Discover Robin Waite's 30/30 Rule for raising prices confidently. Learn why fewer clients paying more creates freedom for coaches and consultants.
Most business owners believe they need more clients to grow - but what if the real path to freedom is fewer clients paying more? In this episode of the Grow and Connect Podcast, host Igor sits down with business coach Robin Waite to explore why doubling your income doesn't require doubling your workload. They discuss the psychology behind undercharging, practical frameworks for raising prices confidently, and how to escape the exhausting cycle of trading time for money. This article breaks down their conversation into practical steps for coaches, consultants, and freelancers who want to build profitable businesses without burning out.
Most struggling business owners share the same assumption: growth requires more clients. Robin challenges this belief directly.
Many coaches and consultants find themselves in what Robin calls the messy middle. They love their work, deliver great results for clients, yet scratch their heads at the end of each month wondering where the hours went and why their bank account doesn't reflect their effort. The real goal isn't enrolling every client who shows interest. It's building a profitable, sustainable business - and that often means fewer clients paying higher fees.
Robin's philosophy centres on a simple equation: earn double the money with half the clients. When you work with fewer clients, you need fewer sales conversations, can do less marketing, and operate far more strategically. The business becomes manageable rather than overwhelming.
Robin explains that business growth involves multiple levers, none of which need to be pushed to their extremes. Small adjustments across several areas compound into significant results.
Robin shares a powerful example: a business doing $100,000 in annual revenue with $10,000 profit (10% net margin) can double its profit simply by raising prices 10%. That additional $10,000 falls straight to the bottom line if overheads remain constant.
This phrase captures a hierarchy most business owners get backwards.
Robin points out that many seven-figure business owners don't have two pennies to rub together because their businesses aren't profitable. High revenue means nothing without corresponding profit.
Consider a $12,000 service sold with a 12-month payment plan at $1,000 monthly. On paper, turnover and profit look healthy. But in month one, you've only collected $1,000 in actual cash. Robin recommends an artificially inflated upfront fee combined with lower monthly payments. For a $12,000 service, this might look like $6,000 upfront followed by 12 payments of $500. You collect the same total but with dramatically better cash flow from day one. This approach funds growth, covers expenses, and reduces the stress of waiting for money to arrive.
One of the most powerful frameworks Robin shares addresses the fear of raising prices.
Human instinct draws us toward negative feedback. A business owner pitches one person at a higher price, hears "that's too expensive," and immediately believes it's true. Robin compares this to L'Oréal polling one woman about their shampoo and using that as proof of quality. Nobody would find that credible - yet business owners make pricing decisions based on equally flimsy evidence.
The 30/30 Rule provides a structured framework for pricing strategy:
First 30: Pitch your new offer to at least 30 qualified prospects before drawing any conclusions.
Second 30: Aim for a 30% conversion rate - 10 people saying yes out of 30. Many business owners worry that 20 people saying "no" represents failure.
Robin reframes this: the goal isn't universal acceptance. It's building a profitable business. If 10 high-paying clients create the income and lifestyle you want, the 20 who declined are irrelevant.
Robin has guided thousands of business owners through this process and can count on one hand the times a price increase resulted in sub-30% conversion rates. The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that most service providers can charge significantly more than they currently do.
Robin illustrates the power of outcome-based pricing through three hypothetical web designers competing for the same project.
Charges $50/hour, estimates 20 hours. The client agrees to $1,000. Three months later (because the designer is overwhelmed with too many cheap clients), the website arrives missing features. Either the designer absorbs unpaid work or the client pays extra - someone ends up resentful.
Same $50/hour rate, but this designer has years of experience. They deliver a superior website with all features in just one week, taking only 10 hours. Result? They earn half what the inexperienced designer made, despite doing better work faster. Hourly rates punish expertise. The master craftsman who has invested years perfecting their skills earns less than the novice.
This designer reframes the entire conversation. Instead of discussing hours or features, she focuses on results: "I can build you a video sales letter with a sales page that generates 20 qualified leads per month. Guaranteed - if it doesn't work, I'll refund everything plus $1,000 for wasting your time." The price? $10,000. The client calculates: 20 leads monthly, the investment recovered within months, plus a money-back guarantee. The decision becomes obvious.
