How You Can Make a Fortune by Offering Value

“What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” - Oscar Wilde.

There are certain products/services that are strictly priced by their value. The products with these certain attributes can be sold for more money. More money is a good thing for the new freelancer looking to get their side income off the ground. More value is a good thing for your customers because they don’t feel ripped off by the price and they understand what they’re paying for.

I recently found a very interesting list. What’s this list all about? Examples of products/services that are priced by value rather than by cost. You can click here to read the full list.

I wanted to highlight some of the options that stuck out to me along with my examples. These are a few ways that you can make a fortune by offering more value:

Urgency.

This is when you really need something right away. We all know how desperate we get when we really need something. The cost of the item becomes almost irrelevant.

To bring this to a college level. Imagine needing a box of condoms late at night before an intimate encounter. You’re going to pay whatever it takes at that point. This is similar to getting home late at night. You pay for the value that comes with the convenience of having a cab get you home much quicker than the bus could.

Products that come with a sense of urgency can go for more money.

Fear mitigation.

Really anything to do with insurance. We all have fears. These fears need to be mitigated. Car insurance will cover you when you get into an accident. Home insurance will cover you if something happens to your home.

We’re all willing to spend a little extra money to have our fears mitigated somehow.

Scarcity.

When the options are really limited you don’t have much of a choice when it comes to higher price of what you want. Imagine you’re looking to go out on the town and only one bar is open. The drinks might be more expensive, but you know that there’s no other options.

The worst example and I even hate to mention this is when you’re out at a sporting event and you go for a beer. There’s usually only on vendor close to you and it’s like $10 a beer. You hate to pay that price, but you know that your options are limited.

We’ve all had to deal with scarcity or one point or another. It sucks to only have very limit choices available to us. The reality is that it forces us to spend more money.

Sentimental value.

This is where most of us will spend lots of money. Sentimental value can apply to anything from graduation photos to spending money on your wedding. When we feel that something will hold sentimental value for many years to come, we don’t get as turned off by the higher price.

Quality sounding name.

Putting “platinum” or “exotic” into your product offering will allow you to charge more money. Who wants to go on a regular trip when you can go on an “exotic” excursion? As silly as it might sound, quality sounding names have the luxury of coming with a higher price tag.

These examples and the other value-priced products are where customers really care more about satisfying the need than the actual cost of the product/service.

When you create something do you stress about the cost or the value? On the flip side, when you buy something is price or value more important to you?

My suggestion for aspiring freelancers/small biz owners is– Next time you try to pitch a product or service offering, think of what you really are offering. Then try to add one of these key product attributes from the list above so that you can offer more value to your clients and make more money for yourself.