Today we are talking about our next C, which is: Cost. Have you ever gotten a DM or email that has no introduction or anything and just says, “What does it cost?” 

That can be super tricky. Because they are usually asking about the price. However, there are many costs associated with your product or service that are going into a person’s mind when they are determining whether or not to give you their money. 

So hold that thought while I remind you of something. Let’s talk very briefly about money in general. Money, in the actual paper sense doesn’t hold any real value until we give it value, right? It’s honestly just a piece of paper. And now with venmo and paypal and apple cash, we’ve actually eliminated physical products too. But what gives it value? And who determines it? Of course, we have centuries of social constructs telling us the value of money, and we can also comprehend that the value of money can fluctuate (hello inflation), but if we break it down to it’s basics, money only has the value that you are willing to give it. Let me say that again, “Money only has the value that you are willing to give it.” And when you are asking someone to make a transaction with you, you are actually exchanging value. If you have an apple and I have 25 cents and I go to buy that apple, what is happening is that I value the apple more than I value my 25 cents. And the store owner, or whoever has the apple values the 25 cents more than the apple, and so a transaction occurs. Get it? So I want you to remember that. 

When someone is asking you about the price of your product, they are constantly evaluating the value of the product you are providing. So when I talk about COST, in this context, it isn’t just the price of your product or service. When you are coming from your customer’s point of view, the COST is more than just the price, it’s everything that goes into making a value exchange decision. It could be the cost of their time to implement your product. It could be the cost of brain power to understand how to use your product. It could also include the cost of them understanding how beneficial a product is or not.

I know this may sound a little nebulous, but I want you to start thinking like your customer. What additional costs are associated with your product and how can you make that easier for the customer to want to make a transaction with you?

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen an advertisement for a crazy deal on flights. Sometimes I’ll get a random email or ad that says, “$29 round trip airfare.” Sounds like a crazy good deal right? I mean, if I were to say, “What does that cost?” You could technically say, well it costs $29. But is that true? As a customer, no…it’s not just $29. And I’m not just talking about the additional taxes and fees or expenses related to going on a trip, but I’m talking about all of the other costs associated with this offer. Usually the offer is only good within a certain time frame or only to certain cities. Do I honestly want to go to Cincinnati in January? Probably not. Do you see the costs that are going through my brain as a customer? Your potential customers are doing the same thing. They are unconsciously and consciously evaluating the cost…with a Capital C to determine if it’s worth the value exchange for them.

If you are struggling to sell something that is just SO amazing, then think about all of the tangible and intangible costs that your customer faces when deciding if it’s right for them to hand over some cold hard cash.

Once you have that information, THEN you can take action and do something about it. It could be creating more awareness, making it easier for them to have access, or educating them better on h

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