Overcoming Self-Imposed Limits

I mentioned earlier how difficult it’s been to establish appropriate cost structures for the services we provide, especially as we first got started. Although we were building a level of confidence in our area of strength, coming to terms with our worth - even after reflecting on guidance from our closest peers and mentors - has proved to be nearly as hard as creating the hundreds of hours of proprietary curriculum. Part of why that’s been such a struggle ties back to more than two decades of seeing various consultants and coaches - most of which were charlatans, at best - put more energy into embedding themselves in their clients’ cost structure, large global companies and small family businesses alike, that they put into ensure those clients captured a measurable return on investment. We’ll take a close look at the significant difference between being certified to offer a service and being truly qualified to deliver results soon. Seeing so many with a basic certification, and I even use that designation loosely because I know all too well how little oversight most have, pillaging their clients this way served as the primary reason we started our business to begin with. I wasn’t OK with seeing organizations I cared about being treated that way. I wanted to provide them real-world experience they could apply right away to achieve the results they desperately needed, all at a price point that was well below what those other clowns had been milking them for. Interestingly enough, building that desire into the proposal I submitted to the petroleum company I mentioned earlier was the same thing that caused me to not be considered.

If I’m being completely honest, with you and myself, just as much of that low pricing was tied to my self-imposed limits than it was to my desire to help someone “save” money. Since starting our business, I’ve been very intentional about scanning the landscape for similar offers, setting our prices in the same ballpark, then doing everything within my power to deliver exponentially more value. We’ve even done a ton of work - be that through in-person training or other resources we’ve created - at no cost whatsoever. While there have been a few individuals and organizations who have genuinely appreciated this, the low-to-no cost resources we’ve provided have done more to devalue what we offer than to earn new business. In so many cases, that’s led to being taken for granted; think back to what I referenced before about how even Jesus wasn’t appreciated in his hometown…

Through all that, though, we had some wonderful opportunities - even locally where my self-imposed limits impacted how some of our potential clients viewed what we offered. Less than a year after blowing my chance to work on the offshore drilling platform, we had our first meeting with a large manufacturing company’s local executive team and made a proposal for delivering our Emerging Leader Development course to around two dozen of the supervisors and managers at that location. From the bottom of my heart, that was something I never expected. Having worked for a large organization like that for so long, I was all too familiar with global supply chain relationships and how corporate contracts are king. I couldn’t imagine competing in that space, but there we were. When we mapped out the service we hoped to provide and shared the total investment we’d need from them to make it happen, the decision maker accepted immediately without batting an eye. Having learned from the previous experience, the price tag was a bit higher (even without traveling internationally and being required to complete the helicopter crash simulation) but his quick response told me that we were still well below what he expected.

Over the next few years, we provided the Emerging Leader Development course and others we developed afterward for large companies like that. We adjusted our price point slightly over time but we also built far more value into what we provided as we did. After delivering several sessions for one organization at multiple sites across the country, I had lunch with the initial plant manager who brought us in a few weeks after he retired. Since he was no longer there, I asked for his honest opinion on what we charged him and what he got for that. He said that our proposal was around half of what he anticipated and the level of service we provided dwarfed anything he had experienced.

Please know that I share none of this to boast, but to stress how overcoming self-imposed limits through relationships unlocks our true potential. I could list a dozen more examples detailing similar feedback we’ve received from clients and business associates who have challenged us to place more value on what we offer; courses, events, speaking engagements, etc. But I certainly don’t have the self-imposed limitation market cornered. I have similar conversations with friends in just about every other sector of business, and I’d bet you deal with it at some level too - at least occasionally. Before we look at how critical it will be to maintain modesty even after we shed some of those limitations, I’ll challenge you to initiate a conversation with a trusted mentor so you can identify and work to remove some of your own. If you don’t have someone you can reach out to about that right away, I’m not hard to find…