Why Being the Cheapest is a One-Way Trip to Burnout
I’ve sat down with dozens of business owners across Brisbane—from accountants in Milton to engineers in Eagle Farm—and they all tell me the same thing: "I’m working harder than ever, but the bank account isn't growing."
When I ask why, the answer is usually that they’re afraid to raise their prices. They’re worried that if they charge what they’re actually worth, the phone will stop ringing.
Here’s the blunt truth: If you compete on price, you are in a race to the bottom. There will always be someone younger, hungrier, or more desperate willing to do the job for fifty bucks less. If that’s your only selling point, you don’t have a business; you have a stressful hobby.
Charging what you’re worth isn’t about being greedy. It’s about having the profit margins to actually do a good job, hire decent staff, and stay in business for the long haul. In this post, I’m going to show you how to shift from being a 'cost' to being an 'investment' so you can finally stop discounting your life away.
The Shift: From Hourly Rates to Results
Most professional services make the mistake of selling their time. You tell a client, "My hourly rate is $200." Immediately, the client starts doing mental maths. They think, "Is an hour of this person's time worth four slabs of beer? Probably not."
You are not selling hours. You are selling a result.
A plumber isn't getting paid $150 to turn a wrench for ten minutes; they are getting paid to stop a kitchen from flooding. A lawyer isn't getting paid for a document; they are getting paid for the peace of mind that a contract is airtight.
To charge more, you must change the conversation. Stop talking about what you do and start talking about what the client gets. When you focus on the outcome—the problem solved or the money saved—the price becomes secondary. If you can show a business owner how you’ll save them $50,000, charging them $5,000 is a bargain, regardless of how many hours it takes you.
Stop Chasing the Wrong People
I see this constantly: a firm spends thousands on ads, gets twenty enquiries, and nineteen of them are 'tyre-kickers' looking for the lowest quote.
If you want to charge premium rates, you have to stop talking to people who can't afford you or don't value what you do. You need to get better leads by being very specific about who you help.
If you try to be the "affordable expert for everyone," you will end up as the "cheap expert for nobody." High-value clients actually get nervous when a price is too low. They think, "What are they missing? Why are they so cheap?" By raising your prices, you actually signal to the market that you are better at what you do.
How to Prove You’re Worth the Premium
You can’t just double your rates tomorrow and expect people to pay it without justification. You have to look the part.
Think about it—if you walk into a prestige car dealership in Fortitude Valley, you expect a certain level of service. If they treated you like a second-hand car yard, you wouldn't pay the premium. Your business is the same.
To justify higher fees, you need to win more clients by showing them you are the safest pair of hands. This means:
Your website must work on phones: If a client looks you up and your site is broken or looks like it was made in 2005, they won't trust your premium price tag. Google Reviews are non-negotiable: People trust other people more than they trust you. If you have 50 five-star reviews from local Brisbane businesses, you can charge more than the guy with two reviews and a 'Coming Soon' website. Speed of response: If you take three days to return a phone call, you’re a commodity. If you call back within ten minutes, you’re a professional.
The "Expert" Prediction: Why Prices are Going Up Anyway
Look at the economy right now in Queensland. Insurance is up, rent is up, and finding good staff is harder than ever. If you keep your prices the same while your costs go up, you are effectively taking a pay cut every single month.
My prediction for the next 18 months is that we will see a massive 'shake-out' of professional service firms. The ones who try to stay cheap will go broke because they can't afford to keep their staff. The ones who successfully transition to 'value-based pricing' will snap up all the best talent and the best clients.
You don't want to be the last person in your industry to realise that the old way of pricing is dead.
Practical Steps to Raise Your Rates This Month
If you’re ready to stop being seen as a basic expense and start being seen as a vital partner, here is exactly what I would do if I were in your shoes:
1. Audit your current client list
Identify the bottom 20% of your clients—the ones who complain the most about price, take the longest to pay, and suck up all your time. These are the people holding your business back. You need to either significantly raise their rates (knowing they might leave) or let them go to create space for better clients.2. Update your "Social Proof"
Go out and get five new testimonials this week. Specifically, ask your clients to mention the result* you got them. Not "They were nice," but "They saved us $10k in tax" or "They got our building approval through three weeks early."3. Stop giving "Quotes"
Start giving "Proposals." A quote is a price list. A proposal is a document that outlines the client's problem, your proposed solution, and the value of the outcome. When you frame it this way, you're no longer comparing apples to apples with your competitors.4. Fix your online presence
If your website is slow or hard to use, you are losing money every day. It doesn't need to be a work of art, but it needs to load fast and make it easy for people to click a button and call you. If you show up as an authority on Google, you don't have to beg for work.What’s a Waste of Money?
Don't go out and spend $10,000 on a fancy new brand logo or "brand awareness" billboards on the ICB. That stuff is for huge corporations with money to burn.
As a small business owner, your marketing spend should go directly toward things that make the phone ring. Focus on local search (Google), a website that turns visitors into customers, and a solid process for following up leads. Everything else is just noise.
The Bottom Line
Raising your prices is scary. I get it. You’ll probably lose a few clients who only cared about the price anyway. But you’ll replace them with clients who respect your expertise, pay on time, and allow you to actually enjoy running your business again.
I’ve seen this work for accountants, engineers, and consultants all over Brisbane. It takes guts, but the alternative—slowly grinding your business into the dirt—is much scarier.
At Local Marketing Group, we help professional services get the right kind of attention so they can charge what they’re worth. We don’t care about "brand vibes"; we care about your phone ringing with high-quality enquiries.
Ready to get better leads and grow your profit? Contact us at Local Marketing Group and let’s talk about how to make your business the obvious choice in your industry.