EPISODE 056 | Sales Tactics + Pricing Strategies That More OTs Should Question

And we're back, pulling back the curtain on yet another area of business that often has some shady things going on... Today we’re going to be talking about sales tactics and pricing strategies that more of us should be questioning as both entrepreneurs AND consumers.  

In this episode you’re going to hear me talk about (and question): 

• The importance of using our critical thinking skills when it comes to applying what's being taught in the online space
• How income claim marketing can be problematic
• The pros and cons for hiding your pricing
• High pressure sales tactics and discovery calls
• When the friend request on Facebook turns into an unwanted sales pitch
• The penalty tax that often comes with a payment plan

If you're enjoying my "pulling back the curtain" episodes, I would love to hear from you! I think these are important conversations to have, as uncomfortable as they can be... 

As always, I'm happy to continue the conversation via DM on Instagram @otsgonerogue or by email (simply hit reply to one of our weekly email newsletters). If you resonated with parts of this episode, take a quick screenshot, share it to your IG stories and tag me,  @otsgonerogue.

You can also connect with me through our Facebook page  @otsgonerogue or by going to our contact form, https://www.otsgonerogue.com/podcast-contact. 

Transcript

You're listening to the OTs Gone Rogue Podcast, where we inspire therapists to think outside the box and do things differently. I'm your host, Melissa LaPointe. My passion is in helping ot entrepreneurs have a bigger impact on the world while building a life they love and doing transformative work that lights them up. On each episode of the show, I'm going to share tools and tricks to help you flex your entrepreneurial muscles and grow your business from the inside out. I want to see more OTS step up as visionary leaders changemakers and influential CEOs. So let's get started.

