Dealing with Criticism About Your Prices

Something you are going to hear in your business, at some point is: you're too expensive.

How does that feel?

Ugh, like a dagger to the heart?

The crazy fact is that often entrepreneurs are actually undercharging, not overcharging, but it can feel so deflating to hear this. 

Maybe prospective clients phrase it differently: "Oh, that's not what I was expecting," or "That's a little bit out of my budget."

Same feeling right?!

So what happens when you hear this? 

Negative feedback about your pricing can pull you down into a sinkhole of self-doubt. I've seen people literally throw whole businesses away over this.

It’s absolutely going to bring up your money blocks. Stuff like: I'm excluding people, can I justify my price? 

So I’m sharing some tips on getting clearer on your pricing, and even, how to feel good about being told you're too expensive.

I heard this more at the start of my business than I hear it now. Which is one of the first clues – it often shows up when you’re feeling vulnerable.

5 ways to deal with criticism about your prices

1. Don’t take it personally
2. Have a charitable sector of your business if you want to help those on a lower income
3. Get really clear on your offering
4. Work on your self worth
5. See it as a rite of passage!

Let’s take a look at these in more depth.

#1. Don’t take it personally

If you feel even a little uncertain about your product or service, about starting out in business, this criticism will hit you harder. Sometimes when you're afraid of it happening, that's when you actually attract it most. 

I'm just not that bothered about it anymore. When I started out those words absolutely paralyzed me and they really stunted my income.

What is expensive anyway? 

Who even knows, right? 

So let's just say the ‘correct’ pricing is a meaningless, made-up concept, and you can just charge what you want. 

When someone says you're too expensive, they mean you're too expensive for me right now. 

It's just a mismatch. It's not a mistake on your part, you're not being exploitative. 

It's about them, not you, and it's absolutely not personal.

My philosophy is: the price is the price, and it's either worth it to me right now, or it's not. 

It's okay to be too expensive for some people. It doesn't mean you have to shift and change things, it doesn't mean you have to offer them a discount. 

The first thing to do is really check in with yourself and see what else it's bringing up. It might be bringing up feelings of being excluded yourself. 

#2. Have a charitable sector of your business if you want to help those on a lower income

Some entrepreneurs mix up their philanthropy or charitable giving, with their business. This might show up as really wanting to help a target market because they're struggling.

Separate it out: Perhaps 10% of your business is for people on a low-income. 

#3. Get really clear on your offering

Look at your marketing and see where you are not showcasing your value. Maybe you're just not being really clear on the transformation you’re offering. 

Often it's just a mismatch of pricing. 

How can you help people afford your offer - what would they need to sell? 5 extra clients? 5 speaking gigs? 

What can you do for people so they can easily make back that investment? 

That will take the sting out of “You’re too expensive.” You've just targeted your business to the wrong person, they can't clearly see the value.

#4. Work on your self worth

If you don't feel good in your pricing, you will sabotage every sales conversation, every link on your website. 

You have to work on your deserved-ness to charge your true worth. 

Without doing that inner work, it honestly doesn't matter. It’s not about what you do, what you charge, or who you're targeting your business to. 

If you’ve not done the mindset work you're always going to feel like a fraud. You'll have imposter syndrome, you will sabotage the sales conversations and you'll just feel wrong about charging.

So in order to hear “you're too expensive,” less, the first step is to work on your inner value. If you feel like you're not worth it, you're going to attract people who mirror that back to you, no matter what you charge. 

If you don't believe me, think back to times when you've discounted, you've undercharged, you've massively over-delivered, and the client still wasn't happy. They're reflecting back your self-worth to you. 

#5. See it as a rite of passage

Being told you're too expensive is a business rite of passage. 

Once you've done the inner work, you'll become less attached and take it less personally. 

You can just shrug it off.”That’s true for you, that's where you're at.” This is what's true for me: I give great value, I am worth it.

It’s good to let clients know that, not only are you not too expensive, you're not taking it personally. “When you’re ready to work with me let me know. And just a reminder that my prices are going up in three month’s time.”

Even if you charge a dollar, someone's going to ask you why you're not doing it for free. You’re not required to serve everyone. Not everyone's an energetic match.

So, let’s remove some of the sticky stuff around this feedback and just see it as an energetic rite of passge.

It’s your time and you’re ready for the next step,

xx Denise