August 5, 2025 • 15 mins
Let’s cut to it: if your sales have suddenly flatlined, and you’ve been spiraling down the pricing rabbit hole, wondering “Should I charge more? Should I run a discount? Should I burn it all down?” then keep listening!
I know exactly how that pricing panic feels. You’ve tried premium. You’ve tried cheap-as-chips. You’ve even sat in the “safe middle” hoping for a win. But no matter what price tag you slap on your offer, it’s met with agonising silence. The fact is... the problem probably isn’t your pricing.
In this episode, I’m breaking down:
- The real reason your offers aren’t converting (spoiler: it’s not the cost)
- Why clients buy emotion, not packages
- The 3-part messaging shift that changes everything
- A real-world example that’ll flip how you talk about your work
- Quick-win action steps to attract clients who are excited to pay you
It’s time to stop obsessing over what to charge and start focusing on what actually sells. Hit play and let’s fix the real problem together.
This episode is a must-listen if:
- You’re sick of second-guessing your prices
- You want to stop discounting just to make sales
- You’re ready to attract clients who actually get the value you bring
Check out our sponsor Xero's fantastic offer by following the link below: https://xero5440.partnerlinks.io/claire
And don't forget to follow me on Instagram so we can keep the conversation going! You can find me at cs_bartlett
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(02:07):
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of The Simplified CEO.
I'm Claire Bartlett, your host, and today we are talking about pricing, but it might notbe what you think it's going to be.
Because I know I've been there, I see you, you're not necessarily bringing in the leadgeneration that you're hoping for and your sales are drying up.
(02:29):
You've got stagnant in your business and the world and their dog is telling you it'sbecause your pricing is wrong.
But what if I told you...
that's probably not the answer.
And actually, you need to look at a much wider picture.
And today, we're going to do that together.
I'm going to explain why the pricing might not be the solution, and m what might be andwhat you can do to improve things.
(02:50):
So first of all, I get it, okay?
I've been there myself, I see you, you are not bringing in the lead generation that you'rehoping for, your sales are not coming in as quickly as you hoped.
And the world and their dog is telling you, it's your pricing.
If you just fix your pricing, everything else will fall into place.
So, you you follow the guidelines.
(03:11):
You say, okay, I'm going to price for value.
I'm not going to price, you know, competitively in the market.
I'm going to price for the value that I'm adding, and I'm going to increase my prices.
So you go for the luxury market, you increase that price, and then you sit there and waitand you, you know, really believe in this figure that you're now putting out there.
but you get crickets.
(03:32):
It doesn't make any difference whatsoever.
And then someone else comes along and says, you're too expensive.
You don't have the qualifications or the experience.
You're not in the same field as other people that are charging that price.
So you lower your prices or you do a massive sale or you do some offer to bring in moreincome to your business, but at a much lower rate.
(03:53):
But again, it makes no difference.
And then you just feel so deflated.
You've tried to charge super high premium prices and it hasn't worked.
You've tried to charge bargain basement, you know, real amazing offer and that stillhasn't brought in the leads.
So what else can you do?
(04:13):
Well, firstly, you're not alone.
There are a million other business owners that are going through this or have been throughthis in the past.
And like I said, I've been there myself.
It's hard, right?
Understanding where to price yourself, especially as a new business or with a newoffering.
And so often in the beginning of business, we do our market research, right?
We look out who is doing something similar to us.
(04:36):
Where are they charging?
How are they like sort of positioning themselves in the market?
And then you go, well, if that's where they are and they're an existing business, I'm togo slightly under them.
You know, I'm not going to go bottom of the pile because I believe I'm worth more thanthat, but I'm not going to try and outbid these people either.
I'm going to go sort of middle ground and you sit yourself in that nice little comfortzone.
(04:59):
And that can work for a while, but we all have these underlying rooted money beliefs.
And as you are looking for investment for yourself, if you're ever looking for something,you don't look for the cheapest option because you see value in the pricing.
So if you're going to pay for a really cheap offer, you believe that you're going to get areally cheap service.
(05:23):
So you don't go for those.
the middle of the range offering, you know, they sort of all just jumbled together.
And it's only the elite, the higher ticket pricing that really stands out to you.
you think, if they're selling at that price, then they must really be adding value andreally be making a difference.
So we have to work through our money mindset alongside all of the other noise that comesto the pricing.
(05:46):
And yes, pricing is important to a degree.
You do need to make sure that you're pricing for the value that you are delivering.
not just plucking a figure out the air, not pricing per hour.
That is a massive pain point for me.
Do not price yourself per hour.
You're so much worth more than that.
