How do I get more dollars for the same amount of work?

It’s “growth month” at Happy Grasshopper, and I’ve noticed that many entrepreneurs always spell growth with a capital ‘G.’ For them, nothing is more important than getting bigger, even if that means burning boatloads of cash.

This might make sense if you’re building the next big software company, but it equals disaster for most of our businesses. In this post, I’m going to cover the single best way our members can grow their businesses: by shifting upmarket and getting more dollars for the same amount of work.

As obvious as this seems, many people fail when trying to shift upmarket because they suffer from a toxic combination of limiting personal beliefs and a fundamental misunderstanding of high net worth individuals.

This post will help you identify and overcome those obstacles while also preparing you to shift upmarket with confidence.

First, let’s define the high net worth individual. According to Investopedia, “The most commonly quoted figure for membership in the high net worth club is $1 million in liquid financial assets. An investor with less than $1 million but more than $100,000 is considered to be “affluent” or perhaps even “sub-HNWI.” In the US, HNWIs represent 1.3% of the population, or about 4.45 million people.

The number of million dollar-plus homes has doubled since 2012, and there are now more than two million of them. In areas such as San Francisco, where over 57% of the homes are now in this category, agents become comfortable with higher price points. For the rest of us, the occasional opportunity to land a million-dollar listing can be panic inducing.

Why? Because we imagine the wealthy being somehow different from our other clients and therefore requiring a level of service from us that we can’t anticipate. This causes us to feel defensive and project a wariness that sends the wrong signals. Essentially, we’re carrying our own beliefs about money into their transaction.

Don’t fall into this trap – you’re more like your high net worth clients than you realize! Fully 80% of them are first-generation wealthy. They made their own money and carry with them their very own set of limiting beliefs.

My friends “Dave and Sharon” are perfect examples of this. They come from middle class families and have middle class values. Over the past ten years, however, their business has become very successful and they’ve become deca-millionaires. But just being able to afford everything they want doesn’t necessarily create a desire to purchase it.

Just like you, they had parents who taught them the value of a dollar. They learned not to waste money. They were told to clean their plate and that the off-brand product was just as good as the name brand.

Those early lessons were not forgotten. Today, they show up as feelings of guilt that prevents them from making extravagant purchases (which is exactly why I don’t drive a Porsche 911, by the way).

As a sales professional, you’re in a unique place to help these people feel good about enjoying the finer things. In fact, if you sell luxury products or services, learning to validate your customer’s wants is critical.