Do you call your own work expensive?

I’ve been telling more and more people to stop using the word ‘expensive’ to describe their services.

Here’s some context:

I’ve been reviewing more of my call recordings.

Over the past year, I’ve had 228 pricing-related conversations.

In 57 of them, the word “expensive” showed up. Now the surprising part:

In 32 (of the 57) calls, people weren’t quoting their prospects. They were describing their own services as expensive.

• “My most expensive service…”

• “The expensive one…”

• “That might seem expensive, but…”

That’s 1 in 7 calls where someone labeled their own work as expensive.

I get why it happens.

It’s a hedge. It’s our attempt to manage the buyer’s emotional response for them by saying the word out loud, or planting it in our head before the price even leaves our mouth.

I’m at fault too.

I’ve said the word. And then immediately regretted it.

But “expensive” is a value term.

It’s subjective. Used to compare one option against an alternative.

Value isn’t ours to judge. Value is ours to frame.

And if the frame in our head is “my services are expensive,” that frame doesn’t stay inside. It comes through in subtle, or not-so-subtle, cues to prospects.

Look, I’m deep in the nuance with this post, but one of the most important rules in pricing is this: You have to sell yourself on your price first before you ever try to sell others on it.

So when we talk (or even think) about our price, let’s steer clear of “expensive.”

It’s a value frame not worth buying.

Thank you for reading.

See you next week.

Be well. Talk soon.

— Peter

P.S. If you want help reframing your value so prospects don’t think of you as expensive, hit reply. This is the kind of work I love doing.