But if you've tried all of these avenues, you've increased your price, you've done offersand deals and all of these things and nothing seems to be working.
(06:13):
That would suggest that actually it's not the pricing that's the problem.
It's your offering or more specifically, it's how you are portraying.
you're offering, how you're portraying your value to the world.
Because if someone really, really feels something and they really know that they need thatin their life and it is the answer to all of their problems, they will find the money.
(06:38):
Price will not be an issue and they will be able to either put you on a wish list and worktowards working with you, or they will find the money one way or another.
They will prioritize working with you.
but that only happens if you really truly made that connection with them and got thatfeeling of that absolute desperation and need to have what you are selling.
(07:03):
So this is where the problem is.
This is where that block is for you and your business is that you're not portraying thevalue that you can add to people's lives or the product that you are providing.
Whatever that product is that you're not selling the outcome and really everything is
always to do with the outcome.
(07:25):
So if you are a coach, for instance, let's talk about a weight loss coach or a PT, it'snot about saying you spend a hundred pounds and you'll get, you know, one hour of private
PT session with me or, you know, one-to-one zoom or whatever.
And that's what you get within the package.
(07:46):
And you can have some WhatsApp access to me and I'll send you some online trainings.
and that's it, and that's a hundred pound.
That is not selling me a dream.
That's not creating a vision in my mind, like an actual visualization of where I will beif I work with you.
But if you worded it, so if you work with me at the end of this course, you will be livingyour best life.
(08:11):
You will be pain free.
You will have lost X amount of pounds.
You will be feeling lighter and happier and...
You know, you'll look in the mirror with joy and you'll fall in love with yourself again.
And you can do all of this in the time for summer.
So you have that summer body and you will feel the best that you have felt in years.
(08:31):
Can you see the difference in those offerings?
It's not saying yes, X, Y, and Z.
This is what you'll get.
Yes.
In the second way I've described it, you're still getting a one hour PT session and someonline trainings or a one-to-one zoom, whatever the offer itself is.
But I haven't led with that.
I've led with the emotion and getting you to visualise and imagine that life that youcould have if you invested in working with me.
(08:58):
And that's what it's all about.
You could say that dream that I'm trying to sell you is a hundred pound or you could sayit's a thousand pounds.
But if you have a strong enough connection, and I mean an emotional connection, if you canreally tap into that person's pain points and paint that beautiful picture.
of the outcome, then the price tag does not matter and you will get those sales.
(09:23):
So really it all comes down to actually messaging.
It's nothing to do with your pricing.
So where do you go when you realise this and you think, okay, actually it's my messagingand how I'm portraying the services.
How can you then improve that to bring in those sales and those leads into your business?
Well, like I said, it's about
(09:46):
storytelling and painting a picture.
This is the most important thing when we're in business.
It's painting that beautiful picture of the outcome.
It's the end goal of if you work with me, this is what you will achieve.
And you can do that in multiple ways.
One way, you know, obviously an easy way is sending and sharing the testimonials fromexisting and past clients.
(10:10):
So this is the outcome that they've had.
Look where they are at the end of the journey with me.
or look where they are and we've only been working together for X amount of weeks.
These are the real tangible evidence of the type of transformation that people can expectif they work with you.
I mean, we've all been there, right?
(10:30):
When we're flicking through social media, the noise that's on social media, and we seesome form of transformation or a client doing a gratitude post to their coach or PT or
whatever it is.
instant personal recommendation is much more likely to spike my interest than seeingsomebody saying here's my package sign up with me.
(10:55):
know so testimonials is a super powerful way to instantly start painting that picture.
The other thing is to be open and share your journey or your experience but not in a blackand white here are the bullet points of my career so far.
But in a story form, what led you to where you are today?
(11:19):
What made you passionate about this area of life or business or whatever it is that you'reoffering to your clients?
Picturing that and getting someone to connect with that can really transform how manypeople come into your circle and stay there and become loyal to your brand.
And once you have that connection, once they're in your circle and they're loyal to yourbrand,
(11:42):
they are much more open to giving you their money and becoming a paying client of yours.
And then finally, it's just about painting that visualization in every piece of writtencontent and spoken content that you put out there.
So in the title that you use, instead of just calling yourself a PT, there are a gazillionpersonal trainers out there.
(12:08):
So,
What other title could you give yourself that instantly paints that picture?
So you could say, I don't know, uh midlife, health, transformational coach.
I don't know, I've completely made that up on the spot.
It might be a bit wooey and a bit too long form, but you get the picture.
It's instead of keeping that title because that's what the world has told you that youneed to call yourself.
(12:32):
How can you transform that into something that will really instantly hit a pain point forsomebody?
