One of the most common conundrums in building and scaling your Equine Assisted Business is value and pricing.
All too often, the tendency is to overdeliver and undercharge.
Why?
The reasons are many:
There is a need to feel like great value is being given.
Fear that the client won't get the results promised - if any results were promised at all.
Unclear on the true value the horses are bringing to the client.
Fear of the enrollment conversation.
No real formula for pricing services.
Comparing self to others - this looks like calling some other facility and asking what they charge.
Overdelivery is detrimental to your business and your confidence and the best analogy is brought about by the horses.
Humans and horses aren't that different, except horses don't have the monkey mind we do. I am kind of jealous of this - they handle perceived threat in the moment and go back to being present in the moment once perceived threat has passed.
When training a horse, you have to break things down into teeny tiny steps. (It teaches you patience.) If you throw too much at them, they don't effectively learn what you are trying to teach.
A great example is in teaching a horse to sidepass. That beautiful movement across the arena began with:
1. Asking the horse to move off of your pressure into the direction you want to go. He/She leans a little and you release the pressure allowing horse to lick and chew (absorb what just happened.)
2. You ask the same again and eventually one hoof moves in that direction, you release pressure and allow it to soak in.
3. You keep this up over a series of days and soon - the side pass emerges.
If I try to get the side pass across the arena on the first try - the fight ensues and no learning happens. The horse learns to fight with you and / or that you're a jerk.
When it comes to over delivery with humans, I always go back to how I work with horses and not allow the delivery become a disservice to my clients or the horses.
Over delivery causes over processing and this causes a loss of what was just learned. If I throw too many exercises or concepts at them before they have a chance to soak, lick and chew on it - it is lost information and the value (in their eyes) goes down. I end up having to back track and fix stuff or end up losing the client before achieving what we set out to achieve.
Go ahead - ask me how I know this - I wish I could say that I read it in a book somewhere - and I did. HOWEVER, I learned this firsthand as well - over and over before I got my need to bring great value figured out.
When you are creating programming offers:
1. Look at the time frame of delivery. I usually have to extend the time frame OR cut out material in order to be fair to my clients (and me.) Stay out of the dangerous mindset of "more is better." The truth of the matter is "less is more."
2. Remember past successes and lean into them to build your confidence. As humans we tend to remember past perceived failures and rather than just look at it as a learning experience, we make it mean something about self. It only means that next time you will do it different.
3. You are bringing the most powerful method of personal and professional transformation on the planet (the horse) - you can only bring the client to the material and experience - you can't make them be successful. That is up to them. They are investing in themselves through you and the horses.
4. Calling another facility to find out what they charge is not fair to you or your horses. You have a unique brilliance that is all your own. You bring a different value to your clients than what someone else brings to their clients. Stop comparing yourself to others.
5. Learning the formula to value services and enroll clients is easy - we would love to show you how.
Time to dump conundrums and create clarity!
The Soleful Spring Virtual Retreat is coming March 31st from 12:30-4pm CT / 1:30-5pm ET.