Hey there, and welcome back to another episode of the  OTs Gone Rogue Podcast. Today we're pulling back the curtain on yet another area of business that often has some shady things going on. We're going to be talking about sales tactics and pricing strategies that more of us should be questioning as both entrepreneurs and consumers. Because let's be honest, folks, there are a lot of us who've been on the receiving end of some shady sales tactics and questionable pricing. We've all had a sales experience where we were left feeling like nothing but a number. And it doesn't feel very good, doesn't it? Now I want to say that ot entrepreneurs know better, that we show up from a place of integrity when pricing our services, and selling our programs and products. But here's the thing, there are a number of odd entrepreneurs who are perhaps unknowingly engaging in some of these sketchy sales and marketing practices. I say unknowingly, because this is an area of business that a lot of us have uncertainty around. Pricing, and selling. These aren't topics that we're confident diving into as therapists. So a lot of times we shy away from this. I know in my experience, it took a lot of work, before I was comfortable in pricing and selling. So what do we do when we're not sure about something? When we're feeling uncertain about something, we reach out and look for support. We enroll in trainings and workshops, we read blogs and books, we listen to podcasts, we sign up for mentoring, and we invest in business coaching. We do all these things to build our skill set and our confidence with the pricing and sales process. So where's the disconnect happening? Well, unfortunately, and I've mentioned this, so Episode 61, when I talked about the ascension models, sometimes we give too much credit to these mentors to these advisors, trainers, educators and coaches, meaning we trust them to help us. Sometimes we blindly put our trust in them. So we assume that they know best, we assume that what they're teaching us is best practice. And I know for me, there have been times where I have been in a training where it feels like the dots are finally connected. And I have direction and it's really, really exciting. But are these methods always the most ethical ways of selling? So that's something we have to think about. Perhaps it's time to slow down and apply our critical thinking skills to these various sales tactics and pricing strategies. Now, before we do much of a deeper dive into this episode, I want to take a moment and reiterate that I am not judging you. I am not attacking any of you for the way that you're selling. I'm merely suggesting that perhaps there's an opportunity to reflect on the approach that we're taking as entrepreneurs, that there may be some potential to make some changes moving forward. So I'm not saying you're doing something wrong. I'm inviting you into the conversation. Again, this is a judgment free zone. I'm inviting you into the conversation where we can practice some self reflection. Isn't that what professional growth and personal develop? moment and personal evolution is all about. Now, if you're not selling anything, this episode still applies to you. Because you, my friend are a consumer, meaning you're the recipient of the sales tactics and these pricing strategies. So this is something for you to watch out for. This is something for you to think more about in terms of your critical thinking in terms of what you're investing in as a consumer. All right, you guys ready to have some tough conversations. So let's go ahead and break down some of these sales tactics and pricing strategies. The first one that I want to talk about is when people use income claims in their marketing. So this is something that's often used in business coaching, or training programs. Full disclosure, once I got past that six figure, Mark, I definitely have gone back, I didn't use it frequently. But I have gone back and I had seen in some of my messaging that I've referenced that I was able to help people hit six figures, and that I was able to hit six figures as an entrepreneur, I was really excited about that milestone. And again, it wasn't a big part of my messaging. But I'm guilty of this too. I know I've done it in the past. But I am working on being better, because here's why it's a problem. So whether it's on their website, or on a sales page, or part of their messaging, income claim marketing is when someone's saying something along the lines of You know, I've made $150,000 In the last year doing this. So if you buy my program, you can too. Or maybe they're saying something along the lines of I've helped other therapists to scale their business to six figures or $300,000 a year, and I can help you too. So something along those lines. So that's what I mean by income claim marketing. So they're talking about the the revenue, how much they've made, or how much they've helped someone else make. So why is this problematic? Well, for a few reasons. The first one is that people are sharing what they made, they're not sharing their profit margin. And they're not sharing how long it took them to get there. So they might not be sharing that it took seven failed launches and four years in business of living off their savings to finally hit that revenue point. Or that they have pivoted in their business, this is actually their third business, you know, because I love when they say things like, Oh, I did this in my first year of business, but then you find out they've actually had a different business for five years, they left that part out. Or maybe it is, you know, maybe they're not sharing that they started their business in a very privileged position where they had zero debt, super low overhead and a cash surplus from a family member. They might not share that those five figure those six figure launches that they had, were barely profitable, where they couldn't even pay themselves. I am in so many programs where I see people doing these launch debriefs, and on the outside looks great, ah, a generated $37,000. But then they break it down and you find out that, you know, perhaps they spent $10,000 in Facebook ads. And no, when you add up all their overhead, they've made like $1,000. And again, this isn't like this isn't the part that's problematic. We have to be doing these things, we have to be gathering data, we have to be practicing these skills to get better as entrepreneurs. But it's when we use the income claim marketing to get other people into our programs. That's where the problem is. So I know of seven figure business owners who are barely paying themselves a living wage, meaning there is much more to evaluating the health of a business than gross revenue, or how much money someone's generated during a launch. So I want you to be more careful with how much credit you're giving someone when they are using income claim marketing. And if you're someone that's been using it, I want you to reconsider this. Is this the message that? No. Is there another way that you can perhaps tweak your messaging and get clear on what it is you're able to provide? All right, so we have people floating how much they made. Now I want to swing the pendulum the other way. And we're going They talk about hidden pricing. So with hidden pricing, this is on someone's promoting an offer or a program or a service. And they have a sales page or they have an application process to jump on a discovery call, or they're driving you to a webinar, and there's no price listed, you have no idea you're going in blind.

