One of the industry-specific discussion groups that I belong to was recently discussing a $5 million fee (for three years of effort) paid in exchange for bringing $34 million worth of value to an organization.
Just so there’s no mistaking the result: we’re talking about the receipt of $34 million dollars in funds.
Oddly enough, it was felt by some that this fee was out of line, and several considered this fee patently unethical simply because of the amount, regardless of the circumstances.
If you own a business and have employees, you probably pay them by the hour. If so, I suspect you are aware that “paid by the hour” thinking is not the road to success, though it can get the bills paid.
Most people don’t start a career with a big audacious goal of “I want to get the bills paid”, or “I want to make $17 an hour”.
That kind of thinking will get you nowhere financially in the long term.
Generally speaking:
- Successful people get paid substantially more than whatever is “normal” for their expertise, training, investment in themselves, experience, ability to deliver and value delivered.
That’s a major reason why we talk about stepping way beyond the value delivered by anyone else in your business by thinking harder and being creative and innovating in how you think about what you do for other people or their businesses.
You want people to believe - in fact, KNOW in their hearts - that you can deliver that $34 million (because you have in the past, repeatedly) and as a result, they’ll gladly line up to pay the $5 million to get it, and they’ll feel like they got a deal in the process because they were confident of your ability to deliver value that (possibly) no one else can.
Likewise, if you know you can deliver that sort of value more often than not, you’ll fully guarantee the fee and charge nothing if you don’t deliver.
That’s positioning you - and your clients - can take to the bank.
If I told you I could deliver $34 million in sales to your business, what’s that worth to you?
$50 or $75 or $125 an hour is the wrong answer.
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