March 3, 2010 206 Comments

Price Points

Evidently, I stunned the world by telling people what I charge for a day of my time. What a great opportunity to talk about pricing, value, worth, etc. Let’s just get right down to business on this one:

Charge what you’re worth. Why are you letting me define you, in either direction. You can do math. Decide what your day is worth, and charge that.
Charge what you can get. I told you my day rate. I didn’t tell you my logic. I charge that much because I don’t want hundreds of takers. I want 2-3 takers a month at that rate.
Charge for the value of your content. My information is worth what I charge. It saves companies money. It makes companies money.
Pay what you want. You get [chrisbrogan.com] for free every day. I write posts every day. There are YEARS of ideas in here you can use to make money. Other people do. All the damned time. Other people even wrap my stuff into their courses that THEY charge for. (As long as we’ve agreed to this, hey, I’m happy to help where I can.) But you don’t HAVE to pay to read [chrisbrogan.com]. I do it for free. Have for years. Same with my newsletter.
Make more than one price point: My blog is free. My books are around $20. Third Tribe is $47 a month. Most events where you’ll see me range from $99 – $500 (their fees, not mine). You want a day of my time all to yourself? $22,000. You can afford ONE of those price points, right?
Never let others set your rates. You know what you’re worth. You ask for what you’re worth. You defend the value you deliver.

Did I miss anything? What the market will bear? That’s kind of built into it all.

Pricing. This isn’t black magic. It’s business. It’s commerce. It’s fairly basic.

Are you undercharging? Maybe? Can you get $22,000 a day? I don’t know. I can’t charge what Seth Godin charges for a day, or Guy Kawasaki. I charge what I’m worth.

But are you measuring against me? Maybe not a good plan.

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roborr

More power to you Chris – I love that you're able to command the price you do. Gives me hope for doing something similar
http://www.thegranthunter.net/ Lisa Garcia-Ruiz

This is such a timely discussion for me, Chris. Thanks for putting it out there.
http://www.joemanna.com/blog/ Joseph Manna

Chris, this is a phenomenal post on helping others understand the going rate for a very opinionated and strong voice in social media such as yourself. I'm not surprised about those rates though, because there is only one of you and a million and million more customers.

My favorite quip from this — “Never let others set your rates. You know what you’re worth.”

Well stated and I love it. Thanks for devoting so much time and energy into the blog. I can say that I'm already indebted to the lessons I've gleaned from your posts on a regular basis.

~joe
accompanyc

Totally agree – and I've heard *repeatedly* that you are the most generous guy on Twitter – willing to answer questions, take time, share ideas and processes – that's what makes you priceless.
http://www.redheadwriting.com The Redhead

To add: price yourself out of the markets you don't want to service. As you said, anyone can click through to your website on any given Sunday…for free.
http://www.arrangemyworld.com/ Alastair McDermott

Great post, Chris. As further reading for folks, I suggest some of Alan Weiss' books, notably Value Based Fees & The Ultimate Consultant.

Cheers,
Alastair.
kirstenwright

Chris,

Interesting thoughts on charging pricing. Most of us don't know where to charge when we start – so many of us turn to the professionals, look at what they charge and then adjust accordingly. Over time, we all learn what we are really worth, but when you are just getting started, how do you set that price (regardless if it is an hour, a day or a week)?

Interestingly enough, I recently talked about the article from the WSJ on pricing of websites…http://wrightcreativity.com/2010/03/would-you-pay-250000-for-this-site/
http://robungar.com/ Rob Ungar

Chris,

I think it's great that you're being transparent about this. Mack Collier, an awesome SM guy, recently put up a post breaking down his costs- http://mackcollier.com/so-how-much-will-a-socia…

If people have a problem with it- tough. You're not a charity. You're out here to make money and to help your clients make money. That doesn't make you a bad guy or some greedy person. You have to be able to support yourself and in your case, your family. If someone doesn't want to pay what you're asking, that's fine, they can look elsewhere.