Now, in full disclosure, I used to not include my pricing on my website. Well, for that matter, depending on where you look, it's still, it's easier to find, but I still don't necessarily have it front and center. And I'm happy to explain why. So let's use this as a teachable moment. So I used to think this was a good idea. And I've since changed my tune a little bit. This is a very gray area, and you're going to find people on both sides of the fence with this one. And I'm not saying there's a right or wrong, I simply want to continue the conversation, I want us to be more intentional with what we are doing. So part of the reason for not including your prices on your website, is that you're often not able to properly convey the value of what you're offering. So writing sales copy is a skill. This is a skill in and of itself, that many therapists that many entrepreneurs that many coaches course creators, many people are still developing this skill. So when we have just a number on a landing page, without a thorough explanation of what someone's getting for that investment, it can definitely fall short. I often equate it to, you know, it's like having the price of a house listed. So you have a landing page, you have the house and you have the price listed. Where you see the number, you see the investment, but you don't fully understand the value. You don't know the size of the house, you don't know how many stories how many windows, you don't know the size of the yard, you don't know where in the world this house is located. So you don't know if it's located in New Zealand or Japan or Alaska or California, you don't know the city or the neighborhood, you don't know anything about the quality of the house, you don't know if it's had renovations, it's been recently inspected. Meaning you can't possibly make a decision on the value of this house based on the number alone. And when we're listing off prices as a selling feature. We're often attracting people who are price shopping. I don't know about you, but my ideal client, my dream client is not someone who's price shopping, who's just looking for the lowest price or the best deal in terms of their health and their well being or in terms of their coaching their training, you know, they're not, that's not who I want to work with is someone who's just comparing across the board. The bottom line, the prices there, you know, the Walmart shoppers, so I understand why people are hesitant to list their prices on their website, it's tough. We also have people who are offering customized services. So take my consulting fees or my consulting services, for example, I don't have a price listed for what I do as a consultant, there's a reason why I offer a free consulting session. Before I give you a proposal, I need to get more information, I need to have a better understanding of what you're needing, I need to have a better understanding of where you are your current situation, what you already have in place. And where it is you want to go. I need to understand the timeline and how many supports what it is you're looking for, then I can give you a proposal. So of course, it's really, really challenging for me to list my consulting fees on a landing page, you know, fees that would apply to anyone and everyone. But there are also people who don't have their prices listed for strategic reasons. So yes, it makes sense sometimes. But then we have people who are very intentional with not listing them. This is where they want you, you know, you go to their sales page or you go to their program info. And instead of seeing the number, they're pushing you to book a call or they're pushing you to go through a webinar. So in these situations, people are often wanting to get you on a sales call. So they can better position the investment of their program in the moment. And then the idea is that they can coach you through your objections. So they're in the moment with you, and they can coach you through these objections, often with the goal of getting you to sign up while you're actually on the Call. I've had some programs go as far as asking me to fill out a really detailed application process in order to qualify for a sales call, all while still having no idea what the actual investment for the program is. Now, I've been in the online space long enough that I'm fairly savvy on what some of these programs are going to cost, I can usually tell by their marketing approach, most of the time, I don't get to the end of the line. So most of the time when I start to go through an application process, if I have no idea if I cannot find out how much it is, if I see people asking, what is the investment, how much and they keep avoiding the answer. I very rarely actually book a call, or if I do often, I'll cancel. Thank you know what, this isn't my thing. But for the purpose of market research, I have gone ahead and I have booked in for some of those discovery calls. Sometimes it's not even with the person who's running the program. Sometimes it's with a sales call specialist, or I forget what the proper name is, no, but it's essentially someone who's running the sales calls for them. There have definitely been times where I have found myself in a high pressure sales situation where they've really, you know, I've been fairly uncomfortable, and I'm an assertive person. But really, there's been a lot of pushback in terms of making decision, handing over my credit card signing up. Now there are fast acting bonuses, and there's a lot of pressure to sign up now. Where then they followed up afterwards. So I've had multiple times, one time in particular, they followed up via text, they followed up via email, and they phoned so there was a lot of follow up. And it didn't feel good, it did not feel good at all. I actually was working with one business advisor. So I worked with her for several months, like 18 months. And I learned a ton. I often joke that it was like an NB, like fast track MBA, like I learned so much from working with her. But I also learned a lot about how I don't want to work with people based on the work that I did with her. So her approach, she was very adamant that when working with one on one clients, or when I was facilitating these prospect calls, that I should get someone's credit card number while on the actual call that it wasn't a successful call. I you know, and she would push push it on me like that's not why you're closing, you need to improve your closing rates, you need to get their credit card number while you're actually on the phone with them. And if I wanted to get better at sales, that this was common practice for consultants and for coaches, and that this was something I had to improve on. She was really big on you know, again, not giving them a lot of time to second guess the purchase, not to give them time to think too much about it and that I should jump on their excitement to work with me and sign them up immediately. I have never been successful in getting someone's credit card I've never even asked it's just never felt right to me on so many levels. I don't want people to feel rushed in their decision making. I don't think we should be convincing people to take out loans in order to work with us. I don't think that we should be causing tension in marriages because we pressured someone to drop their credit card details to sign up to work with us before talking to their partners. Yes, I think that we have to give people deadlines. It is human nature, to procrastinate to put off making a decision. So I think it's very helpful to give someone a deadline. But I know that when I'm making investment decisions, I like to have time to think about it and weigh my options. And yes, give them that deadline. You can't wait around forever.

