103. Stop Tweaking Your Prices: How to Know If It's Your Offer, Your Audience, or Both

In this episode of Soulpreneur Scaling Stories, I'm tackling one of the most frustrating challenges VAs and OBMs face: when people love what you offer but vanish when it's time to sign. You've tweaked your services, rewritten your sales page, maybe even lowered your prices—and yet clients who say they're interested disappear at contract time.

So what's really going on? Is it your offer? Your audience? Or is there a deeper misalignment you haven't identified yet?

In this solo episode, I'm walking you through a clear framework to evaluate whether the problem is your offer, your audience, or a mismatch between the two. You'll learn how to read the signals your business is sending so you can make informed, confident decisions instead of endlessly second-guessing yourself.

Key Points Covered:

✨ The 4 essential questions to evaluate if your offer solves a pressing problem clients actually feel right now

✨ Why tangible outcomes matter more than describing what you do—and how to reframe your services for clarity

✨ The critical difference between aspirational and reactive clients (and why your messaging must match)

✨ How to validate your offers through real conversations—including the exact 4 questions to ask

✨ Why sometimes your offer is perfect but you're talking to people who can't afford it yet (and what to do about it)

✨ The step-by-step process to realign your offer and audience without burning everything to the ground

If you've been stuck in a loop of tweaking offers, changing pricing, and rewriting bios, hoping this time it will work—this episode will give you the clarity you need to move forward strategically.

Thank you for being a part of the Soulpreneur Scaling Stories community!

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Andrea Elibero: Andrea here, your host and passionate business coach and scaling strategist for soulful service providers and coaches. Welcome to another episode of Solepreneur Scaling Stories. Have you ever wanted to look behind the curtain of your fellow entrepreneur's business to see what actually went into scaling it?

[00:00:22] Andrea Elibero: Well, you are in for a treat 'cause that's exactly what we are doing here. In each episode, we will be uncovering the truth of the lessons and the stories behind what it truly takes for sold entrepreneurs to scale their businesses intentionally. I'm hoping that their stories will help you to unlock the true potential of your business so you can create your own soulful, abundant, and aligned laptop lifestyle through intentional scaling.

[00:00:46] Andrea Elibero: So whether you're just starting out on your scaling journey or you're a seasoned entrepreneur seeking inspiration, this episode has something incredible in store for you. Are you ready to rise, grow, and create a business that fully supports your dream life? Well, let's dive in. [00:01:00] Before we begin, make sure to hit that subscribe buttons.

[00:01:03] Andrea Elibero: You never miss an empowering episode filled with real stories and soulful insights.

[00:01:11] Andrea Elibero: Okay, so you have tweaked your services, rewritten your sales page. Many times you've even tried lowering your prices, and yet the clients who say they love what you do, they vanish when it's time to sign the contract. So what's really going on here? Is it your offer? Is it your audience, or is there some.

[00:01:29] Andrea Elibero: Deep misalignment that you haven't seen yet. Today we are going to unpack how to read the room so you can make informed confident decisions instead of second guessing. So welcome back to a Solepreneur Scaling Stories. I am Andrea. I work with VAs at OBMs who are ready to stop spinning their wheels and start building businesses that actually support the freedom and life they imagined when they started.

[00:01:54] Andrea Elibero: Now, in the last episode, we talked about how to tell if your business is failing or just [00:02:00] evolving, but today we're going to look outward. We're going to look at the signals that your business is sending through your offers, your audience, and the market. Because they are loud, They just need to be interpreted correctly, and by the end of this episode, you're going to have a clear framework to evaluate whether the problem is your offer, your audience, or a mismatch, and the steps to move forward without burning everything to the ground. So picture this, you have launched this new service.

[00:02:30] Andrea Elibero: You're super excited. You've shared it on social media, you're getting dms, people are asking questions, they're excited, and you feel that spark of hope, and then it's time to get to the next step and actually sign clients. And crickets. You wonder. Is my offer wrong? Is my messaging off? Am I just not cut out for this?

[00:02:50] Andrea Elibero: And if that is something that sounds familiar to you, you are not alone. There are so many VAs oms done for you. Service pros that end up in this kind of loop where they are [00:03:00] tweaking offers, changing pricing, rewriting bios, maybe thinking, okay, this time this is going to work. And here is the key, is that it's not always your offer.

