How Do You Know Your Clients Cant Pay More?

"My clients can't afford higher rates."

When more than 330 business owners and self-employedprofessionals checked off reasons why their income wasnot going through the roof, this statement was chosenmore often than any other.

If you're tempted to agree that what clients canafford limits you, let me first ask: are you certainof that? You can't make a leap from what people sayabout this to whether or not they can find the moneyif sufficiently convinced that it's important.

Years ago, someone starting up a new business calledme for a consultation and told me he could pay no morethan such and such. It turned out that the mostconvenient place for our meeting was his house, whichI could not help noticing had the size and glitzinessof a small mansion, with a market value of at leastthree-quarters of a million dollars. What he named ashis paltry budget reflected what he felt advice onthis matter was worth, not what he had to spend. Bypointing out how much getting his business onto asound footing was worth to him and how much in wastedexpenditures I could save him, I'd have been able toreshape his thinking on what it was reasonable tospend.

Another time a client launching a catchy new productwanted to know what kind of publicity services I couldoffer her for a couple of hundred dollars. I didn'thear from her again for quite a while, at which timeshe told me she'd hired a traditional PR firm, payinga retainer and fees of more than a thousand dollars amonth. I'd gotten the impression that she didn't havethat kind of money to invest, and I was very wrong.

At the other end of the spectrum, more than once I'vebeen startled to learn that a client who paidrelatively high rates without complaint was havingtrouble scraping money together for rent.

In truth, until you confidently raise your rates, it'simpossible to know who will go along and who will not. This is particularly so when you do great work andeducate clients on the value they receive.

Remember too that when you raise your rates, you canlose some clients and still make higher profitsoverall from those you retain.

In addition, you can earn more from each customerwithout raising your rates by selling them additionalproducts and services. In this situation, they'repaying you more but don't feel they are.

Finally, if you're in one of those rare situationswhere clients truly don't have money, consider whetherthis is the audience you most enjoy serving or whetheryou think you're only worthy of working with them. Inthe former case, it's still often possible to findoutside entities, such as corporate sponsors, tosupport your work.

Sometimes what feels like an absolute limit to yourearnings only means you have not yet enjoyed afreewheeling, creative brainstorming session!

Marcia Yudkin is head mentor for MarketingforMore.com and the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and 10 other books. As an author, marketing consultant and coach, she has spent 22 years successfully turning words into money. By going to http://www.marketingformore.com/survey.htm , you canread the full results of her survey and download afree report, "Charge More & Get It," that expands onfour other common self-sabotaging beliefs about money.