Get Higher Paying Buyers.... #154
- Adrian Dionisio - business737 owner
- Jan 1
- 3 min read
Most consultants, coaches, agencies, and founders unknowingly cap their income before a sales conversation even begins.
They do it by selling what they make instead of what their clients want.
Web designers sell websites.Coaches sell sessions.Agencies sell campaigns.Consultants sell hours.
But clients are never buying those things.
They are buying relief, leverage, speed, certainty, growth, or money.
And the moment you understand this, the game of getting higher-paying clients changes completely.
Why “We Serve Startups” Is a Red Flag
When I ask business owners who they serve, one answer shows up again and again:
“Startups. Early-stage founders.”
On the surface, that sounds admirable. In practice, it’s often code for low budgets, high chaos, and slow decisions.
Startups aren’t bad clients.But most startups don’t have one thing that premium clients always have:
A financially painful problem that must be solved now.
There is only one time startups suddenly have money: When they are trying to raise more of it.
Pitch deck designers, investor relations consultants, and fundraising strategists make serious money because they are not selling slides, they are selling access to capital.
If a company is trying to raise £10 million and someone helps them do that, charging £250,000 doesn’t feel expensive.
It feels obvious.
That’s the first major shift:
High-paying clients don’t buy services.They buy money, growth, or risk reduction.
The Real Reason You’re Not Getting Premium Clients
Most professionals are trained to be problem solvers.
But the highest earners are problem seekers.
Here’s the difference:
A designer looks for logo problems.A marketer looks for funnel problems. A coach looks for mindset problems.
That already puts you in a small box.
What you actually want to find is a business problem that hurts enough to trigger action — and sometimes your skill happens to be the solution.
If all you see is “they need a website,” you’re competing on price.
If you see “they are losing £40,000 a month because their sales process is broken,” now you’re in a different category.
This is why some freelancers struggle while others charge five-figure retainers.
They are solving different problems — even if they use the same tools.
The Formula Behind High-Value Buying Decisions
People don’t take action because something is a good idea.
They take action when two things are present:
Motivation = Pain × Clarity
Pain is how bad it feels to stay the same. Clarity is how clear the outcome feels.
Most people try to sell clarity:
“Here’s what we’ll build.”“Here’s what you’ll get.”“Here’s the process.”
But premium buying is driven by pain.
What is it costing them to do nothing?
Lost revenue
Lost time
Missed opportunities
Stress
Risk
When a business feels that pain, the price of solving it feels small.
This is why a £500 logo feels expensive — but a £50,000 growth programme doesn’t, if it removes a £500,000 bottleneck.
Why “Why Not Do Nothing?” Is the Most Powerful Sales Question
One of the most effective ways to surface value is by asking a deceptively simple question:
“Why not do nothing?”
If the answer is:
“We’ll keep bleeding cash.”
“We’ll miss the market.”
“We’ll lose our edge.”
“We can’t afford to wait.”
You’ve found a real problem.
If the answer is:
“We’re just curious.”
“We might get around to it.”
“It would be nice.”
You haven’t.
Higher-paying clients don’t buy because they want to.They buy because they have to.
Why Discounting Is a Symptom of the Wrong Client
When someone says, “Can you do it for less?”, it’s rarely about money.
It’s about perceived pain.
If your offer isn’t directly connected to something that matters financially or strategically, the only way forward becomes price.
That’s why people trapped in low-value work end up competing on discounts, while others never get asked about price at all.
They are solving different problems for different buyers.
The Shift That Changes Everything
Stop selling the thing you make. Start selling the result it creates.
You don’t sell:
Coaching
Design
Strategy
Content
Consulting
You sell:
Revenue
Speed
Confidence
Reduced risk
Better decisions
Stronger positioning
When you can translate what you do into what it changes for the client’s business, pricing stops being awkward and starts being obvious.
How to Attract Clients Who Can Actually Pay
If you want better clients, you don’t need better marketing.
You need better targeting.
Look for people who:
Have a clear problem
Are already losing money
Are under pressure to act
Have something at stake
These are the clients who don’t ask for discounts — because the cost of inaction is higher than your fee.
The Bottom Line
Most service businesses are underpaid not because they lack skill — but because they are solving problems that don’t hurt enough.
When you shift from:
“Here’s what I do”to“Here’s what it changes for you”
…you stop chasing clients and start being chosen.
That is how higher-paying clients actually find you.