[00:03:09] Andrea Elibero: Sometimes it's the audience. Sometimes it's the offer and sometimes it's a bit of a combination of both, but usually in ways that you haven't even considered yet. And understanding these signals correctly are going to save you so much time, energy, and sanity. So let's get into it. So now we are going to do a step one of this process, which is to evaluate the offer itself.

[00:03:34] Andrea Elibero: So let's start with your offer. VAs OPMs done for you. Service pros often get so close to their own services that it's hard to see if it's actually solving the client's problem. So I have a few questions to ask yourself to evaluate this. So there are four questions to evaluate the offer itself. So question one is, does your offer solve a pressing [00:04:00] problem that your clients already feel and know that they have?

[00:04:03] Andrea Elibero: Now, notice I said. Already feel and know that they have, because you can't sell someone on a problem that they don't realize exists yet. Your offer needs to solve today's pain, not tomorrow's possibility. So for instance, you're a va, you might offer general admin support. But clients are not always motivated by admin tasks, right?

[00:04:27] Andrea Elibero: They're motivated by losing time, missing revenue. They want to grow their businesses. So instead of just saying like, oh yeah, I just do admin work, you can frame it like, well, I set up your systems. You can stop spending 10 hours a week on emails and start focus on billable work that grows your income.

[00:04:45] Andrea Elibero: And another example is an OBM offering. Launch support might think that. Clients want guidance, but what they really worry about is overwhelm, missed deadlines and losing revenue. So [00:05:00] reframing it as I am going to run a smooth, high converting launch that hits your revenue goals while keeping you off slack at midnight is something.

[00:05:10] Andrea Elibero: That is a problem that they actually have. So the difference here is specificity and urgency. The offer. Notice the offers didn't change, but now they clearly signal a result that matters right now, not some vague improvement. So the offer in these cases was fine. It was just how they talked about the offer, right?

[00:05:33] Andrea Elibero: So question one was, does your offer solve a pressing problem that your clients already feel and know that they have? Okay. Question two is, is the outcome of your offer tangible? So often I see Oovs and OBMs sell what they do instead of what their clients gain. So here's what I mean by that. What they do, I manage your client [00:06:00] emails.

[00:06:00] Andrea Elibero: That's a task. Right. Whereas I'll create an automated inbox system that frees up five hours per week and prevents missed client messages is a what they gain. It is tangible, it's measurable, and it directly shows how their life and business improves. Clients need to picture, they need you to. Paint the picture of the before and after.

[00:06:25] Andrea Elibero: And the more concrete you make this transformation, the easier it is for them to say yes. So remember that your offer needs to be tangible and it needs to solve a pressing problem. They need to picture themselves. So question three. Is, is the price appropriate for both the transformation and your audience's capacity?

[00:06:47] Andrea Elibero: Your ideal client, by the way, not just random people in your audience, because you could deliver 10 K worth of value, but if the clients that you're going after are only making two to three K per month, [00:07:00] it's they, you're never, obviously they're not going to buy it. Right? And then conversely, underpricing signals low value and can make clients question your credibility.

[00:07:10] Andrea Elibero: So if a VA is offering a $1,500 onboarding system for clients who make five to 10 K per month, perfect. That's aligned, right? If those are your ideal clients and that's how much you're charging them, but if your ideal client is just starting out or they're making 2K per month, then that's. Not realistic.

[00:07:26] Andrea Elibero: They're not going to buy that. So sometimes the solution is not changing the offer. It's creating a stepping stone, lower touch offer to meet these clients where they are until they can invest in the full transformation while you're upgrading your marketing to speak to clients who can actually afford your services.

[00:07:46] Andrea Elibero: And finally, question number four to. Evaluate your offer is, have you validated it with real conversations? And I see so many people skip this step. You make assumptions about the [00:08:00] time, energy, and money that your. Ideal clients have. So how do you fix this? Literally have conversations. Talk to two to three people who fit your ideal client profile, at least you know.

[00:08:11] Andrea Elibero: Three is a great number to start out with and ask these questions. Ask, what's your biggest challenge right now in your business? What have you done to try to solve it? What's stopping you from solving it on your own? If you could wave a magic wand and fix one thing in your business, what would it be? You know, so asking them about what they're struggling with and what their desires are, where.