And then,
Going on that theme, when you're writing your content, don't spend so long talking aboutthe workouts or the diet plan or all of these other elements that you know are guaranteed
because in reality, we all know that if we work with a PT, we will have a online workoutor an in-person workout, we'll get the meal plans.
(13:01):
Those are guaranteed, no matter who you're working with.
So it's about selling.
the rest of the dream, okay?
What's my outcome?
How long will it take me to get that outcome?
Do you have any tangible results that you can say that this person has lost X amount ofweight in the time that they're working with me?
And actually I can guarantee that you lose X amount of weight.
(13:22):
And if you don't, this is the guarantee that I give you.
can have another six weeks complimentary, you can blah, blah, blah, you know?
So it's building a package that isn't actually about the package.
because everybody has a package that includes a workout or a one-to-one coaching orwhatever it is.
(13:43):
There's a million people offering that same package.
So what is it that makes yours different?
And a price point is not enough of a differentiation.
Ooh, don't know what that word was.
And the price point is not enough of a difference to make you stand out in the crowd.
So.
When people tell you that changing your pricing, whether it's going for the elite or goingfor, you know, the bargain, the high, high volume, but less turnover.
(14:14):
Oh, I've lost off track now.
I'm going to have to edit this.
So when people are telling you that it's about your pricing and either you need to begoing for the high ticket, because just by pricing yourself high ticket, that's telling
the world that you're adding huge value.
It doesn't work like that.
It's not enough.
I'm not going to just give someone £1,500 because their package is the highest value oneand that tells me that they're going to be the best.
(14:39):
I want to feel connected.
I want to have that emotional connection with that person.
And so often, you know, we have these silent stalkers online who spend time in our spacegetting to know us before they've even actually interacted with us.
They'll be reading your content.
They'll be stalking you on Facebook.
They'll be seeing what you're doing.
(14:59):
looking for those transformational posts, they'll be wanting to get a feel and anunderstanding of how you work and the sort of results that you're getting before they even
consider investing in you.
So make sure that you are painting that picture, you are giving them that visualisation,you are showing them with tangible evidence, this is what you'll get if you work with me.
(15:20):
And then the income will come, the lead generation will happen and your business willgrow.
So what are you going to go and change right now?
Are you going to stop stressing about your pricing?
Stop trying to be the high end or the low end or the middle ground.
Stop stressing about that.
Choose a price that feels comfortable with you that you can confidently sell and then lookat the messaging around it and the actual offer that you're providing.
(15:49):
Make sure that you're giving something unique and different and telling the person whomight be buying it.
what it is that they're actually buying.
And it's the outcome, remember, not the physical product or service.
And then come back and tell me in the comments on here or tag me on Instagram, I'm CSunderscore Bartlett.
Come and tell me what you have noticed and what stories you've come up with to share withyour audience and then how much your income and your lead generation improves from it.
(16:20):
Thank you for joining me this week and I am so excited to be here in season four and Iwill catch up with you next time.
Have a great week.
Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of The Simplified CEO.
I'm Claire Bartlett, your host, and today we are talking about pricing, but it might notbe what you think it's going to be.
Because I know I've been there, I see you, you're not necessarily bringing in the leadgeneration that you're hoping for and your sales are drying up.
(02:29):
You've got stagnant in your business and the world and their dog is telling you it'sbecause your pricing is wrong.
But what if I told you...
that's probably not the answer.
And actually, you need to look at a much wider picture.
And today, we're going to do that together.
I'm going to explain why the pricing might not be the solution, and m what might be andwhat you can do to improve things.
(02:50):
So first of all, I get it, okay?
I've been there myself, I see you, you are not bringing in the lead generation that you'rehoping for, your sales are not coming in as quickly as you hoped.
And the world and their dog is telling you, it's your pricing.
If you just fix your pricing, everything else will fall into place.
So, you you follow the guidelines.
(03:11):
You say, okay, I'm going to price for value.
I'm not going to price, you know, competitively in the market.
I'm going to price for the value that I'm adding, and I'm going to increase my prices.
So you go for the luxury market, you increase that price, and then you sit there and waitand you, you know, really believe in this figure that you're now putting out there.
but you get crickets.
(03:32):
It doesn't make any difference whatsoever.
And then someone else comes along and says, you're too expensive.
You don't have the qualifications or the experience.
You're not in the same field as other people that are charging that price.
So you lower your prices or you do a massive sale or you do some offer to bring in moreincome to your business, but at a much lower rate.
(03:53):
But again, it makes no difference.
And then you just feel so deflated.
You've tried to charge super high premium prices and it hasn't worked.
