What's the difference between a professional business (or company or expert) that serves the bottom of YOUR business model, which should aim to serve the top of your market?

Here are eighteen things to think about:

1. Clients who are doing well pay high fees, not those who are struggling.
2. Referrals come from people who are proud of the fees they pay you and aren't embarrassed to do business on the cheap.
3. Most high-end clients are believers, while most low-end clients are sceptics.
4. It's easier to please high-end clients because they think of themselves as partners, while low-end clients are almost impossible to please because they think of themselves as peddlers.
5. Paying more money Also means that your top-of-market clients respect you more, listen to your advice more, and put more money into putting your ideas into action.
6. There is always a way to get better, increase your value proposition, and charge more. If not, we wouldn't have sports cars for R5,000,000 or watches for R50,000.
7. There's no money to be made with a business model that pits you against other entrepreneurs who are focused on making as little money as possible.
8. You can always make a "lower-level entry point" to a high-end product. (A basic model of a product that offers much more as you “upgrade” is a good example of this, e.g. A smart watch.) But once you are a commodity, it is almost impossible to "level up." In other words, a small market shop would have a hard time getting people who buy expensive watches to shop there.
9. Do silly people or people who don't see the value in what you offer send you referrals? Like attracts like. There's a good chance that your current clients and customers don't hang out with the right people.
10. If you've ever said, "My clients won't pay any more than they already do" or "I can't raise my prices because I'll price myself out of the market," you may need
a) Better clients,
b) A new market, or
c) Both!
11. Clients who pay a lot of money expect good work. Taking on that challenge is exciting, interesting, and fun for you and your team.
12. Even clients with low budgets expect perfect work. Even though they don't know what they want, change what they want on a whim, and have different priorities that change over time. It's disheartening, exhausting, and sad for you and your team to have to deal with these neurotic micro-managers.
13. High-end clients want to build relationships with you, and once they do, they'll keep coming back for more. Why? Because if they switch, they would have to admit that they overpaid or made the wrong choice, which would hurt their pride more than their wallet. Bottom line: Luxury customers are always looking for reasons to stay.
14. Low-end clients are only interested in making deals. The next coupon, email, or deal will get them to move on to the next deal. They are always on "Let's Make a Deal," and the fact that they bought something from you once makes it less likely that they will buy from you again. Bottom line: Clients who don't pay much always look for ways to leave.
15. High-end clients will come to you with new ideas, ask for more innovative services, and help you come up with new products and programs that they WANT to buy and that people at their level would value. They have their own R&D department that comes up with new products and ideas to help your business grow.
16. Low-end clients will put pressure on you to give less, offer "lite" versions, and generally dumb down and dilute your core offerings to fit their small minds and small budgets. Don't let it fool you.
17. Low-end businesses depend on a huge number of small transactions with one-time buyers and price shoppers. Companies that serve high-end clients thrive on a small number of much larger, deeper, richer, and longer-lasting relationships with clients, customers, and friends who stay longer, buy more, come back more often, and refer like crazy.
18. High-end clients are aware of their challenges and wants to fix them, Low-end clients are quite often not even aware of what they need to get fixed, never mind how to get it done.

So, the choice is yours, you can serve either the top or the bottom.
Just be careful about what you wish for and know what you're aiming for and what will happen when you get there.

If you want to know what it might be like to work with us and how we might be able to help YOU grow your business by 61% in less than 15 months, read on.

Then you can schedule a quick diagnostics call with Business Coach, Antoinette, by clicking here.

Fun fact: There's nothing to buy, no offer, no pressure, and no way to pay us money on this call. But you will at least walk away with ONE strategy you can do on your own.

-Antoinette
Marketing for Smart People... Like You!

PS: Schedule your call with Business Coach Antoinette now. We'll talk about where your business is now, where you want it to go, and how you can get there much faster than if you worked on it on your own or listened to all the conflicting advice in your head. Again, this diagnostic call has nothing to sell. No tricks and no useless talk.

Antoinette Venter, ActionCOACH Business Coach
antoinetteventer.actioncoach.com | antoinetteventer@actioncoach.com