Was chatting on the GM+ call yesterday (you can join us for those here) and we got into the details of attracting higher-level clients by standing out from the competition.

The kind of clients who will…

• Pay you higher fees
• See you as an advisor, not just a tactical implementor
• Listen to and value your feedback and advice to them
• And if you get in early enough, maybe even be open to you taking some equity

These are the dream clients we all want to work with.

They’re less hassle, better payers, and just overall easier to work with.

After our chat yesterday, I started thinking about the best clients I’ve worked with. We’re talking clients who…

• Have paid me 5-figures/month for advisory work that takes barely any time for me
• Have offered equity in their businesses
• Actually listen to what I have to say and take my recommendations seriously

And then I thought about the pain in the arse clients I’ve worked with. The brands that…

• Always push back and question everything because they don’t trust you
• Don’t take your advice, but then blame you for the lack of results
• Get caught up o the unimportant things and delay any sort of progress

… and I noticed something interesting.

How to attract a small handful of low-value clients

That’s not a typo in that subhead.

When I was working with the low-value clients, I’d struggle to land a full roster.

There was always a lot of chasing from me, a lot of competitors for them to choose from, and very little way for me to differentiate myself.

The feast and famine cycle was real.

And it was down to how I was positioning my offers.

I was positioning them as tactical fixes.

Or, more broadly, a commodity.

Look, when I first started, I was selling copy work in one of a few ways.

• Price per word ($X per word)
• Price per project ($X per deliverable)
• Price per hour ($X per hour)

… in all of these cases, the only differentiator I had against all of the other copy guys and gals out there was the price.

If I quoted $1 per word, I’d lose the bid to the fella charging $0.9 per word.

I made it easy for clients to view me as an easily interchangeable part of their resource stack.

And - with most businesses focus on profit - the cheaper price always wins.

I realised this and tried to change to flat fee pricing where I would focus on the value I provided, right?

but it was impossible for a long time because I was making one core mistake with my marketing content.

The content that attracts low-value clients

Back then, I would create a bunch of “how to” content.

Things like…

• How to write a great headline
• How to create a blog post that ranks
• How to set up your ad account

I thought these demonstrated expertise, but they were honestly super derivative of the bajillion other copywriters and service providers out there.

They demonstrated I could be a simple cog in the machine. And the pricing focus told the client I could be switched out when a cheaper cog could be acquired.

Thus, feast and famine.

So what’s the better way?

How to attract lots of high-value clients

In short, stop commoditising yourself.

How to’s and basic systems that are all over the place are just gonna put you into the same bracket as every other bugger doing that.

You need to step away and start focusing on two shifts.

Pricing for higher value clients

First, you wanna charge more money, but based on the value you provide.

No more by the hour.
No more by the word/deliverable.

Nothing tied to your time.

Everything tied to the impact you have.

My basic rule is 10:1.

If you generate $10k worth of value - whatever form that value takes - you charge $1k.

Show me someone who doesn’t wanna pay $1k for $10k return, and I’ll show you a crappy client.

But what about the content?

Content that attracts high-value clients

The system, approach, and how to stuff can all be replicated, copied, stolen, or implemented by anyone.

You have to focus on what cannot be copied.

You have to focus on you and the way you approach problems.

You have to focus on how you think.

This is becoming even more important in the age of AI.

A lot of people are turning off their brains and simply want the fastest outcome - they don’t wanna have to think about why it works, they just wanna know that it does.

There’s a huge opportunity for people to stand out by talking about HOW they approach problems and solve them.

This alone will help you stand out from everyone else because the vast majority of providers out there do not think.

They simply copy the approaches of others without understanding WHY they work.

Which means they cannot replicate the outcome when the environment is even slightly different.

You, your thoughts, approaches, experience, and beliefs cannot be copied - or they can’t be copied well.

So make that the focus of what you talk about and put out into the world.

Not only does this insight based approach attract better clients, it also helps you stand out from the simple “how to do X” people.

How to move to thought-based marketing

It’s really simply.

Just explain why something is the way it is and how you think about it.

For example…

There’s a lot of competition out there doing courses etc o low ticket offers which competde with my $1 product challenge.

I could go straight into the the whole…

• “Here’s how to create a low ticket offer”

… and explain the simple step-by-step of setting one up. The “go here, click that” type approach.

I actually have content out there along these lines.

But it’s drowned out by others who have larger audiences.

instead, I find I get better results in my ads and content when I don’t focus on the simple how to.

But instead focus on the reasons why low ticket is needed, the psychology behind them, and how to implement them for different industries.

Basically, breaking it down to the fundamental thought processes behind them.

Some of my best ads have been not on “setting up low ticket” but on the reasons why it’s needed and my opinions and expertise on them.

For example, the best performing ad was one that focused on freebie seekers.

More specifically, how freebie seekers are becoming a distraction and issue for many business owners.

I could have done a “how to remove freebie seekers from your list” and walked them through a simple list cleaning system.

But that ad talks about what freebie seekers are, the effect they have on your busines, how you can identify them, and the reasons why you’ve got them.

It then explains the $1 Product Method and how the reasons why it’s a more effective method for you to implement.

It;s all opinion and expertise rather than a simple step-by-step.

The final ancillary benefit to this

When you show that you are just a commodity, you are easily replaced or let go.

When you show you can think deeply about the issues, and you really understand how to apply your experience to different situations, it’s almost impossible for anyone to copy.

You not only remove yourself from the commodity pool, but you also start attracting those who trust your authority and expertise.