Kudos to you for putting it out there.
http://thedynamiclife.wordpress.com/ Hugh

Nothing wrong with charging what you're worth. Why not charge what the market can bear? That's what all other businesses do. You're not forcing anyone to pay for anything. You do you.
mikemcsharry

brilliant article – the price points has set my (sometimes very empty) mind racing!
http://twitter.com/KristinaDaniele Kristina Daniele

“Are you undercharging? Maybe? Can you get $22,000 a day? I don’t know. I can’t charge what Seth Godin charges for a day, or Guy Kawasaki. I charge what I’m worth.”

So true! I'm encouraging my female friends who have their own businesses to read this because for some reason we have such a hard time charging what we are worth. We undervalue ourselves and are afraid to ask for what we deserve. I promised myself that this year would be different. I am learning.
http://twitter.com/monkeycageuk Hetal Shah

Respect and kudos Chris – You are what Seth Godin would call The Linchpin. The emotional quotient that you put into your work (aside from the obvious intelligence!) is what enables you to command the price that you do.

And if you can, you should!
http://www.BrendanWenzel.net Brendan Wenzel

This applies for employees too. When negotiating your contract, ask for what you want or you won't be happy in the end.
http://twitter.com/wickedjava Mike Dougherty

I agree.
http://twitter.com/jaimesteele Jaime Steele

Quite a timely post. I am trying to figure this out for myself at the moment. I'm not on your league but want to get paid well for my knowledge and for making other people money.
http://twitter.com/drewhawkins drewhawkins

You charge $22k now. However, has that always been the price of your time? Even when you were in your humble beginnings doing what you do?
http://www.milana.com/ Milana Leshinsky

“Never let others set your rates. You know what you’re worth. You ask for what you’re worth. You defend the value you deliver. “

Awesome points, Chris. I just wanted to add that the way I think about pricing is in terms of ROI. If I have a conversation with someone who cannot do anything or apply my advice, my time is worth zero (which means I shouldn't be talking to that person to begin with). If, however, a conversation leads to a six-figure idea, then it's worth thousands.
http://erica.biz ericabiz

Chris, this post is awesome, YOU are awesome, and there need to be far more people like you (who are confident enough to charge what they are worth) in this world. That is all. :)

-Erica
http://www.jtmar.com/ Christine Taylor

Great post! Pricing is not a dirty word it is what allows us to make a living. Good for you!
http://www.meetup.com/Fort-Collins-Coworking/ Angel K

Such good timing for this post. So many of my young, entrepreneur friends in web dev and social media are killing themselves to service clients that are paying pennies on the dollar for their services. A great lesson for anyone starting out–how to say no to low paying work and how to fire clients!
http://socialassimilation.com/ Andrew J. Gay

Great point Chris! By the way folks, if you can't get what you think you are worth… perhaps you should look closely at the value you provide. Chris charges 22k for an “exclusive” day of his time, I see many other people trying to charge that, because it has become somewhat the norm, and they aren't getting it. Chris does, and obviously companies think he is worth it. Charge what you can, provide the value, your clients or lack thereof will let you know if you are worth it.
http://twitter.com/Ungvall Torbjörn Ungvall

Great post – lets hope people can focus on the content and what it could do for their company instead of just staring at the price tag. Besides your worth it!
http://Scott.Smeester.com/ Scott Smeester

It used to be that you pretty much had to pick a market for your price point. For instance… you would have had to choose only one: free, $20, $50…, some more, $20,000, etc. We are now able to offer SOMETHING for EVERYBODY (non-prospects shouldn't be listening to you 'channel').

Great post, Chris!
andyfogarty

Applause!!! Whistle!! Applause!!

You're on the mark with this. Far too many people see blogs and social media in general as FREE because it's online. If it's not free, or ridiculously cheap, it must be a scam or powered by “The Man”.

Business is business – online or off. People start businesses to make money, provide for their families, and move the world forward. If they're not being profitable they're not doing any of these.

The goal of any successful business is to be as profitable as possible so why would they not charge what they're worth? Do not do so, just isn't smart business.

