Lowering your price right before you hit send is a fear response, not a pricing decision. That pressure is a sign you’re using a proposal process that creates pressure, usually one that only gives your client one option, which is why the Package Matrix™ gives them choices. Your price should come from the value of your client’s outcomes, not from how safe a number feels in the moment.
Have you ever been about to send a proposal over to a client, and right before you hit send, your heart starts to race a little, your hands start to sweat, and then you lower the price right before you send it?
That experience, the racing heart and the sweaty palms, is a primal lizard brain fear response in action. And what it gets you to do is lower your price to create safety.
Why do service providers lower their prices at the last minute?
Lowering your price right before you hit send is a fear response. We have core beliefs that drive our thoughts. In response to our thoughts, our bodies release hormones that create feelings. Those feelings lead to action or inaction, and those actions or inactions lead to wanted or unwanted outcomes and results.
So maybe you lowered that price because deep down you believe:
- You’re not good enough, experienced enough or skilled enough to charge that much
- It would harm your client if they were to part with that amount of money
- By charging that much, you’ll have even more responsibility and weight on your shoulders than you have right now
What does pricing pressure do to your brain?
The feeling that’s typically generated by thoughts like these is pressure. Pressure to prove you’re worth it. Pressure to make sure they get their money’s worth. Pressure to make sure you can deliver what you say you can.
When we feel pressure, hormones like adrenaline and cortisol come online and literally take our higher level thinking offline, and we find ourselves in a fear response: fight, flight, freeze, fawn or feign.
Lowering your price right before you hit send is flight. You just created relief for your lizard brain, because it thinks by charging less, your worst fears won’t come true, like hearing “Who do you think you are to charge that much?” or “I’m spending my life savings on this, it better work.” It thinks by charging less, you’ll feel less pressure to deliver, even though we all know you’ll still deliver at 120%.
What is the real cause of pricing pressure?
That pressure coming from your lizard brain is a sign that you are using a proposal process that creates pressure. You don’t need to get more confident, find clients who can afford to work with you at that level or even get more help in your business.
Most proposals really only give the client one option. Here’s the project, here’s the deliverables, here’s the scope, here’s the process, here’s the price. Yes or no.
If you’re feeling that much pressure to pick the right number, imagine what your client is feeling to make the right decision, especially when we’re talking tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
How does pressure affect your client’s decision?
Pressure causes your prospective clients to take actions to create relief, just like it does for you. For them, that can look like:
- Negotiating
- Saying they can’t afford it in the conversation
- Ghosting you, saying “That sounds great, let me get back to you” and never responding again
- Saying “I’m not the decision maker here, I need to go talk to my partner” or this other committee
That’s fight, flight, freeze, fawn and feign in action. And when that happens, you think the problem was your price. But the real problem is that your proposal did not create the psychological safety required for that person to make a high-level, forward-thinking, future-based decision.
What should you do when you feel the urge to lower your price?
The next time you go to send a proposal, notice if you have the urge to lower your price right before hitting send. What are you thinking in that moment? Write all of those things down.
We call that mindtrash around here, and your mindtrash is gold. It holds the clues to what’s really keeping you from charging what you really want to be charging. And you don’t have to believe everything you think.
Your next step
Want to charge more for what you're already doing, without working harder, changing your business model or finding all new clients? Sign up for the free Advanced Pricing Strategy Masterclass.
Are you a business coach or consultant who works with freelancers, consultants, agencies and other types of service providers?
What if you could help your clients close more proposals at higher prices without burnout? Through my Anchor High™ Certification Program, I help business coaches, consultants and group program leaders integrate my behavioral science-backed pricing and sales strategies, frameworks and methodologies into their existing business coaching programs and client work.
Learn more and request a zero-pressure info call with me here to explore whether Anchor High™ Certification is right for you.
