Do you remember the days of dial up internet? What it felt like when you finally connected….?
It was so exciting!
You’d sit down with that massive desktop computer, looking at a huge screen.
You press ‘connect’ and the modem dials up, through the telephone line.
Then you get those sounds…….
Kshhhhh eeeee shhhkkkkkk ***** ba ba bup eeeeeeee shhkkkkkk CLUNK ….. CONNECTED
Do you remember how special that moment felt once you were connected, you could speak with anybody in the world … ?
You go to a new page on a website… and you wait… it takes a while to download the page but eventually it loads.
Compare that with the experience of the internet now… you can’t imagine waiting so long!
If you do remember this experience …
… what were you focused on?
What was your main concern while waiting for the page to load and ‘surfing’ the internet?
Perhaps it was… “This is slow, please can we hurry up.”
Or was it the realisation that “every minute I’m waiting for the page to load, is COSTING me money?!
Although the “getting online” was exciting, we were pre-occupied with ‘how much this is costing’.
The game changer….
And then… broadband came along.
Game changer!
Yes, it was faster than dial up, but what was the big selling point that allowed it to market itself?
…Broadband was ‘always on’ technology.
We now had the ability to ‘leave the computer on’ to stay connected to the internet 24/7.
Oh … how decadent!
The game changer was how we pay for the service – time was no longer the worry … now it’s all wrapped up in a convenient monthly bundle.
The same pattern occurred with mobile phones…
First was the pay as you go service. You paid for the seconds and minutes you used.
Of course, the prices were WAY higher back then, and, like with dial-up … we were focused on how much a call was costing us.
“I can’t speak for long” as you counted the minutes in monetary value.
Now, we pay for our mobile phone monthly, it doesn’t even cross our minds about how much a call is costing.
Pay as you go vs monthly
Internet and mobile phones are just two examples of services that we used to pay for by the minute … with the result that we focused on how much it was costing us.
Replace pay as you go with “price certainty”, and we focused on using the service for our benefit.
How does this apply to your business?
Simply put, when you charge by the hour, your clients focus on how long the project is taking and how much it is costing them.
Are you still in the dial-up age?
OR are you more like a bundled package?
When your price is connected with the delivery outcome the client’s focus moves from “too long – too expensive”. When you repackage your service their focus moves from cost to experience.
Much like broadband, you WANT them to focus on the experience… how easy, effective and reliable it is.
So… if you are finding it difficult to get enough clients and you are charging by the hour, maybe it’s time to reposition yourself? Maybe it’s time to learn from the dial-up age?
When you encourage your clients to focus on the time and money, instead of focusing on the experience … you’re making it harder than you need.
Maybe it’s time to turn your offer into a bundle or a package and focus on your offer. Focus on the outcome for your clients and the experience they will get.
Because THIS is where the rewards are… this is where you get financial security.
Don’t be dial-up. Be broadband!