How to be the Most Expensive at What You Do – In Just 7 Minutes with Andrew Griffiths

Resources/Links:

• Wanting to Find Out If You’re Really Charging What You’re Worth? Learn more on how you can be the most expensive at your craft and gain better clients: andrewgriffiths.com.au/masterclass-recording

Summary

Have you been feeling desperate to get more sales that you end up lowering your prices?

Do you want to know why undercharging isn’t the right and best answer to attract new clients and increase your sales?

Are you ready to find out why being the most expensive is way better than being the cheapest?

Andrew Griffiths is Australia’s #1 small business author with 14 best-selling books sold in over 65 countries.

In this episode, Andrew talks about his insights on why undercharging is a big no-go for you and your business. He also shares how you can overcome your limiting beliefs and charge the right price worthy of the value of your products or services.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:57 – Andrew’s ideal client: “My ideal clients are business owners, of course, who are passionate about what it is they do. They’re good at what they do. They work hard. They do all the right things.”
• 02:43 – Problem Andrew helps solve: “For people who undercharge for their products and their services, things like that, I think they get stuck in this loop of limiting belief. Deep down, it could be, ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘Why would anyone want to pay for, you know, that much for my stuff’.”
• 03:40 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Andrew: “There are a few things I think, and I’ve noticed this from working for many years, over 20 years with businesses around the world in this space. These are common kinds of symptoms. Number one, people are working really hard, but they don’t actually have a lot to show for it.”
• 04:59 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Andrew’s solution: “A common mistake is, the easiest way to describe it is if I say you can’t put lipstick on a wombat. And if you’re not from Australia, and you don’t know what a wombat is, you might want to Google it.”
• 06:26 – Andrew’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “Find a business that you personally buy from. You know them really well that you would use this line. They’re expensive, but they’re the best. Okay, look at everything that business does and learn from them.”
• 07:11 – Andrew’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Andrew’s Masterclass Recording: andrewgriffiths.com.au/masterclass-recording
• 08:13 – Q: What changes in a business when it transforms from being the cheapest to being the most expensive? A: Everything changes. Your level of worth, your sense of satisfaction, the people you attract as customers, the people you attract to work with you.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“You can't just triple your prices today and then still offer exactly the same product or services. We have to make some changes.” -Andrew Griffiths Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:10
Greetings, everyone, and a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing the Invisible. My name is Tom Poland joined today by Andrew Griffiths. Andrew, good day! Sir, a very warm welcome. Great to have another Aussie on the show. Whereabouts do you base?

Andrew Griffiths 00:22
Good morning, Tom. I’m in Hobart, of all places! Beautiful, snow on the mountain.

Tom Poland 00:28
Oh, Gorgeous! That’s the New Zealand of Australia, I’ve been told.

Andrew Griffiths 00:34
Exactly!

Tom Poland 90:35
That beautiful clean and green. So for those of you who don’t know, Hobart is the capital, I think, on Tasmania, which is a little island, “The Apple Isle” we call it here in Australia, just off the southeast coast of Australia. Andrew is Australia’s #1 small business author. Now, you see that on some people’s bios, but Andrew actually is. His books- Andrew, I used to go into Andrews and Gardner, I was flying out of the airport or something and I’d see your books on the bookshelves. I mean, a lineup of your books for sale in retail outlets. And I used to be so damn jealous and wonder why mine was selling in the 10s. And I don’t mean 10s of 1000s. I mean 10s. And yours were lined up there. So he really is Australia’s #1 small business author, and has been, has held that mantle for many, many years. He’s got 14 best-selling books sold in over 65 countries! So, Andrew delighted to have you on the show. And folks, you don’t know this, but we’ve- Andrew and I have spent about the last, I think, 17 minutes trading war stories and casting ideas. We thought we’d better get this interview done. So he’s a terrific guy to have a chat with. As he says he can talk through the bottom of wet cement. So just was gonna I could- The title today, get on with it, Tom, is, “How to Be the Most Expensive at What You Do”. And I love the idea behind that! Andrew, our seven minutes start now. Sir, question number one, who is your ideal client?

Andrew Griffiths 01:57
Well, Tom, thank you for this. My ideal clients are business owners, of course, who are passionate about what it is they do. They’re good at what they do. They work hard. They do all the right things. And they’ve probably been doing it for a really, really long time, but they simply don’t charge enough for what it is they do. They know there’s got to be a better way, but they just don’t know where to start.

Tom Poland 02:20
Especially if you’re aware. Are they aware that they’re not charging enough? Or is this kind of a revelation to them when you mentioned it?

Andrew Griffiths 02:26
Great question! They’re aware that they know that they don’t charge enough. Yeah, because it’s the first thing I tend to bring up and go, “Well, you know, you’re too cheap.” “I know. I know! We hear that all the time.”

Tom Poland 02:36
Oh, they do. Okay, cool!

Andrew Griffiths 02:37
They do. Surprising, isn’t it?

Tom Poland 02:39
So they probably- question number two, six minutes left, what’s the problem you solve?

Andrew Griffiths 02:43
Well, for people who undercharge for their products and their services, things like that, I think they get stuck in this loop of limiting belief. Deep down, it could be, “I’m not good enough”, “Why would anyone want to pay for, you know, that much for my stuff”. “My competitors are better than me, etc.” But at the same time, they might have limiting beliefs around their customers in their market. People can’t afford to pay more than the market’s type, super competitive, so we’ve got to be cheaper, etc. So typically, for me, what I do is I cut away all that limiting negative self-talk and limiting belief that keeps people held in that undercharging. I help them to really see what value they bring to the table. And then how to communicate this value to their customers and show the business owner how to charge accordingly.

