How do you handle inquiries about your service as a business owner? When approached by a potential client do you get excited or a little apprehensive on what to say when they ask about pricing?
Getting a new client is exciting because it means revenue for your business, but for those who are not very adept at selling their services, it can be frustrating. With the inquiries pouring in you have to remember that just because someone asks about what you offer doesn’t mean they’re ready to buy.
If you can’t explain what you do and what your service is about, they might not book with you. How can you explain your services in a way that is easy to understand and gets your point across?
The answer to these questions is to create a Services and Pricing Guide that covers all the questions your prospects might ask ahead of time which relieves some of the pressure of talking to new clients.
You can add any details you want and your prospective clients will already have a good understanding of what is included so there is less chance of misinterpreting the service plans.
Having an informative guide like this could:
● Leave them with a great first impression
● Clearly describe and break down the details of your offer
● Set you apart from your competition as a premium service provider
Your guide should explain how you work (your processes) and how they will benefit from your services. They may be new to the industry and have never worked with anyone on a project like this. Make sure to explain everything completely. When creating your Services and Pricing Guide, make sure to include these 10 details:
1. A “Welcome” Message & Introduction
You should always include a client welcome packet. It’s always nice to thank someone for taking an interest in your services. Start off with a professional, but friendly greeting and let them know you appreciate them contacting you. This makes a good first impression and will make them feel more at ease.
Let your potential client know a little bit about you, your values, and your accomplishments in the industry making you a good choice as a service provider. Outline how you’ve helped other business owners and how pleased they were with what they received. This establishes credibility and trust.
2. Your Signature Service Package
Next, you can detail the offerings in your service package and the benefits it offers to the business owner. As they’re reading, they should be able to get a clear vision of what your service can do for them. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute and look at it as if you were a buyer. Does this answer questions you might have if you were looking for a similar service?
People like details so rather than just saying for example, that you can build them a website, give them details about how a certain theme or style can get them more visitors and make them more sales. How this particular style is more eye-catching and tends to hold the attention of visitors longer, etc.
Pretend for a minute that you are the buyer; your content should answer these questions:
1. What’s in it for me?
2. What does your service package include? How does it work?
3. What problem does your service solve or how can it help me reach my goals?
4. Why should I hire you over another provider?
5. Why should I hire you now, and not at a later date?
3. Deliverables
You should list how your services will be delivered or what outcome your client can expect from working with you. Remember, think like a buyer. It gives you a unique perspective on how buyers think and what they look for.
1. If you’re a web designer, does your service package include a website and set up for WordPress or WooCommerce?
2. If you’re a photographer, does your service package include the prints and negatives?
3. If you’re a health coach, does your service package include weekly meal plans and recipes?
4. Your Portfolio or Previous Work Samples
Give your potential client an overview of your skills and experience by displaying some of your previous work. Include only the most relevant samples and ones that show your creativity and skills.
If you are trying to establish yourself as an expert in website design, you wouldn’t include things like designing business cards or logos. Include examples that show your webpages and how they draw the eye to certain areas.
This will deter anyone looking for those services since they know that is not what you do. It saves a lot of time and needless questions. Focus on what you want to be hired to do and those things that you’re good at doing. You can showcase your design skills by using Canva templates to create a few designs to include in your portfolio.
5. Buyer Testimonials
As consumers, we always look for reviews or testimonials from previous customers when searching for a product or service. It gives an indication of the level of quality and satisfaction that customer received. We are more inclined to buy services from someone with good reviews or customer testimonials.
Put your best customer testimonials first, as it lends a degree of trust and your buyer can feel more assured of a positive outcome from booking your service.
The main concern for some buyers is investing money in a service that doesn’t produce the expected results. Show them that your service provides results by giving examples of how these customers benefited from buying your services (increased revenues, more web traffic, etc).
6. Your Work Process and Estimated Timeline
Another element to add to your Services and Pricing Guide is your work process and timeline for delivery.
Your client will want to know how long the service will take to complete and when they can expect delivery. This is an important detail as time is important to buyers and sellers alike.
This is also good for managing your clients expectations. It can help you “weed out” clients who may become problematic due to unreasonable expectations. Although most clients have good intentions and are truly interested in hiring someone, there are those who just want to “window shop” and waste your time by asking a lot of questions but never following through.
Spell out what your delivery will include and about how long it will take to see the results. Be specific about this because if it takes 3 weeks to see an increase in web traffic (or whatever the goal is) someone who is impatient and wanting quick service will go elsewhere.
If you’re a web designer, let them know exactly how many weeks it will take for you to create and implement a fully functioning website and whether or not revisions are included.
7. Frequently Asked Questions
Be sure to list some frequently asked questions to save time.
You can also take this opportunity to address any objections your potential client might have, in order to assure them that working with you will solve their problem or help them reach their goals.
Most often the questions people have include pricing, delivery times, the project scope, and what to do if they are not satisfied with the results (revisions, refunds, etc).
8. More Services
If you offer additional services such as add-ons, or a single option (not as a package) be sure and list those as well. They may be enticed to buy a small service first as a trial before committing to your signature service.
They may need more time to make a decision or need more information before deciding to buy a larger service.
9. Call to Action
Lastly, always include a Call to Action to tell your potential client what to do next. This is where you close the sale by telling them to “choose their option,” “get started now,” or however you want to word it. Many marketers attach a feeling of urgency to their offers by adding a limited time on their offer. Sometimes this works but use if only if you have experience with it in the past and you feel confident it will work here.
Now is not the time to be shy. Speak up and tell them what you want them to do. It may seem completely obvious to you, but sometimes people need to be lead to perform a certain action. Give them the pathway.
By including a strong Call to Action at the end of your Pricing Guide, there shouldn’t be any question about how much your service costs and when you’ll deliver. They can feel free to book a call with you feeling confident of your ability to do the job.
In conclusion:
In most cases, text-based content isn’t enough to convince a client to book with you. You need a way to stand out from other service providers offering a similar service. Make sure your Pricing Guide and Services offerings include some visual content. You can do this by creating pages using Canva templates to add images, elements, and little icons to dress up the page. A well-designed page looks professional and shows the client that you care about your work. They will be impressed with the quality and feel assured that their content will come out just as nice.
Looking to create your own client welcome packet?
Service Client Welcome Packet for CANVA, Illustrator, and Photoshop contains a bundle of 30 useful templates that will allow you to onboard clients (design, coaching, service, etc.) while saving you time!