But you also don't have to pressure them to make a commitment when they're not feeling ready. When I'm working with someone especially in that one to one capacity. I want it to be a heck yes. And if it's not a heck yes for them, then it's okay. When they're saying no often it's not No, forever. It's no not right now, this isn't the right time. This isn't you know, I'm not in the right space right now. But I may very well circle back. A lot of my people circle back and even though they say no in the moment, it's a no not right now and eventually becomes a yes. And when they come back they are read They are ready to make that investment, ready to do the work. And it's such a different experience. So one of the things that personally in my business that I'm working on right now is giving people a range of price points. So if they sign up for a discovery call, for example, for business coaching, I'm able to give them a range. Okay, so the investment is between this and this, depending on how much support you want, how much access to me, like there are a number of variables that are going to obviously change that price point. But I do give them a rough idea. And I'm working on an updated email sequence, where again, giving them you know, here frequently asked questions, here are the different ways you can work with me, and acknowledging that we all have different learning styles so that they can process this information in advance. And when they jump on the actual discovery call with me, we can then focus our time on connection and answering any questions they may have, where I didn't provide them that information in advance. So I'm not looking to surprise someone with my price point. All right, speaking of discovery calls, that's another sales tactic I want to talk about. So some people are promoting programs that come with a fairly hefty investment, where you can't get on a discovery call with them, they don't offer them. And that just blows my mind. I'm actually the recipient of theirs. I think it's two different coaches that I get targeted by their ads. And it's all about signing up people to work with you one on one without offering a sales call, sell that high ticket offer, sell, you know, fill up your one on one client roster without ever offering a sales call. And again, just blows my mind that I would ever work with someone in one on one capacity before getting on a call with them and making sure it's a good fit. Or as a consumer that I would ever sign up for a program intensive or, you know, working one on one with someone. I think in hindsight, yes, I've signed up for program intensives I'd have to think about this. I've signed up for program intensives without jumping on a call. But I've always known them already. I've completed trainings with them, you know, I've gone through enough of their process that I knew what they were about. But to do a one on one coaching or a one on one consulting call or excuse me program with someone before first jumping on a clarity call or a discovery call? No, I would I wouldn't do it. Then we have people who offer sales calls, but they don't tell you that their sales calls. It's like surprise. Being in you may have connected with them in some capacity, they suggest jumping on a call like Oh, I'd love to get to know you a little bit better, or I'd love to pick your brain or you can pick my brain. Now I'd love to connect, let's get on a call and do some market research. And then before you know it, you're jumping on. So thinking that, you know connecting with someone, they're looking for answers, they're looking for the next step. And all of a sudden, you're on this call, and they're pitching their program or their service to you. Now, this can feel like when you're jumping on a call, or when you're offering to connect with someone and all of a sudden it turns into a sales call. Again, it feels like a bait and switch. So you have the conversation turn from free coaching or a free consultation, to being pressured to sign up for a coaching package. And I cannot emphasize this enough. If you're selling something there is nothing wrong with that. As entrepreneurs if we are in business we are selling. Right. But be transparent about it. Don't be sneaky about it. leading me to another sales tactic says one of my least favorite sales tactics, the friend request, you know what I'm talking about people. So this is where someone sends you a friend request. And so they send you a friend request on Facebook, or they request to follow your private account on Instagram, or they request to connect with you on LinkedIn. You have mutual friends in common. So you accept their request. Within minutes, they're chatting you up. They ask you some questions that feel very scripted. And then they're pitching you on their program or they're pitching you on their offer. This is referred to as social selling. So when you're using your social media channels to connect with prospects to develop a connection with them, and to engage potential leads. As you can imagine, In the online business world, social selling is alive and well. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. If you're on social media as a brand, or as a business, you're engaged in social selling. I'm also not saying there's anything wrong with cold pitching, per se. But there's a big difference between a cold pitch and excuse me, I should say, there's a big difference between a cold pitch that's thoughtful, and well researched, versus something that's obviously cut and paste, where they have no understanding of who you are as a person, or what you may need. So I don't know about you, but when I'm the recipient of these sales tactics, when people are sending me friend requests to get in my inbox to develop that LinkedIn connection, and then they're immediately pitching me on something I feel a little bit used, it doesn't feel good. And if it doesn't make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, maybe reconsider how you're doing this as one of your sales methods. At the very least, can you take the time to actually get to know this person before pitching to them? Or better yet, can you genuinely get to know them for the sake of getting to know them? All without following a script. And I know this can take more time, this can take more energy. But I think there's something to be said about conscious selling. All right, I have two more scenarios before we wrap this up. So one of the scenarios that I want to talk about, it's not so much as scenario, but it's this ongoing trend in online business with inflated pricing. This is a tough one, because I know that across the board. A lot of OTS are struggling with pricing themselves. A lot of OTS are often undervaluing their programs and their services. But you guys, this doesn't mean that the answer is that we should all be doing mindset work, and manifesting abundance and raising our prices again, and again and again. And again. pricing strategy should be rooted in numbers. And yes, absolutely. There's a layer of mindset work involved. I 100% agree with that. But your pricing shouldn't just be based on mindset. It should be based on things like the cost of delivery, the tools required to get the job done. The time required to get the job done, should be based on the industry you serve the clients that you sell to. And yes, your pricing should feel good to you. And yes, as a business, you need to be profitable. It is so much easier to serve from an overflowing cup. But your pricing also needs to be rooted in reality. And it needs to feel good for your customers too. So food for thought in terms of your pricing, don't just come up with these numbers, because a business coach told you you should. Right. So yeah, it's tough. It's tough. And I hope these conversations lead to more conversations. All right. Last but not least, I want to talk about payment plans. There is this unspoken rule that with payment plans, you should charge a surplus in fees.

