do it. And you might be doing the same thing. So I want you to really hear this today. The going rate is fake. There is no going rate. It's not real. There isn't one it doesn't even exist. So when she was doing this calculating, I'll tell you how this ended up over this calculating? She said I just I couldn't charge that per hour. Do you know what that would be? per hour? I said, Yeah, absolutely. It's not wonderful. And she's like, I don't understand. Like what? And I said, I knew what results her clients got when they worked with her. We'd already talked about it. And I said, What's your clients pay $4,000 Right now, to get the result of sleeping through the night and losing the weight they want to lose? She stopped for a second. She's like, Yeah, of course they would. And I could see the light bulb click on at that moment. And to my knowledge, I think she increased her price right on the spot. Because it's just that shift of thinking, Oh, they're not buying my time, they're not buying the hourly rate, they're buying the result, would someone pay $4,000 to get that result? Absolutely. You're selling the results, not your time, not their time. In fact, let's be real, they want the results faster and more efficiently. They aren't paying you to snuggle them every week and milk their sessions for an extra 20 minutes every time and then email you four times in between the next session. If your sessions are 45 minutes, but it's consistently an hour and 15 minutes, pets not really the result that that client wants. Okay, that's not a resourceful client that really wants the results. That's them, if this is happening to you, and I see this happening to a lot of people and when it and when it is happening 100% of the time, if clients are taking advantage of the time that you have allocated for sessions, it's because you like they're mirroring back to you the belief that you have given them, which is your belief that it's an hourly, like, they have to get the full hour they're buying the hour, they have to get the full hour, and you're not putting boundaries on that time. So then it's stretching even longer than an hour. But if you have the belief that they're there for the result, not the time they're there for the result, you know, you're gonna do, you're gonna help them get results way faster, more efficiently. See what I'm saying? It's how you are going to be thinking critically about how to improve your process and how to make it more efficient, and how to really blow their minds with how you're explaining things and how to simplify what you're doing. And you're going to be thinking at a much higher level, if you're really believing that they're buying the results from you, they're not buying the hourly rate or the time. Okay, so like, really think about that, if you believe that your pricing is the going hourly rate, that's what you're going to be offering, you're going to be stressing about, how do I fill up this hour? Or what if this hour goes long, like it always does. You're gonna be stressing about the time. And the and it doesn't always have to be an hour. I'm using that as an example. But clearly, you could plug in here, whatever your duration is, and frequency. But if your belief is that that's the most important thing, and that's what people are buying, then you can be really stressed about it about making sure that it's the right hour or the right amount of time. You see what's happening here. Okay. Now I know as I say this, I can hear one of two objections happening in your mind, I can actually hear the thoughts. Do you know how? Because I've coached a lot of people on this course. I know your brain is going to offer one of two things. It's going to be either saying well, what if they don't get the results in the amount of time that they signed on for. First of all, like you might be thinking that Well, it'd be great to do 4k For four months, for example, but what if they don't get the results? In that amount of time they bought the results, and they didn't get them? That might be one argument you're having. Or you might be thinking, what if they do get the results way faster, and then we still have more time left. Again, it's these two problems that our mind wants to make as problems. But neither of these is a problem. Okay, I want you to decide right now that that is true, it's not a problem. Either way. If your client signed on for four months, for example, and at the end of four months, they aren't quite to their goal, yet, they haven't quite gotten the results they wanted. But they have seen massive changes and improvements in many areas, which we know is true, always, they have seen a lot of changes, and you're helping them measure that and you're helping them evaluate that and see those changes, and they are having great momentum, they're moving forward, they're seeing a lot of value here, they're not quite at their goal, but they're seeing a lot of value. Do you think that they're upset about that? Really? No,

Andrea Nordling 21:00