[00:08:33] Andrea Elibero: You. They want to go and record these calls because you'll want to listen carefully to their exact words. Maybe you think that they need systems, but they're actually losing sleep over client management or overwhelm, or maybe the way they talk about it is different from how you are marketing it, and it's the same solution, right?

[00:08:55] Andrea Elibero: They need systems, but you want to focus on. The outcome and [00:09:00] not necessarily the type of system you're going to use or something like that. The insights from just a few conversations can reveal patterns and realign your offer so that it speaks to your client's actual pain points. This is so, so, so important.

[00:09:13] Andrea Elibero: Okay, so now we've done the offer. Now step two is to evaluate your audience. If your offer is solid, maybe the issue is who you're talking to. I hinted at this before, so we have three questions too. Evaluate your audience. So question one, are you marketing to people who want your solution or people who need it but they can't afford it yet?

[00:09:35] Andrea Elibero: There are so many VAs and OPMs who, who their ideal clients need help, but they're still in survival mode. They're not in a place in their business to invest. They get excited. They love the idea, but they just don't have the money. So what do you do in this situation? You can shift your marketing to reach clients with the capacity to invest, or you can create smaller entry level [00:10:00] offers to serve those not yet ready.

[00:10:01] Andrea Elibero: Or you can do a combination of both, right? But if you really want to survive in your business, most likely, you're gonna have to make sure that you're talking to clients who can actually afford the services that you offer. Okay. Question number two. Are your clients aspirational or reactive? Aspirational.

[00:10:18] Andrea Elibero: Clients are proactive. They're ready to invest in growth before they hit crisis mode, or as reactive clients are overwhelmed, stress and reacting to fires, and your messaging should match. You can't sell an aspirational offer to somebody who is in survival mode. They're just not going to respond to that.

[00:10:36] Andrea Elibero: That seems too far out of their realm, so it's all in. Who your ideal clients are and how you're framing your offer. And question number three is, do your clients have the capacity financially, emotionally, and time-wise to implement your services? Right? Because a VA might sign a client for a weekly workflow set up, but if the client is [00:11:00] too overwhelmed to implement, it fails, right?

[00:11:03] Andrea Elibero: And it's not because there's something wrong with the offer, but because this client wasn't ready, they weren't prepared, They weren't the right client for this offer. So are you attracting clients who actually do the work or just love the idea of working with you? Okay, so now we did the offer, the audience in step three is to evaluate the mismatch offer and audience.

[00:11:24] Andrea Elibero: Are they in alignment or out of alignment? Right? Because sometimes both your, your offer is great and your audience is great, but for some reason they've grown apart. So maybe your audience has evolved themselves, so maybe you got, you know, this audience a while back, and clients who used to need basic admin services now are ready for strategy support, but your offers are still focused on tasks.

[00:11:46] Andrea Elibero: You know, the kind of like basic task execution, or maybe you're the one who's evolved. Maybe your services now include the high level launch strategy, but your original clients or your original audience, they're just not ready for that. So you need to reach a new [00:12:00] audience. So for example, imagine a VA who's been offering social media management to solopreneurs making two to three KA month.

[00:12:08] Andrea Elibero: And so. This is of course a lower level offer, right? Her services are great, but she keeps having clients sign on and then you know, not follow through. They miss their calls, they disappear. They're just not there yet, and she's like, oh, maybe my packages are wrong. Maybe I'm not explaining the value clearly.

[00:12:24] Andrea Elibero: But really the issue is that her, these clients don't have the capacity. They don't have the financial capacity. They don't have the time capacity. They're still trying to figure their business out and trying to get consistent income. So they love this idea. You know, it's aspirational, but they just can't execute on what she's offering.

[00:12:42] Andrea Elibero: So here it's. Okay. Like I love my offer, so now I need to shift to speaking to clients, making maybe at least five KA month, right? Who have the bandwidth or, and or I need to create something that meets these people where [00:13:00] they are at. If I love working with these people. So how do you realign? So step one, conduct your three market research calls, like I mentioned earlier, with.