And the surplus and fees if you do the math can sometimes be up to 20% Extra, you're paying 20% Extra if you choose the payment plan instead of choosing to pay in full. So essentially what we're doing or the idea is that you're rewarding people who are paying in full. Now I've seen the argument be that there are more administrative costs with payment plans, and that there's a chance that someone could forfeit on their payments, meaning there's inherently more risk with a payment plan. But if you flip this around, you're basically penalizing pay people who can't afford to pay in full. Again, often by upwards of 20%. I've been in this situation myself where I can't afford the full investment. So I opt for the payment plan. But when I do the math, it sucks because by the time I'm making all these monthly payments, I'm sometimes paying 400 500 $600 More in fees. And let's be honest, the added administrative costs are not in excess of 20%. So here are my thoughts on payment plans, if you're going to offer them reconsider the additional fees that you're adding on top of the total investment and if it's for a service based program, don't extend the payment plan beyond the program. Meaning if it's a six month program don't offer a 12 month payment plan that's going to help to reduce the risk to you as the entrepreneur, and it does offer some level of protection without the need to overcharge people. All right, you guys, we covered a lot of stuff. In this episode, I would love to do a bit of a deeper dive, I think perhaps we will do a deeper dive in later episodes. But for now it is time to wrap things up. I hope that I've given you some things to think about without making anyone feel bad. I really hope that if you've been using some of these sales tactics, some of these pricing strategies that I mentioned in this episode, again, I don't want you to feel guilty or judged. I am by no means perfect. And I've implemented some of these strategies in the past too. But when we know better, we can do better. So I want you whether you are an entrepreneur or a consumer to keep thinking about this, let's keep putting in the work so that we can be profitable as business owners. Yes, that is really important. But we also want to be able to hold our heads up high and stay in integrity with the work that we're doing as therapists, coaches, and thought leaders in the health and wellness industry. As always, I love hearing from you and that includes any takeaways, any aha moments, or any feedback you have on this episode. If you're enjoying these episodes, where I am pulling back the curtain and having some of these tough conversations, let me know. It is both encouraging and motivating for me to be having some of these harder conversations on the podcast. You can reach out through our contact form if you want to chat. So go to our website otsgonerogue.com. You can find me hanging out on Instagram with the handle  otsgonerogue or simply hit reply to any of our weekly newsletters. And if you don't want to miss any future episodes, including upcoming episodes in this series, make sure you're subscribed to the  OTs Gone Rogue Podcast on Apple, Spotify or Stitcher or wherever else you listen to podcasts. Okay, thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of the  OTs Gone Rogue Podcast. We'll talk to you next week.