We’re busy preparing for our biggest Client Attraction Summit ever!

Even though we’ve led this event more than 70 times, we keep asking ourselves, “How can we make it an even better experience for our participants?”

When you create an experience for your clients that is ultra-supportive and you over-deliver on what they expect from you, they are much more likely to feel like they’re getting a “deal,” no matter what you charge.

In today’s article, you’ll get some great tips on how to provide excellent service to your clients so you can raise the bar on how much your clients value your work. And the even bigger and better benefit is that you’ll raise your own level of confidence at the same time.

Whenever we introduce the experiential exercise designed to have you give yourself a raise during the Client Attraction Summit, some participants look excited and others look absolutely terrified! Eventually, they all come to understand what most 6-figure coaches and holistic practitioners know: there are always people happy to pay you more when they get more value.

You may have come to a point where you know it’s time to raise your rates, yet it feels uncomfortable to make that move.

One of the first things to consider when you want to raise your rates is to raise the bar on how well you take care of your clients. You can feel really great about charging more for your work when you offer more value to your clients by providing excellent service.

You’re about to read some easy tips for providing excellent service. These are little things you can do right away to instantly transform the way your clients feel about their experience of working with you (which will make them rave about you to all their friends – you’ll see how this works from our own “rave”).

#1: Provide a luxury experience

One of the best ways to provide excellent service is to give your clients a luxury experience. Don’t worry – it doesn’t involve the high level of the Ritz-Carlton or a Rolls Royce! However, the experience of luxury IS in the details. It’s in those special touches you can add that make your clients feel like they are being really well taken care of.

A great example involves one of our graduates, Tina Ebrahimian, managing director of Ebrahimian Integrated Dentistry (in Scott’s Valley, CA). From her we learned personally why paying more isn’t an issue when the service is over the top.

After we witnessed Tina make over $500,000 in sales in the first month she was in our Client Attraction Mastery program, she invited us to visit their office. Our family quickly became patients of her daughter, Dr. Ariana. What followed was life-changing for us.

Our history with dentists for our children wasn’t a positive one. When our older son Jacob was 2 ½ years old, we learned he had seven cavities (even though we brushed regularly and he ate healthy food—turns out it was from nighttime breastfeeding).

His pediatric dentist told us we’d have to put our son under general anesthesia to take care of those teeth. From the first shot, Jacob had a frightening and traumatic experience and it was heart-breaking for us.

But our experience with Dr. Ariana and the entire staff at Ebrahimian Integrated Dentistry was SO different…

Even though we had brushed our boys’ teeth religiously after that horrible experience with the pediatric dentist – our younger son Zachary also got cavities from nighttime breastfeeding. We were, of course, concerned and scared that we were going to go through the same horror we had gone through with Jacob.

Dr. Ariana assured us she would do everything in her power to help us avoid putting our son under general anesthesia.

The first thing she did was spread the dental work over 3 appointments. Zach had an extraordinary experience and no pain.

While she was doing the work, we held his hand and she told all of us what to expect, every single step of the way.

And his cavities got filled with no anesthesia and no trauma. (Read: Mom and Dad letting out a big sigh of relief.)

This experience had us feel so well taken care of. We have become life-long loyal clients who share about them with everyone we meet! (How many people LOVE their dentist?!)

As for the luxury details: They put sunglasses on their patients, so the bright overhead light doesn’t bother your eyes. They didn’t miss one opportunity to help us feel comfortable – even offering tea! They’re practice is booked because people are willing to pay more for that experience because we felt so well taken care of.

#2: Sheepskin and iPods

What are some of the little touches that you can provide to your clients so they will feel well taken care of, and so they are excited to work with you?

Here are a few examples to get your creative giving juices flowing:

My (Sharla) rock star bodyworker, Yarah Sutra, places a sheepskin underneath a 1,200 thread count sheet so it feels luxurious even getting on the table. Another massage therapist I visited years ago put hot packs under my hands and against my feet. This made me feel so relaxed and luxurious. She also had a shower in her office her clients could use after their massage.

What if you’re a coach? Because we have so many clients in our group programs, we only see 5-6 private clients a year for VIP coaching.

One special thing we do is this: when the client comes to our home for a VIP Day (a day-long intensive) we gift them with a surprise iPod, so we can record the entire day of coaching, and they get to leave with the recording and their cool new iPod.

Let’s say you’re a nutrition coach, and you want to make your clients’ experience even better. Can you do give them a done-for-you menu plan with recipes and shopping lists? Or how about sending them a beautiful basket stocked with some of your favorite organic products that will improve their health?

Be creative and have fun with this!

As you saw in the examples, be sure the things you do are relevant to the service you offer. No matter what your business, there are many things you can do to help your clients feel they’re getting value. And they will be happy to pay you more!

Now it’s your turn!

Comment below and share some ways you’ve received rock star service or share something you can do to add value to the service you’re already providing.

Have you ever wanted to raise your rates, but the voices of fear keep you from actually doing it?

