How to 5x Your Hourly Rates In 4 Simple Steps

In this week's issue, I'm going to show you how I went from charging $250 an hour to $1,250 an hour in my SaaS advising business.

If you follow this blueprint, you'll increase the chances that you can dramatically raise your rates over time.

Unfortunately, most people are so busy running the day-to-day of their business, that they never stop to examine how they can improve their efficiency.

Your rates won't raise themselves. You need a plan.

Outside of missing a plan, most people who run service businesses don't collect feedback from customers, adapt their business model, leverage testimonials, or have the confidence to ask for more money.

While all of these are challenges, there's good news too.

I have a 4-step plan that you can follow to raise your rates and improve your business.

Here's how step by step:

Step 1: Collect feedback

An important part of this process is having a two-way feedback loop.

That means you're going to be collecting feedback from your customers but also being honest with yourself about your own business.

Start by regularly asking your customers the following questions:

• Where do they get the most value from your business?
• Where do they feel like your business could improve?
• What do they wish they could get more of?

Don't overcomplicate this. Send them a simple survey or schedule a call and ask.

Once you have some customer feedback, it's time to have an honest conversation with yourself.

• What do you enjoy most about your business?
• Are there commonalities among your favorite clients?
• What part of your business gives you the most energy?
• What do you look forward to on your calendar?
• What do you dread on your calendar?

Step 2: Iterate

Once you’ve collected feedback, it’s time to iterate.

You want to expand the parts of your business that you enjoy and find ways to eliminate (or delegate) the parts that you don't.

Your goal is to find the intersection of what you enjoy and what your customers want or need.

That’s where the magic happens.

And often it will end up being a stripped-down version of your business.

This gives you the opportunity to niche down and go deep on a very specific offering.

Side note: Make sure you reevaluate your social profiles, website, and copy to reflect this new, more niche offering.

Step 3: Leverage testimonials

Often you can raise your rates simply by having a more niche offering. But you're much more likely to succeed if you have testimonials from customers in that niche.

Ask previous or current customers in that niche for a testimonial. Here's how:

1. If a customer has expressed gratitude for great results, ask them to submit a short testimonial in writing or video.
2. Formally request a testimonial from a customer after they’ve achieved a specific result from your partnership.
3. Someone might email you, Tweet, or write something nice on LinkedIn about your business. Reach out to them, thank them for the kind comment and ask them if they would mind expanding on it for a full testimonial.

Step 4: Increase your rates

By this point, you should have a more enjoyable, focused business with testimonials from your ideal customer.

This is a great time to raise your rates. Most consultants and coaches I talk to could easily double their rates if they went through this exercise, but they are often too nervous to actually raise them.

Keep in mind that if you double your prices and your win rate drops by half, you’re still making the same amount of money servicing half as many customers.

Same money, half the work. Now that's an efficient business.