To end my little rant I'll say this. In the case of the Third Tribe Community, people (like me) get access to great teachers and consultants for pennies compared to what it would normally cost. How on earth is that a bad thing?
http://toddblog.net/ Todd

I'll chime and say how much I agree with this. I don't know how you arrived at your daily rate, but I'd venture a guess that it wasn't based on some arbitrary hourly rate. You price based on your value – I think that's the future of the consulting, advertising and marketing industry.

There's a great post today on Focused Generosity that while not directly related, ties in nicely with what you've said here.

You can read it here.
josephlogan

As Alan Weiss recounted about a potential client who said he had a consultant who could do a project for half the price: “You can find someone to do it for a tenth of the price–is that who you want advising you?”
http://www.giuliettathemuse.com/blog giulietta

Hi Chris,

Your pricing relates to how much you value yourself. What clients are willing to pay relates to how much they value themselves. Budget = Self-love

Thx! G, Inspirational Rebel
David Siteman Garland

I was blessed to interview Chris on my show for entrepreneurs this past year. And while he was here we had some tea and talked shop.

And he gave me a little bit of advice. And that little bit of advice has earned me (since then) over 100k.

The point of this comment is not to gloat that I made a few pennies (trust me I've put more money into my business before this than anyone should…dear lord), but the point is value.

Would you pay $22k to make $100k?

Heck I would do anything I could to come up with the 22k.

And Chris – I'd be glad to give a specific testimonial.
http://www.contentrobot.com ContentRobot

Chris …

Before ContentRobot launched our BlogOnCloud9 WordPress hosting service, we did a lot of planning in regards to pricing.

On the surface, we could be “just another host” that pushes a cheap plan with “unlimited” bandwidth and storage. But in reality, we were also are providing support for WordPress as part of our offering and feel we should and must charge appropriately for our many years of WP expertise. So we were not competing on a price point, but determining what our level of knowledge was worth along with scalable hosting platform.

We are in total agreement with you that we would rather not get scads of clients, but work with those who can appreciate what we offer.

As usual, great topic for discussion! Karen & Dana
http://dietdessertndogs.com/ Ricki

You know, I love this advice and do try to implement it in my own life and work. I have found, however, that when I am contacted to speak/perform/etc. and present my rate (ie what I think I'm worth based on all the factors you mention), the request is withdrawn. People seem to want you to work for free, or at least much less than you are worth. And the problem is that there is always someone younger than you willing to do the “same thing” for a much lower fee (or nothing).
http://twitter.com/LauraScholz Laura Scholz

Kristina, I totally agree. Or even worse, we give away our time and expertise for free. I have to practice saying “I charge for that,” which is hard, because as women, we always want to be helpful and nurturing and “nice.” But pricing isn't personal–it's business.
http://www.yourcpapartners.com/blog Chad Bordeaux

Great post on price. Why let the masses set your price? Get paid what you worth. Only an individual can answer that question.

Chris – you have priced yourself correctly. Why would you want to undercut the value of your time by charging $1,000 while you could be getting $22,000..or more? You would have to work almost a full month at that price point to make what you can make in a day now.

Price is relative. $22,000 for a day sounds high to many. I would venture to say that most small business owners could not afford to pay that. On the other hand, it is likely a bargain for many large businesses to have a days worth of your time. As you said, you only want 2-3 per month.

Also, I would be willing to bet that you brought more value to the table than Julius Peppers did for the Carolina Panthers this year – and he made in excess of $1 million per game.
http://www.workstrategies.com/ Terry

Chris – This is one of the best pieces I have read in a long time. Most of us struggle with the “price point” question at some point or another. I like how you just say it like it is.

Your honesty is refreshing. Those who are questioning your daily rate are demonstrating their own emotional issues with money and self worth to work through…and this may be the impetus for them. Your transparency is admirable.

You worked hard to achieve your success. And you're worth it otherwise no one would pay you – congratulations! Thanks.
kagorges

Thanks for the reminder that being confident in yourself, the market, and your customers makes it possible to charge what you're worth ;) Know thyself
http://www.ribeeziemedia.com/blog Ricardo Bueno

Re: “Never let others set your rates. You know what you’re worth. You ask for what you’re worth. You defend the value you deliver.”

