RR#068 From Execution to Expertise: Unlock Higher Rates and Better Results
Are your clients hiring you for your expertise or execution? There’s a big difference.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A prospective client hops on a call with you or your team. They’ve got a problem. And they’ve got a solution. They just need someone to get in there and do the work.
When your clients come to you with their own diagnosis and solution to their problems, what they're really looking for is fulfillment. This is what I call execution-based work.
Here's the rub. When you're just an executor, your value isn't fully realized. You're being paid for implementation, not for your intellectual firepower.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. But if you want to get better results with clients and get paid more to do it, you’re better off selling expertise, not just execution.
A big reason for this is simple supply-and-demand. Your clients can hop on any freelancing platform and find people willing to fulfill work at low rates. They’ll have a much harder time finding people to tell them if that’s the right work to be doing in the first place.
And, let's face it, you got into this game to leverage expertise. Not just take orders.
So how do you make the shift and get paid for it?
The easiest way is to start every engagement with an introductory productized service. One that allows you to pop the hood, look at what you’re getting into, and present a plan of attack based on what you see.
For many high ticket service providers, I like to use paid audits, assessments, or services designed to demonstrate your expertise through diagnoses and prescriptions your prospects may not have considered.
That flips the script on the entire engagement. You’ll not just be doing the work, you’ll be advising clients on the right work to do. You add more value and get paid more. They get better results.
In this sense, a well-designed productized service is a great litmus test for potential engagements, too.
If a prospective client isn’t interested in getting an accurate diagnosis, they don’t want your opinion. And that’s a red flag if you’re selling expertise because when their self-prescribed solution doesn’t work, they’ll likely look to you and wonder why.
It’s also a great way for you to evaluate the project. Can you actually help them get the results they want? Will you get a testimonial or case study at the end of it? Do you really want to work with this client?
I just dropped a YouTube video expanding on the concept of bolting on a productized service before consulting engagements.
And don’t forget to subscribe while you’re there. We have some fun plan for YouTube coming up very soon!
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