Biz Help for You - Candy Messer

In a recent episode of Biz Help For You, host Candy Messer spoke with Robin Waite, founder of Fearless Business, bestselling author, and business coach. Robin shared powerful insights into productising services, pricing with confidence, and designing a scalable business model that delivers better results for both entrepreneurs and their clients.

This blog unpacks their conversation and highlights the mindset shifts and strategies that can help service-based business owners improve profitability and reduce burnout.

What We Discussed on Biz Help For You

1. Hourly pricing limits earnings: It punishes efficiency and leads to unpredictable results.
2. Productise services for clarity: Structure offerings around results, not hours worked.
3. Find your best-fit clients: Focus on those you love, get results for, and who can pay.
4. Challenge money mindset fears: Pricing discomfort often stems from internal beliefs.
5. Test higher prices: Most people haven’t actually tried raising their rates.
6. Don’t compete on price: Compete on value and outcomes.
7. Use value-based pricing: Tie your fees to the ROI clients will receive.
8. Create a scalable business model: Break goals into leads, consults, and conversions.
9. Avoid monthly subscriptions for high-touch offers: Sell full programmes for better results.
10. Confidence builds with action: Start pitching your new prices to strengthen belief.

Why Productising Your Services Is a Game Changer

The Pitfalls of Hourly Pricing

Robin begins by outlining the problems with traditional hourly pricing models:

• Limited earnings capacity: Most service providers assume they can work 40 hours per week, but in reality, only 15–16 hours are billable due to admin, sales, and other tasks.
• Penalising efficiency: More experienced providers get paid less for doing better work faster.
• Ambiguity and resentment: Clients are often surprised by costs or scope changes, leading to dissatisfaction on both sides.

What Does It Mean to Productise a Service?

Robin explains that productising a service means turning it into a structured, high-value package with a clear outcome, delivery time, and fixed fee. This shift reduces ambiguity and increases the perceived value of the offer.

The Three Steps of Productisation

1. Define the dream outcome: Focus on the result your client wants, not just the task you perform.
2. Set a fixed delivery timeframe: Avoid the dreaded “it depends” by developing repeatable processes.
3. Attach a fixed price: Like any product, your service should have a clear cost and potential add-ons.

Identifying Your Ideal Client

Robin encourages entrepreneurs to simplify by narrowing down who they serve:

• Who do you love working with?
• Who do you get the best results for?
• Who can afford to pay you?

By aligning passion, effectiveness, and profitability, businesses become easier to run and scale.

The iPhone Analogy

Robin compares the success of Apple’s iPhone production line to how service businesses should operate. The iPhone is mass-produced to suit 80–90% of the market. The process is repetitive—but that’s what makes it profitable, scalable, and efficient.

Addressing Pricing Fears and Money Mindsets

Candy raises a common concern: “What if raising prices scares away clients?”

Robin explains that this fear usually reflects a deeper internal belief:

• We project our values onto others: “I wouldn’t pay that much, so they won’t either.”
• We make assumptions without evidence: Most entrepreneurs haven’t tested higher prices.
• Emotional money stories: Our upbringing and past experiences shape how we feel about value and worth.

Real-Life Pricing Lessons

Robin’s Own Business Example

During the 2008 financial crisis, Robin’s marketing agency raised hosting fees from £10 to £50/month:

• 40% of clients left.
• Revenue increased by 2.5x.
• Support calls dropped by 80%.
• Quality of clients improved significantly.

The Power of Value-Based Pricing

Robin walks Candy through a hypothetical coaching offer for business owners wanting to take a guilt-free two-week holiday. Initially priced at $6,000 for six months, Robin helps Candy reframe its true value:

• Guilt-free time off
• Improved operational efficiency
• Increased business valuation by $1M+

Robin encourages Candy to consider pricing the offer at $12,000 or more and even makes a playful challenge: if she pitches 10 prospects at that price and doesn’t land a single sale, he’ll become her first paying client.

Structuring Your High-Value Offer

Robin advises against charging monthly fees (e.g., $2,000/month) as clients may cancel early once they get a win. Instead, he recommends:

• Front-load payments: e.g., $7,000 upfront and five instalments of $1,000.
• Sell the full six-month package to lock in transformation and retention.
• Highlight the AIM phases:
  
  • Assessment (audit and discovery)
  • Implementation (actions and progress)
  • Maintenance (ensuring lasting change)

Sales Metrics for Predictable Growth

Robin introduces a simple reverse-engineering method:

1. Revenue goal: $100,000/year
2. Average client spend: $2,500
3. Clients needed: 40
4. Conversion rate: 1 in 5 = 50 consultations needed/year
5. Leads needed: 350 (assuming 1 in 7 leads converts to a consultation)

Break it down: one lead per day, one consultation per week—a manageable, measurable plan.

Final Words from Robin

Robin invites listeners to connect on LinkedIn or YouTube and offers free signed copies of his book Take Your Shot at https://www.fearless.biz/tys. He reminds entrepreneurs that pricing should reflect the value you deliver—not just your time—and that confidence grows through action, not just planning.