This past Friday, I had a meeting with a successful business coach who is something of a model and mentor to me. I'll call her June.

June wanted to meet with me to discuss a new high-ticket offer she's developing to get my feedback on everything from her preliminary messaging to her program components to pricing.

I'll be honest, this program is expensive! It's a deep-pocket investment, but I really like how June is planning to mitigate risk and overcome the natural inclination of many to shut down when the price feels uncomfortable or undoable.

Here's the strategy she outlined for me:

1. Pay 25% of the total fee upfront (with an optional payment plan).
2. Then, pay the next 50% of fees in installments based on your progress toward targeted business sales outlined in the program.
3. Finally, pay the remaining 25% in fees once you achieve the promised program results, in this case, a specific level of business revenue.

I like that June is sharing the risk with her prospects and tying her compensation to the success she is promising in her offer.

This strategy succeeds in deepening trust and provides a sense of security to prospects because both parties have proverbial skin in the game and are equally invested in achieving the best outcomes as quickly as possible from start to finish.

As we wound down our conversation, June asked me one of my most dreaded market research questions,
​"What would you be willing to pay for such a program."

I hate this question even more than I hate, "What's your superpower?"!

Here's why—It's rarely helpful.

• People honestly don't know what they'd pay.
• People low ball the price because they think a lower valuation may influence you to charge less.
• People want to be helpful and so they pick a number they hope sounds good to you—but they don't really have a clue.

I told June I couldn't really answer that question, and instead offered an alternative one to ask:

"If you were me and this was your program, what do you think you would charge for it?"

This is a better question because it gets to the heart of what you want to know—what's the value of your offer to your prospects in dollars and cents—within a much safer and more psychologically comfortable context.

Psychologically, when we name what we are willing to pay for something it feels like we are committing to that price, even if the potential sale is at some unknown point in the future.

As a result, this can produce a lot of resistance, anxiety, and stress, all of which can influence our response.

It may also lead to a sense of dread by prospects when they get that inevitable follow-up email once the offer is in place and ready to be sold.

In contrast, when we talk about what we ourselves would charge, we put ourselves in the seller's shoes, which empowers us to craft a response informed by our knowledge of their expertise and value, the quality of their products or services, and their level of success and reputation.

We see ourselves in their place, at their level, and the possibilities for us open up, deepening our affinity with the seller, their business, and their offer.

That's way more powerful than a random valuation.

It's a crafty way to prime your sales and overcome psychological barriers to purchase before you even launch your offer—all in the name of market and pricing research.

Wants some help breaking down barriers to purchase for your prospects? Why not book some time with me.

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Your success is our strategy!