Tom Poland 03:27
Perfect! Thank you, sir. Five and a half minutes left. Question number three, what are some of the typical symptoms? So someone listening to this, a business owner, thinking “Yeah, we’re probably undercharging”. What’s going on in their business that would give them a heads up that they probably are undercharging?

Andrew Griffiths 03:40
There are a few things I think, and I’ve noticed this from working for many years, over 20 years with businesses around the world in this space. These are common kinds of symptoms. Number one, people are working really hard, but they don’t actually have a lot to show for it. They haven’t really built up a lot of valuable assets, etc. They’re burned out, fried, and exhausted because they’re working so hard and they’re fried, but they’re in that loop. They discount too fast. Someone will say something and they’ll offer a discount before- you know, they don’t need to win every job that they quote for. And people say to me, “Oh, we get every job we quote for” and I go, “Oh, that’s a shame.” You pour in because they think it’s a badge of honor! To me, you’re too cheap. You get five out of 10 of the jobs you quote for tells me your pricing is about right.

Tom Poland 04:25
Interesting.

Andrew Griffiths 04:26
They have a lot of limiting talk. You know, why they- “Oh, we can’t charge more.” That conversation comes up. And also they’ve often become quite comfortable with where they’re at. It’s a term called “learned helplessness”, which is not a nice phrase, but we get comfortable with the struggle. It’s become a part of their identity.

Tom Poland 04:41
Right. The battle, ouch. Okay, so thank you for that. Very, very articulated. Four minutes left and question four. We’re talking about smart people. They’re gonna try stuff. They’re getting sick of being, kind of like, the hamster on the treadmill sort of thing. So what are some of the common mistakes that these business owners are making before they find your solution?

Andrew Griffiths 04:59
Well, there are a few things. A common mistake is, the easiest way to describe it is if I say you can’t put lipstick on a wombat. And if you’re not from Australia, and you don’t know what a wombat is, you might want to Google it. Okay. But all I’m saying here is, you can’t just triple your prices today and then still offer exactly the same product or services. We have to make some changes. So, yes, you can make some incremental changes. But I think that if you- this is a state of mind. So we have to change our self-talk. We have to change our story. We have to train our people. We have to retrain our customers. And we have to identify the real value of what it is that we offer. And at the same time, we have to lose things, alright? Because of the business that you were that undercharged and all the rest, you’ve probably attracted cheap customers. Cheap customers attract cheap customers. But we don’t want them anymore, right? So we’ve got to lose a few things. You might have a few meddlers, a few of them. Maybe some of your team members are caught in this, you know, check-check-check mindset or discount-discount-discount mindset. They may not make the transition. So this is scary for a lot of people who are comfortable in their own state of thinking. Change is hard. A lot of people get cold feet. And then the minute they start to lose a few customers, they freak out and start dropping the prices back to the way they were. That’s it. You got to push through that though.

Tom Poland 06:14
Reverting to type. Thank you, sir. Two and a half minutes left. Excellent stuff. Question number five, one top tip, kind of like a valuable free action someone could take. Won’t solve the whole problem, but it might step them down the road in the right direction?

Andrew Griffiths 06:26
Right. So for me, find a business you personally buy from. You know them really well that you would use this line. They’re expensive, but they’re the best. Okay, look at everything that business does and learn from them. We need- what I call like “solid role models”, Tom. They’re businesses that charge what they’re worth that we can actually learn from. I think we spent too much time sometimes looking inwards at our own business when I think we can actually learn from others. So I’ve got these role-model businesses that helped me adjust my mentality towards what it is that I charge. And I think that’s a great place to start.

Tom Poland 07:00
Perfect! Thank you, sir. One minute and 45 seconds left. Question number six, one valuable free resource, and I know you got a doozy here. So where can people go to find out more about this?

Andrew Griffiths 07:11
So I’ve got a master class that I did recently called, “Are You Really Charging What You’re Worth?” Now, this was a paid master class. It was $1,000. It’s about three hours. It’s long masterclasses, which says, I can talk a lot, but it runs through the whole concept of value, getting immediate wins, things you can do now, a longer-term strategy, etc. And I’m really, really happy to offer that to your listeners today for free. We’ve got a link, you know, it’s a long kind of a link but it goes like, .com.au/masterclass. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You’ll share the link, mate.

Tom Poland 07:45
We will! Andrewgriffiths, it’s G-R-I, double F, I-T-H-S .com.au. And if you go there and go to masterclass-recording-are, dashes just continue, Are You Really Charging What You’re Worth, then you’ll find it! Or just go to the website, pop it in and you’ll get an error, but it’ll give you the link or go into this video. Thanks. We’ve got 30 seconds left. Andrew, question number seven, what’s the one question I should have asked you but didn’t?

Andrew Griffiths 08:13
Okay, that’s a great question! So Tom, what changes in a business when it transforms from being the cheapest to be the most expensive?

Tom Poland 08:21
Ooh, 15 seconds. What does change?

Andrew Griffiths 08:23
Everything changes. Your level of worth, your sense of satisfaction, the people you attract as customers, the people you attract to work with you. Your business becomes more financially resilient, and you get to do more of the things that matter. Tom, with families supporting not-for-profits traveling-

Tom Poland 08:37
Beautiful!

Andrew Griffiths 08:38
And we are done!

Tom Poland 08:39
Thanks, Andrew. Perfect. Cheers!

Tom Poland 08:42
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.