[00:13:10] Andrea Elibero: Ideal clients, not just past clients, not people who you can get ahold of, but ones you actually would love to work with, and it could be somebody you work with. Now, if they are an actual ideal client, record this call. Note their exact words and use the questions that I shared earlier. Step two is look at your offers through their lens. Are you presenting your offer and are you solving what they need? Or are you kind of offering things that are nice to haves or things that you think they need but they don't actually need? Right? And see if there's a disconnect there.

[00:13:45] Andrea Elibero: And step three is to adjust your positioning, not necessarily the offer itself. So maybe your workflow setup offer is perfect, but you position it like, oh, I'll organize your business, [00:14:00] and that's just not attracting the right type of client. Whereas if you talk about it like, oh, I'm gonna free up five hours a week while reducing mistakes in client complaints so you can grow your business easily.

[00:14:12] Andrea Elibero: That makes a huge difference, right? The same offer, different framing, and now suddenly it resonates with your clients. Something clicks and they just get it. So making it simple for them to understand. Okay, so now we've done all of this. Now what do we do next? So now once you've identified all these signals, how do you move forward?

[00:14:30] Andrea Elibero: So if you've determined that, okay, it's my offer that needs a little something, now let's work on refining the positioning, meaning how you talk about the offer. So making this transformation crystal clear. Simplify the delivery. Don't over complicate things because this will hurt you in terms of people are confused, they're not gonna sign up, they're not understanding what's going on, right?

[00:14:55] Andrea Elibero: So make things really simple for them and for you. And then validate your offer again. [00:15:00] So have a beta client, maybe two or three clients, like make sure that everything works well, they're happy, these are your ideal clients. The offer is, you know, working well. And then like announce it. Widely to everybody.

[00:15:13] Andrea Elibero: So that's the offer. If it's the audience, let's shift how you show up, maybe even where you show up. Now, I do believe ultimately that clients are everywhere, you know? So for me it's really more about where you resonate, like where it feels exciting for you to show up, but also let's make sure you're talking to.

[00:15:35] Andrea Elibero: People who can't afford you, right? Like we are your audiences. Update your messaging. Update how you talk about your offer to match their reality now and do something really awesome. Like partner with complimentary service providers who already serve your ideal clients. This is a great to be able to refer people to each other, and if it is both your offer and your audience.

[00:15:59] Andrea Elibero: Let's test [00:16:00] one thing at a time, over 30 days. Reposition your current offer, like change how you talk about it. Create one piece of content for your new ideal client. Have three market research calls. See what patterns emerge. Do one thing at a time, and remember with all of this, it's all about patience.

[00:16:16] Andrea Elibero: It's all about refinement, and you're going to get there. And so the thing that I invite you to remember is that you don't need to throw everything out and start all over. You don't need to overhaul your entire business. You just need to understand what your business is telling you and respond with intention and clarity instead of panic.

[00:16:39] Andrea Elibero: The perfect offers and perfectly dialed in audiences are not the goal. The goal is understanding the signals that your business is sending and responding intentionally. So combine this external clarity with the internal discernment from last episode, which is, a failing or evolving. And now you have everything you need to make [00:17:00] confident, aligned decisions about your business.

[00:17:03] Andrea Elibero: It's all about listening. And if you are sitting here realizing like, okay, I need some other eyeballs to help figure out what is going on, whether it's my offer, whether it's my audience, and you don't want to waste another six months second guessing yourself. That's exactly what we do inside my one-on-one coaching program expansion.

[00:17:23] Andrea Elibero: We do the market research calls with your ideal clients. We listen to their words, identify the patterns, and I help you to realign your offers, creating a core offer that speaks directly to the people who actually have the capacity and are excited to work with you. So if you are ready to stop throwing spaghetti at the wall and start making decisions based on real data, check out expansion below DME expansion on Instagram or Threads or on LinkedIn, and let's chat about it. 

[00:17:50] Andrea Elibero: Thank you so much for joining us today. I really hope you found [00:18:00] inspiration and insights from today's episode. You know, scaling your business intentionally and from the inside out is a transformational process, but I'm here to support you every step of the way. Head on over to dancing leaf solutions.com/resources for free tools to help you do just that.

[00:18:16] Andrea Elibero: And thank you again for being a part of the Solepreneur Scaling Stories community. Your presence and dedication to growth inspiring me every day.