Yesterday, we focused on this intriguing question in the CMO Mastermind pilot that I recently started. A fascinating discussion followed. And it struck my mind what dust this threw into the air.
First of all: All participants gave themselves a low rating. Honesty matters. It prompts me to raise the question: Why?
What followed was this:
- The internal fear of segmenting too narrow. We prefer to shoot wide, spreading out a large net, hoping to catch more fish. It leads to one problem: Poor Quality. All it does is make the metrics look good – but it’s super costly for anything that follows.
- Deliberate vagueness in our messaging. We shy away from being clear, and that’s a problem when you want to attract people that are prepared to pay a premium
- The internal fear to seen as ‘too expensive.’ Instead, we lure people in and shock them later once they have nowhere to go. Nasty. Remember: Money is a story in the minds of our prospects. It’s about one thing: valuable or not valuable
The reflection led to a couple of interesting takeaways:
- First, we need to be OK with scaring people away. Clarity only gives winners. Don’t underestimate the cost of a customer that churns because they feel misled.
- Context is everything – tear it apart – and this starts with deeply understanding the pains and challenges of our ideal customer.
- Be upfront in managing expectations about the ‘total investment’ to deliver the desired impact. Transparency is king.
Question to reflect about for you:
What’s your ability to attract customers that are happy to pay a premium with your B2B SaaS business?
Next steps?
Want to solve the challenge of attracting customers prepared to pay a premium
- Get a copy of my book ‘The Remarkable Effect’ – https://valueinspiration.com/book
- Check out my guided workstreams: https://valueinspiration.com/workstreams