Thanks to everybody who participated in our recent $100 Reasons To Be Cheap Contest... ... we now have a Reasons To Be Cheap Playbook. I've collected all the reasons people gave, and grouped them into 5 (plus 1) categories, as I saw them. Don't lower your prices, but if you do, then use one of the justifications in this playbook.

Today, a biz owner whose emails I read sent out an email that opened with: "This email is for you if you want quality help on [achieving business outcome] but don't want to commit the [lotsa shekels] that top-shelf collaborators charge." I winced at this. The fact is, this guy is a legitimate expert, who deserves to get paid based on the business value of his services, and yet here he is, leading off the pitch for his new offer by saying, "It's cheap relative to what you might expect." I think there's a lot of value in raising your prices. I think it can even make sense to be the most expensive in your field. Sometimes, on occasion, it can still make sense to offer something at an "attractive" price. But in that case: 1. I don't think it makes sense to lead off with that. Instead, it makes sense to first and foremost fully sell the "quality help" that this biz owner only got to later, and to emphasize that before appealing to cheapness. 2. It makes sense to give a legit public reason for the "attractive" price, and that reason can never be "I am doing it because I'm afraid you won't pay the going rate for this," even if that is part of your private motivation. I wonder if we can come up with a list of such reasons. I'd like to invite you to think for a moment, and comment below with one or more reasons you could use to justify a particularly "attractive" price, which is lower than the going rate for whatever it is that you sell. I'm inviting you to do this for two reasons: 1. Because if you do it now, there's an excellent chance you will remember this important lesson, and you won't make the same mistake this biz owner made in his email today. 2. Because I'm running a little experimental contest. The last person to comment on this post wins $100, which I will PayPal to you in case you are the winner. How do we determine the last person? I will come back to this post periodically and check the comments. If when I come back, there have been no new comments with a reason to be cheap FOR A WHILE... then then last commenter will win and I will announce the fact.

This year, I got a couple DFY clients via my email list: One was a weekly-newsletter-writing gig. I just sent an email out to my list with the invitation. One qualified person replied, we talked, and agreed to work together. Another was an advertorial-writing client. I sent out an email saying I would write advertorials on commission only. A copywriter who's on my list offered to put me in touch with a business owner he knows, and that business owner turned into a client. But two random success stories is hardly a system. The fact is, I've gotten a handful of DFY clients via my list over the years... but I really wouldn't say I have a repeatable and ready way to do it. But maybe you do? Or you don't but wish you did? Or none of the above??? Let me know, I'll appreciate it:

Yesterday I sent an email with a subject line that said, "The smartest offer?" The body of the email just read: "What would you definitely buy from me if I were smart enough to offer it?" I promised yesterday to share what the results of this email were. And I will. But first... I am curious what you think, now that you know what my email was. (More info about my soul searching about sending this email). Do you think:

I have... dozens (hundreds) of hours of coaching call recordings. I've recently started finally doing something with some of these recordings. I have ideas for you too. But first I'm curious, what's your current situation?