The following is an excerpt of one of David’s coaching sessions in Top Coaching Techniques.

David: Think of the cost of them not getting their stuff right. The cost is unbelievable. You probably use that in your sales, but whatever they’re paying is worth it, because the cost of them not getting their stuff right is astronomical.

Client: It’s significantly more. This is why the top executive search firms charge about 33% of salary and we charge 12½ to 15%.

David: Why is that?

Client: Good question. It’s like selling Porsche or Rolls Royce. They have absolute market reputation and they’re dealing with the organizations that can afford to pay that. However, we were a long way from there, so we started at 12% so we could be competitive and get in the door. Raising the price to 15% was the easiest thing I ever did. No one even said anything, and it gave us a massive increase in profits. The reason we do 12½ is because we realize that there’s some value in customers who work with us exclusively, so we give a discount and some other benefits.

David: Imagine if you charged 18 and discount to 15 or 12½. You have just created a bigger discount, a bigger value for them. Then they’ll be saying, ‘Wow, I can get 5 ½ percent.’