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Podcast Episode · S3E8 Notebook of a COO

You're Not Too Expensive, You're Selling to the Wrong People

My prices are too high. I keep losing deals on price. Almost every owner believes it, and it is almost never true. In this episode, JT reframes the most common complaint in small business: you are not too expensive, you are selling to the wrong people. Built on the Market Pyramid, he breaks down the three moves to fix it: see the three tiers of every market and choose yours on purpose, make the four things that signal your tier finally agree, and decide your way up instead of drifting. The three expensive mismatches that disguise a positioning problem as a price problem, plus a four-question homework assignment that finds the biggest leak in your business.

Three Moves

It's not a price problem. It's a positioning problem in disguise.

Selling to the right tier feels like service. Selling to the wrong tier feels like pushing. These three moves aim everything at the customer you were actually built for.

01

Every Market Is a Pyramid

Sixty percent of buyers optimize for price, thirty for value, ten for transformation. No tier is better, but being accidental about which one you serve is the trap. See the pyramid and choose yours on purpose.

02

Make the Four Things Agree

Position, offer, marketing, and price must all point at the same tier. The three expensive mismatches, like a premium offer with bargain marketing, are what disguise a positioning problem as a price problem.

03

You Don't Drift Up, You Decide Up

You do not drift up the pyramid, you decide up. Move tiers on purpose with four changes: a bigger offer, a sharper message, a price that signals the tier, and the proof that makes it believable.

Previous Episode

You Don't Have a Marketing Problem, You Have a Follow-Up Problem

Most small businesses do not have a marketing problem, they have a follow-up problem. Trace a real lead, build a five-touch automatic sequence, and treat speed-to-lead as the multiplier it is.

Listen to S3E7  →
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The tier worksheet and congruence check from this episode are inside The Small Business MBA.

The tier worksheet, the congruence check, the templates to rebuild your offer and message around the buyer you actually want, and the full operator course library. Everything you need to stop competing on price and start choosing your customer on purpose.

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