You've tried to charge bargain basement, you know, real amazing offer and that stillhasn't brought in the leads.
So what else can you do?
(04:13):
Well, firstly, you're not alone.
There are a million other business owners that are going through this or have been throughthis in the past.
And like I said, I've been there myself.
It's hard, right?
Understanding where to price yourself, especially as a new business or with a newoffering.
And so often in the beginning of business, we do our market research, right?
We look out who is doing something similar to us.
(04:36):
Where are they charging?
How are they like sort of positioning themselves in the market?
And then you go, well, if that's where they are and they're an existing business, I'm togo slightly under them.
You know, I'm not going to go bottom of the pile because I believe I'm worth more thanthat, but I'm not going to try and outbid these people either.
I'm going to go sort of middle ground and you sit yourself in that nice little comfortzone.
(04:59):
And that can work for a while, but we all have these underlying rooted money beliefs.
And as you are looking for investment for yourself, if you're ever looking for something,you don't look for the cheapest option because you see value in the pricing.
So if you're going to pay for a really cheap offer, you believe that you're going to get areally cheap service.
(05:23):
So you don't go for those.
the middle of the range offering, you know, they sort of all just jumbled together.
And it's only the elite, the higher ticket pricing that really stands out to you.
you think, if they're selling at that price, then they must really be adding value andreally be making a difference.
So we have to work through our money mindset alongside all of the other noise that comesto the pricing.
(05:46):
And yes, pricing is important to a degree.
You do need to make sure that you're pricing for the value that you are delivering.
not just plucking a figure out the air, not pricing per hour.
That is a massive pain point for me.
Do not price yourself per hour.
You're so much worth more than that.
But if you've tried all of these avenues, you've increased your price, you've done offersand deals and all of these things and nothing seems to be working.
(06:13):
That would suggest that actually it's not the pricing that's the problem.
It's your offering or more specifically, it's how you are portraying.
you're offering, how you're portraying your value to the world.
Because if someone really, really feels something and they really know that they need thatin their life and it is the answer to all of their problems, they will find the money.
(06:38):
Price will not be an issue and they will be able to either put you on a wish list and worktowards working with you, or they will find the money one way or another.
They will prioritize working with you.
but that only happens if you really truly made that connection with them and got thatfeeling of that absolute desperation and need to have what you are selling.
(07:03):
So this is where the problem is.
This is where that block is for you and your business is that you're not portraying thevalue that you can add to people's lives or the product that you are providing.
Whatever that product is that you're not selling the outcome and really everything is
always to do with the outcome.
(07:25):
So if you are a coach, for instance, let's talk about a weight loss coach or a PT, it'snot about saying you spend a hundred pounds and you'll get, you know, one hour of private
PT session with me or, you know, one-to-one zoom or whatever.
And that's what you get within the package.
(07:46):
And you can have some WhatsApp access to me and I'll send you some online trainings.
and that's it, and that's a hundred pound.
That is not selling me a dream.
That's not creating a vision in my mind, like an actual visualization of where I will beif I work with you.
But if you worded it, so if you work with me at the end of this course, you will be livingyour best life.
(08:11):
You will be pain free.
You will have lost X amount of pounds.
You will be feeling lighter and happier and...
You know, you'll look in the mirror with joy and you'll fall in love with yourself again.
And you can do all of this in the time for summer.
So you have that summer body and you will feel the best that you have felt in years.
(08:31):
Can you see the difference in those offerings?
It's not saying yes, X, Y, and Z.
This is what you'll get.
Yes.
In the second way I've described it, you're still getting a one hour PT session and someonline trainings or a one-to-one zoom, whatever the offer itself is.
But I haven't led with that.
I've led with the emotion and getting you to visualise and imagine that life that youcould have if you invested in working with me.
(08:58):
And that's what it's all about.
You could say that dream that I'm trying to sell you is a hundred pound or you could sayit's a thousand pounds.
But if you have a strong enough connection, and I mean an emotional connection, if you canreally tap into that person's pain points and paint that beautiful picture.
of the outcome, then the price tag does not matter and you will get those sales.
(09:23):
So really it all comes down to actually messaging.
It's nothing to do with your pricing.
So where do you go when you realise this and you think, okay, actually it's my messagingand how I'm portraying the services.
How can you then improve that to bring in those sales and those leads into your business?
Well, like I said, it's about
(09:46):
storytelling and painting a picture.
This is the most important thing when we're in business.
It's painting that beautiful picture of the outcome.
It's the end goal of if you work with me, this is what you will achieve.
And you can do that in multiple ways.
One way, you know, obviously an easy way is sending and sharing the testimonials fromexisting and past clients.