Robin's approach to business coaching centres on helping clients productise their services rather than selling time.
Stop describing what you do and start articulating the results clients actually care about. A web designer builds websites, but clients want leads, sales, and visibility. The outcome - not the activity - drives purchasing decisions.
This is where Robin bans a specific phrase at Fearless HQ: "it depends." That phrase signals deeper problems: serving too many client types, lacking robust systems, delivering unpredictable results, and building resentment on both sides. When you do one thing exceptionally well for one specific client type, delivery becomes predictable and teachable.
Once outcome and timeline are clear, pricing follows naturally. You charge for the transformation delivered, not the hours invested.
When clients intellectually understand they're undercharging but emotionally resist dramatic increases, Robin uses a technique called the pricing auction.
Imagine a consultant currently charging $1,000 who intellectually knows they should charge $10,000. That leap feels impossible. Robin introduces numbers incrementally: "What about $1,500? Or $1,800? Maybe $2,500? How about $3,000?" At some point, body language shifts. Eyes widen. Breathing changes. That moment reveals where intellectual understanding meets emotional resistance - the edge of the comfort zone.
Business owners see others succeeding with specific tactics and assume those tactics will work for them. They chase every new marketing trend without questioning whether it fits their business. Robin has tested countless approaches over 10 years and always gravitates back to three: podcast interviews, speaking engagements, and books. Marketing requires thousands of experiments until you find your mix - not someone else's.
Robin considers this an excuse. Every business runs on the same functions: marketing, sales, admin, finance, operations, systems. Knowing your numbers - conversion rates, average order value, customer lifetime value, net profit - isn't optional. Business owners who outsource all financial understanding to accountants often face nasty surprises when tax bills arrive for profits they didn't track. By then, they're working to pay last year's obligations instead of growing.
Robin describes business owners who constantly complain that their local area is too deprived for anyone to afford their services. His response: if you genuinely believe that, why are your doors still open? These beliefs become self-fulfilling. Setting up beliefs for success - "I'm going to earn X, these clients exist, I just need to find them" - produces the same outcome with far less struggle.
Days 1-14 - Foundation: Audit your current pricing. Calculate your true hourly rate (including all unbilled time). Identify your ideal client and the specific outcome they want. Draft your productised offer with a fixed timeline.
Days 15-45 - Testing: Run a pricing auction with yourself to find your comfort zone edge. Begin making 30 pitches at your new price point. Track every conversation and outcome. Focus on Milestone 1: simply saying the number confidently.
Days 46-90 - Refinement: Analyse your conversion rate. Adjust the offer based on feedback. Push toward Milestones 2 and 3. Once you achieve consistency, consider another incremental increase.
"My competitors charge less - clients will go to them." How do you know? Have you actually tested higher prices with 30 prospects? Most business owners assume this without evidence. The clients who choose solely on price are rarely the clients who produce the best outcomes or relationships.
"What if I price myself out of the market?" The 30/30 Rule protects against this. You're not guessing - you're gathering data. If conversion genuinely drops below 30%, you have evidence to adjust. Until you test, you're operating on fear, not facts.
"I'm not experienced enough to charge more." Experience matters less than outcomes. If you can articulate a clear result, deliver it within a defined timeline, and stand behind it with genuine confidence (or even a guarantee), clients will pay for that certainty regardless of how long you've been in business.
The path from overworked and underpaid to profitable and free doesn't require working harder or finding more clients. It requires a fundamental shift in how you package, price, and sell your expertise. Robin's approach - productising services around outcomes rather than activities, testing prices systematically with the 30/30 Rule, and building confidence through structured milestones - offers a repeatable framework that works across industries and experience levels. Once learned, these principles can be applied to any offer, any pivot, any new direction. The question isn't whether clients will pay higher prices. It's whether you'll give yourself permission to find out.
Robin Waite is offering signed copies of his book Take Your Shot to listeners. Visit fearless.biz/tys to claim yours - postage is optional, and Robin will ship anywhere in the world. Connect with Robin on LinkedIn or learn more about Fearless Business at robinwaite.com.
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This Scorecard has been designed to show Coaches, Consultants and Freelancers their blind spots and provide instant, actionable steps on how to increase their prices.
