I have done over $150M selling digital products at about 16 times the typical price. The method works in any industry.
It started in online fitness coaching. I was selling a $50 a month program with the same pitch as every other trainer: I will help you get in shape and build muscle. Nobody cared.
Then I raised the price to $800 a month, and later sold a $3,200 four month package. The product barely changed. The positioning did.
Do the opposite of the crowd
My new pitch was simple. I help people eat whatever they want without sabotaging results.
That made people curious. And curiosity is what good marketing does. Sell people what they want so you can give them what they need. That is not a license to lie to clients. It is a way to get attention for something that actually works.
The core principle is this. If you want to stand out, do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Copying competitors guarantees you blend in.
Build your USP with three questions
A unique selling proposition comes from understanding your buyer better than your competitors do. Answer these three questions.
1. Why does the prospect have this problem?
When you understand the struggle, your message lands harder. In fitness, the problem is that it is hard to give up food you enjoy and hard to make time for the gym.
2. What have they already tried?
This lets you position your product as the next logical step. In fitness, people have tried strict diets, brutal workouts and programs that never lasted.
3. Why did those solutions fail?
Your product should close the gap between their past failures and the result they want. Most people quit because plans are too rigid, too strict, too unpleasant or too hard.
My answer was that clients could keep eating the food they enjoy.
I will be honest. I was not a great marketer back then. That USP is what took me from zero to $1M in a year at a higher price point.
Know exactly what they tried and why it failed
The more specific you get here, the better your offer. In fitness, my prospects had:
- Hired trainers who did not deliver.
- Paid for programs like Beachbody, P90X and Weight Watchers.
- Restricted food. If someone truly starved for three months they would be in serious danger, so “I restrict and still cannot lose weight” is usually not the full story.
- Counted calories.
- Tried different workouts that did not work.
The rule is to build your solution as the opposite of whatever has kept them stuck.
Turn it into three offer pillars
Pillar 1: Eat whatever you want without sabotaging results
The typical advice is chicken, rice and broccoli. It works, but nobody can live on it. People quit around birthdays, holidays and parties.
Other trainers push portion control, measuring every calorie and prepared meals. My approach was the opposite. Enjoy the special occasions and still look good. When you cut out every food you love, you eventually give in.
Pillar 2: Train however you want without sabotaging results
Plenty of people do tons of training and cardio, then burn out. It is too hard, they do not recover, and they are busy with kids and work.
About 90% of results come from nutrition and 10% from training. Training still helps, and some muscle beats none, but you can lose body fat mostly through diet. So the program fits the client’s life and goals, not the other way around.
Pillar 3: Lifestyle recalibration
This pillar explains why my way beats the alternatives:
- A personal trainer focuses on training, the 10%, not nutrition. They also have little reason to make you self sufficient, because if you learn it, they lose a client.
- An online program like Beachbody, P90X or Weight Watchers gets fast early results because it is extreme. But it is one size fits all and hard to sustain. You get a 30 day transformation, then you stall.
- Hiring me means learning nutrition and training in a flexible way you keep for life.
I compare it to a car. As it ages it needs more maintenance, but how it works does not change. Once you understand the basics, you know what to adjust as you get older.
Price it as a one time investment
The pricing pitch writes itself once the pillars are clear. Pay once for knowledge you keep for life, instead of paying $50 a month forever.
That framing is what makes a premium price feel like the smart choice rather than the expensive one.
Apply it to your own offer
This works far beyond fitness. Whatever you sell:
- Write down why your prospect has the problem.
- List everything they have tried.
- Explain why each one failed.
- Build a USP that is the opposite of those failures.
- Turn it into three pillars, with the last one comparing you to their other options.
The takeaway
I did not sell a better product than the $50 a month trainers. I sold a better understood one. When you know your buyer’s problem, past attempts and failures better than anyone else, you can position the same service at 16 times the price and still be the obvious choice.
Want to know what’s capping your business right now? Take my free 90 Day Ceiling Plan. Answer 18 questions and get a written plan, built on your own numbers, that names the one thing holding you back and what to fix first.