of course not. They're just going to resign with you for another four months and keep going. It's not a problem, unless you make it a problem. So someone not quite having the results in the amount of time not a problem. They're gonna keep going, they're having other results, they're very happy. Your belief in that is, of course, going to resign them for another four months and keep their belief high, that is not a problem, and they're going to keep going. So your thoughts are going to be mirrored by that. If your thoughts are that this is a problem, oh, my gosh, I've done something wrong. They haven't gotten the results, yet. They're gonna hate me, they're gonna want their money back. Oh, my gosh, they're gonna tell everyone I'm awful. I've no idea what I'm doing. They see me they see it. They know I'm a fraud. They know, I have no idea what I'm doing. And I can't really help people. Those are your thoughts. I know, that was a lot. But I coach people on this a lot. So I know that those are the thoughts. If you're having those, then you're making it a problem, that they haven't quite gotten results yet. That's not in service to your clients, what's in service to them is holding space for them and believing that they will get the results. They're not going to quit, they will get there. You have the exact tools and process to help them and you're going to keep going you're keep believing in them. They keep going and keep believing in themselves. It's not a problem. All right, that belief and that certainty, and that calmness, that's not a problem. If they don't quite have the results yet, that is going to be translated into how they believe in themselves and how they approach working with you as well. You have to believe it first, you have to think that in your mind first that it's not a problem. And then they will believe that right? Now conversely, remember, there was another belief here that might be coming up, which is what if they get results faster, and then we have time left? And what the hell will I do, then if you offer weekly sessions for four months, we're going to keep going with this for months example, I think it's a good one, we're just going to, we just pick this out of the narrow, but we're gonna run with it, if you have her weekly sessions for four months, and you block off 45 minutes per session. But you can actually deliver what you had planned in those sessions in 20 minutes, instead of the full 45. And after two months, they get the results that they came for, are they going to be disappointed? No, they're gonna think you're incredible, and that you completely over delivered. And they're going to think they're incredible, and that they freaking crushed it and got results way faster than you even anticipated. It's not a problem at all, unless you make it a problem. So it's not a problem. If it takes people a little longer. It's not a problem. If they get results faster. You're not an hourly employee. Remember that. And if you are still thinking of yourself, as an hourly employee in your business, we have to shift that belief you are a CEO. Remember, whether you see yourself like that or not you are you're the decision maker, it's your business. Your job is to blow your clients minds, while you blow your mind with what this business of yours can create for your life. Because I know that that's why you're in business. It's it's a dual purpose is because of what you're creating for other people. But it definitely is for sure also because of what it can create in your life and for you. That's why we're in business. This isn't a nonprofit, nor should it be approached as such. You can't get all of the freedom and abundance and prosperity of being a CEO and having a business that you love. If you're thinking like an hourly employee, though, for all of the reasons that we've talked about today. So I want to land this plane with one little thought for you. I want to tell you that I have no idea what anyone else charges for high level business coaching for health and wellness practitioners, which is what I do. I have no idea. I honestly don't know what they charge. I don't know the going rate, because it isn't real. And many people that do this exact same thing are my personal friends. It's not like I'm in a cave and I don't know anyone else that does this. I do. They're like my actual friends. We talk on the phone, we text each other in real life. We see each other in real life. I know people that do this. And yet we don't talk about our offers and I don't ever ever, ever check their websites to find out what they're charging. I have no idea because it doesn't matter. I don't care. I don't need to know. There is no going rate. I'm deciding what By going rate is, which is based on the long term vision of my company, and the results that my clients are creating. And it's coming from my brain. I'm deciding the going rate here. I have no idea what anyone else charges. It's so freeing. It's so wonderful. So when people mentioned someone else's program, like I have no idea what that is. Because it doesn't matter. How fun is that? I, it doesn't matter. There's no going rate, I have no idea. All right. So first of all, you don't need to know the going rate put on your blinders you don't need to know. But I will say, when you're in a room full of successful practitioners that are making a lot of money, and are serving their clients at a very high level, that's the going rate you do want to be aspiring to. Doors are open right now for the profitable nutritionist program until tomorrow night at midnight, May 25. At midnight. So if you are hearing this in real time, get into this room today, if you haven't already, you're going to clean up the pricing drama, and you're going to get to work on your brain first thing on day one when you crack open your workbook for the first time.

Andrea Nordling 26:00
And yes, we will be talking about money a lot and about what you're charging. And it's going to be so fun for you to do this for yourself. I can't wait to see you inside build a profitable practice.com forward slash join for all the details and to enroll. All right, my friend have a wonderful, wonderful week ignoring the going rate because it doesn't exist and it doesn't matter. And go raise your prices. Yeah. Right. I'll see you next Tuesday.