These internal voices say things like:

Who are you to think you can charge more?
Is it even spiritual to accept money at all?
If you were really spiritual you would do this work for free!
No one will sign up because they won’t be able to afford it. People will think you’re greedy or in it just for the money.
Other _____________ (coaches, practitioners, massage therapists, nutrition counselors, etc.) charge ________. How can you even consider charging more?

How do we know about these voices?

Many years ago, we raised our hourly coaching rate (to a rate that sounds like a smokin’ deal now, LOL)…

I (Sharla) stood on stage in front of some of our best clients, offering VIP days (which we rarely offer because our time is so limited for private clients). And although I looked confident on the outside, I was trembling inside.

I KNEW that working with Jesse and me privately would help these clients position themselves like rock stars, attract the exact right clients, create a clear path to get from where they were stuck in their business to exactly how much income they wanted to make…while working less.

But suddenly I had the same feelings of insecurity and discomfort that I experienced the first time I raised my fees…and the second and the third.

No matter how many times you raise your fees, it’s common to “not feel ready” or to know you’re ready but still feel uncomfortable, especially when you start actually telling your potential clients about it.

But there comes a time when what you’re charging doesn’t feel balanced with the value you’re providing and you’ve got to do it in order to stay in integrity with yourself and in alignment with your values.

Here are 3 Tips to help you raise your rates:

Tip #1: Avoid looking to other coaches and holistic practitioners to figure out what you should charge.

Many of our members initially say, “Other [therapists, coaches, etc.] charge this much; so how can I charge more?”

Instead, look for how you can INCREASE the value you offer to your clients rather than be just like everyone else in your industry.

When I was pregnant with our first son, Jacob (now 7), my belly got too big to lie face down on the massage table and I noticed I was having a difficult time enjoying a satisfying massage. So, I sought out a therapist with an ergonomically designed cushion for expecting moms like me and was happy to pay the extra dollars for the added value.

Ask yourself, “How can I increase the value of what I’m offering? What do I offer that’s unique?”

Tip #2: “Feel Into” Your New Rate

If you’re charging too little, you’ll likely feel resentful and overworked. If you’re charging too much, you might feel greedy. There is a perfect balance that lies somewhere in between.

Unless you feel like you can truly own your new rates, you’ll stumble and feel awkward when sharing these new rates with potential clients.

To figure out what rate you can confidently own, here’s a short exercise:

Imagine you’re talking with a potential client.
And say the price you want out loud.
Then check in with your body to find out how it feels.

If it feels GREAT, you just might have your new price.

If it feels anything other than GREAT, you’re not there yet.

If you don’t feel anything in your body, don’t worry.

Sometimes the new rate just doesn’t have much juice.

Also, not everyone gets information from checking in with how their body feels. Some people just have a voice of clarity or inner knowing that it’s right or not right. Others need to imagine publishing this new rate on your website (although we don’t recommend this for reasons we can share in the future).

Just use the best way of discovering what’s right for you when you’re making a decision.

Still confused about it?

At the Client Attraction Summit, we will guide you through an exercise to find your perfect fees. Chances are you’ll give yourself a raise because at least 95% of our past participants have done so.

Tip #3: Be Willing to Feel Uncomfortable for a Short Time After You Raise Your Rates

I have always found that whenever I have raised my private coaching rates, I go through an “adjustment” period.

At first, it’s difficult to say (like in the story I shared earlier in the article). Then I justify this increase to myself by thinking about how my clients will get more value at this new rate and how I deserve to be paid well for the great work I do. Eventually, I settle into it as perfect and right.

What usually happens after I get the first big “Yes!” is I’m able to “own” my new fee and it fits perfectly. I have found that this is when the real shift happens.

After having a difficult time at that event sharing our new VIP day rates for the first time (with not one single client saying “Yes” by the way), I could have decided that I’d made a huge mistake and I should drop my rates back down.

Instead, I knew that going through the discomfort of the “adjustment period” was part of my process and if I hung in there long enough, I would eventually feel comfortable and confident.

A few weeks later we got our first client at our new rate. I felt a little nervous just before the initial consultation call, but I showed up with 100% of my energy, now fully aligned with the new fee. And because I owned my value, our client got tons more out of it than if we were charging our lower fee.

We haven’t raised our rates for private coaching for years because we feel so aligned with our rates for private work. (It’s all about alignment.)

When you feel great about your rates, you don’t question them….

But when something is niggling at you that it’s time to raise them, it’s common to experience this adjustment period and then eventual success.

If you’re willing to deal with the discomfort for a short time, knowing that it is part of the process of raising your fees (and not a sign you should shrink back), then you’re on the road to attracting more appreciative clients who will see the value in what you have to offer.

And the good news is:

Over time, you’ll become less intimidated by the prospect of raising your rates. You’ll just know when the time is right and become aligned with it more quickly. The adjustment period shrinks and you’re on your way to serving your clients in a deeper way, because you’re aligned with what your clients are investing to transform their lives by working with you.

Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.

Providing Rock Star Service For Your Clients

Comment below and share some ways you’ve received rock star service or share something you can do to add value to the service you’re already providing.

How to Raise Your Rates (And Feel Good About It)

Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.