Solid advice! I'd add that when you request a price, say it with confidence. Otherwise, it undervalues you and your ability to get the price you're asking for.
remarkablogger

If people are agog (love that word) at what you charge, it doesn't mean you charge too much, it means they need to seriously rethink themselves. Play a bigger game and stop thinking so small.

More power to you, is what I say. Baby gotta eat, right?
http://www.facebook.com/jmctigue John McTigue

Definitely not a good plan to compare yourself to others for pricing. Figuring out what you're worth? Not so easy. Depends on your industry, experience and location. Depends on what you deliver too. Advice? Hmmm, there's lots of that out there for free. How about something really valuable, like an idea that will sell. If you can do this a lot, people will pay for it. I'm assuming that's what Chris does.
http://www.michaelreynolds.com/ Michael Reynolds

Awesome post, Chris. It's a very inspirational kick-in-the-butt reminder that will help me get re-focused on charging what I'm worth. I do too much free speaking :)
richriker

I bet that there are others who if asked have similar pricing structure. You get what you pay for and if I can or feel I can get a return on that investment over time that is worthwhile, then I would pay. He is no different than athletes, Dr.s and other specialists. Would you want to shop for the cheapest heart surgeon? Doubt it. Don't like the price either go elsewhere or negotiate.
http://conversational-uk.co.uk/ Rich Baker – Conversational UK

brill post. thanks Chris.
http://hotblogtips.com/ Keith Bloemendaal

Quite simply, a product (or yourself if that is your product) is worth what people will pay for it. If people are willing to pay $22k for a day of your time, great! I believe in capitalism and free market, so get what you can while you can I always say.
http://www.facebook.com/jonniceslaughter Jonnice Slaughter

Your post makes sense to me. I remember discovering the day rate for branding guru, Al Ries, a few years ago. He posted on the FAQs on his site that for an 8 hour session with him, it would be around $30K. I thought to myself, if he put it on his site, he must be telling the truth. I'm far from charging that myself but after reading his site, I was no longer apprehensive about posting what I was worth. Those that can't afford it, read it, and opt not to waste my time. It really saved me time to focus on the accounts that matter and understand my value.
http://www.nextlevelblogger.com/about Christian Russell

the minute you bring out real numbers, inhibitions, insecurities, misinformation and other demons all rear their ugly heads. Rock on man. You charge what you're worth; what business owner doesn't? The out-of-business business owner, the out-of-control business owner, the i-have-no-vision-and-live-by-other-peoples-definitions-of-who-i-should be business owner, that's who. And that's no kind of life :)
http://www.johnpaulaguiar.com John Paul

I like the different price point, offer something that everyone can handle, whether that be a book, or in person speaking.

Having different price points and offers works best so you have a broad reach to more customers, one price point is like a closed umbrella, open that umbrella.
http://www.amberweinberg.com/ Amber Weinberg

Awesome post Chris. You should always charge what you're worth, not what the client wants to pay you for. Who was it that freaked at your price tag?
http://soloprpro.com KellyeCrane

Anyone who begrudges what someone else can bring in is jealous, plain and simple. Each of us who consults has a value equal to what someone is willing to pay.
http://twitter.com/donford74 Don Ford

I think one problem is that we have been trained into the employee mindset: we view our time as valuable because we are paid by the hour or even as salaried paid for spending a certain amount of time per week doing our job. This short changes both us and those we provide these paid services to. It is not how much time I spend at work that is valuable, it is what I accomplish or allow others to accomplish that has value. What is your knowledge worth? Eight hours of sitting in a chair doing nothing is worth nothing. Eight hours of teaching, analyzing, energizing, correcting, encouraging, and inspiring might be worth millions!
tpompa

I agree, it is a timely discussion for myself as well, just as his earlier perception vs. reality post was.
geniusmonkeymarketing

As both a member of Third Tribe and some one who reads your blog daily, I am glad that you are as successful as You are. Time and time again I find people undervaluing their time and brain power. Go for it and others will follow or at least others should follow!

Price Points

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