I was searching for a part for an engine. It took seven weeks to find and finally install it. The engine runs fine now, but those seven weeks tried me in ways I never expected.

The problem started when the revs would drop for no reason, then pick up again. There was no pattern I could discern. I reached out for help from experts, and got as many blind alleys as good ideas for finding the reason for this and ultimately, the solution. When I finally found the problem (a fitting in a fuel line with a tapered thread was connected to a fitting that was not designed for a tapered thread and air was getting in to the fuel line) I then had to find the right fitting. The last two weeks represented the journey to at least five suppliers to find it. By the time I got to the outlet that had my fitting, I would have paid any amount for it. It cost me $12.

The sales help that handed the fitting to me had no idea I would have paid whatever he asked without hesitation. I was so elated to find the end of my rainbow, so relieved that my engine trouble would be over, I would have paid $100 for it even knowing the retail price was only $20!!

There is no logical reason for your price to be attached to your costs other than the price should cover the costs. Once you know what that number is, your price should be related to the value of your service to your client. As a result, all of your sales efforts should be directed towards helping your client understand just how valuable you are to them and helping you understand how much value your client sees in you.

If you are unethical and read this cynically, you might turn your mind to what your customer sees as valuable and sell it with no regard to what your value is. In fact, you may be thinking, “I bet, though I have little value to the customer, I can come up with selling tactics that suggest whatever value they want.” Please go away now. You are not my audience.

I want to speak to those who ARE valuable: those of you who do great work, care about your customer, know you will always deal with them ethically and fairly but don’t understand what it means to recognize your value to the customer.

Remember, in my story, I said I would have gladly paid much more for the part than the retail price. You have customers that would gladly pay much more than your price because you have solved a problem for them. You are a great contractor. You are ethical. You are on time. You communicate. You build better than code. YOU HAVE VALUE that has absolutely nothing to do with your costs. Customers will pay for that value GLADLY. And they should, but you don’t give them a chance because you are still marking up your job 10 and 10 (if you don’t know what that refers to, email me!)

It’s not easy to assess “value” instead of cost, but if you want to own a sustainable renovation business, you at least have to be willing to recognize that your value needs to come into the equation when presenting your price.