(10:10):
So this is the outcome that they've had.
Look where they are at the end of the journey with me.
or look where they are and we've only been working together for X amount of weeks.
These are the real tangible evidence of the type of transformation that people can expectif they work with you.
I mean, we've all been there, right?
(10:30):
When we're flicking through social media, the noise that's on social media, and we seesome form of transformation or a client doing a gratitude post to their coach or PT or
whatever it is.
instant personal recommendation is much more likely to spike my interest than seeingsomebody saying here's my package sign up with me.
(10:55):
know so testimonials is a super powerful way to instantly start painting that picture.
The other thing is to be open and share your journey or your experience but not in a blackand white here are the bullet points of my career so far.
But in a story form, what led you to where you are today?
(11:19):
What made you passionate about this area of life or business or whatever it is that you'reoffering to your clients?
Picturing that and getting someone to connect with that can really transform how manypeople come into your circle and stay there and become loyal to your brand.
And once you have that connection, once they're in your circle and they're loyal to yourbrand,
(11:42):
they are much more open to giving you their money and becoming a paying client of yours.
And then finally, it's just about painting that visualization in every piece of writtencontent and spoken content that you put out there.
So in the title that you use, instead of just calling yourself a PT, there are a gazillionpersonal trainers out there.
(12:08):
So,
What other title could you give yourself that instantly paints that picture?
So you could say, I don't know, uh midlife, health, transformational coach.
I don't know, I've completely made that up on the spot.
It might be a bit wooey and a bit too long form, but you get the picture.
It's instead of keeping that title because that's what the world has told you that youneed to call yourself.
(12:32):
How can you transform that into something that will really instantly hit a pain point forsomebody?
And then,
Going on that theme, when you're writing your content, don't spend so long talking aboutthe workouts or the diet plan or all of these other elements that you know are guaranteed
because in reality, we all know that if we work with a PT, we will have a online workoutor an in-person workout, we'll get the meal plans.
(13:01):
Those are guaranteed, no matter who you're working with.
So it's about selling.
the rest of the dream, okay?
What's my outcome?
How long will it take me to get that outcome?
Do you have any tangible results that you can say that this person has lost X amount ofweight in the time that they're working with me?
And actually I can guarantee that you lose X amount of weight.
(13:22):
And if you don't, this is the guarantee that I give you.
can have another six weeks complimentary, you can blah, blah, blah, you know?
So it's building a package that isn't actually about the package.
because everybody has a package that includes a workout or a one-to-one coaching orwhatever it is.
(13:43):
There's a million people offering that same package.
So what is it that makes yours different?
And a price point is not enough of a differentiation.
Ooh, don't know what that word was.
And the price point is not enough of a difference to make you stand out in the crowd.
So.
When people tell you that changing your pricing, whether it's going for the elite or goingfor, you know, the bargain, the high, high volume, but less turnover.
(14:14):
Oh, I've lost off track now.
I'm going to have to edit this.
So when people are telling you that it's about your pricing and either you need to begoing for the high ticket, because just by pricing yourself high ticket, that's telling
the world that you're adding huge value.
It doesn't work like that.
It's not enough.
I'm not going to just give someone £1,500 because their package is the highest value oneand that tells me that they're going to be the best.
(14:39):
I want to feel connected.
I want to have that emotional connection with that person.
And so often, you know, we have these silent stalkers online who spend time in our spacegetting to know us before they've even actually interacted with us.
They'll be reading your content.
They'll be stalking you on Facebook.
They'll be seeing what you're doing.
(14:59):
looking for those transformational posts, they'll be wanting to get a feel and anunderstanding of how you work and the sort of results that you're getting before they even
consider investing in you.
So make sure that you are painting that picture, you are giving them that visualisation,you are showing them with tangible evidence, this is what you'll get if you work with me.
(15:20):
And then the income will come, the lead generation will happen and your business willgrow.
So what are you going to go and change right now?
Are you going to stop stressing about your pricing?
Stop trying to be the high end or the low end or the middle ground.
Stop stressing about that.
Choose a price that feels comfortable with you that you can confidently sell and then lookat the messaging around it and the actual offer that you're providing.
(15:49):
Make sure that you're giving something unique and different and telling the person whomight be buying it.
what it is that they're actually buying.
And it's the outcome, remember, not the physical product or service.
And then come back and tell me in the comments on here or tag me on Instagram, I'm CSunderscore Bartlett.
Come and tell me what you have noticed and what stories you've come up with to share withyour audience and then how much your income and your lead generation improves from it.
(16:20):
Thank you for joining me this week and I am so excited to be here in season four and Iwill catch up with you next time.
Have a great week.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!