It was a Monday morning, almost eight years ago. At 9:10am precisely on February 11th 2013, Danielle, my only team member at the time, emailed me and Steve Chandler. We had run our first couple of Intensives and she thought we were undercharging.
“I’ve been doing some thinking around the price of the Intensive, and I think you might be undercharging. My thought is that if people are willing to pay $940, they’d be willing to pay $950, possibly even all the way up to $995.”
We argued vehemently with her. We simply couldn’t imagine charging an extra $10.
But Danielle wouldn’t accept no for an answer and we settled at $957. That increase of $17 per ticket felt outrageous to us but people seemed happy to pay it.
You’re about half as good as me…
Back in 2008, I was running 30 minute Instant Confidence sessions for a couple of hundred dollars. Within a year, I was becoming known for this and having real success with my clients. I had raised my rates to $1,000 a session, when Steve Chandler said to me, “Do you want to be known as the guy who does Instant Confidence sessions?”
“Oh my gosh, no!” I replied, surprising myself. “I want to be known as the guy who charges $25K a year, to totally transform people’s lives.
A few days later I was chatting to Michael Neill, who was mentoring me back then. I asked him, “Do you think anyone would ever pay me $25K?”
“Well…” he responded, looking thoughtful. “I reckon you’re about half as good as me, you could probably get away with $25K!”
“F**k you!” I retorted and we both burst out laughing.
And that was it. From that moment on, whenever someone said how much does it cost to work with you, I replied, $25K a year.
It took months and months until that number rolled off my tongue like my phone number. One day, almost 9 months after I first said it into the world, a potential client looked me in the eyes and replied, “OK. I’m in. How do I pay you?”
Double your rates…
My client was a highly successful designer who had recently become a coach but he was tired from working so hard. With 25 coaching clients a week, plus the time he put to meet and coach potential clients, he was exhausted.
I told him to double his rates.
He thought I was crazy!
So, I said, “Remember: when your rates double you only need half as many clients, just to make the same amount…”
That shocked him. And he decided to try it. After all, what did he have to lose?
Four days later, he called me. “You’re not going to believe this. Two people already signed up at my new rate!”
“I believe it,” I said, “but now I have a new challenge for you… Double them again!”
I wasn’t crazy. I could tell that if people were already signing at this new rate, he still wasn’t charging enough. And sure enough, within a couple of weeks, he’d signed his first clients at the new, new rate. Four times what he’d been charging a few weeks earlier.
Outrageous October
Most years my clients join me on a 30 day journey of making the most outrageous requests we can—in business and in love, in restaurants and on street corners.
Our only mission is to collect as many NOs as we can.
And every year we are astounded to discover just what people will say YES to—if only we are willing to ask! 😲
Here are the rules:
- Think about what you want. The more outrageous, the better.
- Ask someone for it.
- Repeat.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Your goal is to collect NOs. The YESes will just follow. Don’t worry about them! 🥳
Over the years, my clients have collected thousands of NOs.
They’ve received a bunch of YESes, too. From $20,000+ clients to a Hell Yes when one man proposed to his fiance! 🥳
Someone was given a free room in a 5* resort, for his weekly meetings. Countless others have gotten free coffee or desserts in restaurants. One person was given free lessons by a famous flamenco teacher. Someone else flew on a private jet, across Europe, in order to catch her plane home on time. Someone got a free night’s stay at a top hotel. Someone received free babysitting for 3 days. Someone else was given a discount in a store that never gives discounts.
What’s always interesting is the fear that’s generated as people contemplate playing the game.
“You can’t ask for that.” “Would anyone pay that?” “What will people think?”
It’s no wonder we’re afraid to ask for what we really, really, really want in life—the social pressures to conform, be polite and not rock the boat are so huge. If you want to break the shackles on social responsibility—for the next few days, play OUTRAGEOUS OCTOBER!
Are you in?
Just please don’t make an outrageous request of me! I’ve found that if I don’t say this up front, I can get hundreds of requests. 🤣
Let me know your results. You may be surprised at what you create.
Love. Rich