Sometimes it’s hard to understand the leverage that good pricing provides. (Or that bad pricing takes away.) I created this simple pricing calculator to show how small changes in price, volume, and costs, can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Use this to help figure out how to set list prices and adjust [...]
Everyone “knows” the Ferrari is better, right? What if you need to transport more than 2 people? What if you have kids? What if your neighborhood has enormous potholes? What if your knees aren’t good enough to get in and out of the Ferrari? What if your driveway is really steep? What if you need [...]
In an earlier post, I suggest maybe you’re not getting enough price objections. (Seriously, they are important.) Now let’s discuss how to handle them. When someone says they want to buy, but they don’t like the price, you need to know why they are objecting. If they were never really in the market for your [...]
I don’t know you. How can I know you’re pricing all wrong? Obviously, I don’t, and there’s a chance you’re actually doing it right, but experience with hundreds of business owners lets me play the odds. So in this post, we’ll look at the most common ways small business owners hold back their own businesses [...]
You walk into the doctor’s office with a cut on your hand. You think you need some stitches and perhaps some antibiotics, but you’re not sure. The doctor says, “great to see you. Looks like you could use a heart transplant.” You’re puzzled. “But, doc, I just have a cut on my hand. I think [...]
Many business owners and sales reps hate price objections. They view price objections as some kind of faux pas that they should have avoided, an awkward situation, best resolved quickly (and often with huge damage to profits). Do you like price objections? When was the last time you heard one? (I recently spoke to the [...]
Last week, we looked at how preparing a pricing battle plan increases your sales and profits while decreasing your stress. This week, let’s look at another example, a service business with about 10 professionals. To protect the guilty, we’ll call it Smiley Services, which helped companies with various process and legal issues. Service companies often [...]
How many businesses build a cool product, then figure out what to charge for it? How many companies decide what to quote on a proposal after they’ve written the proposal? If you make your pricing decisions then, you are at your most emotional and least rational point, and likely to mis-price (usually underprice) your offering. [...]
Creative people love making things– widgets, software, knowledge, service calls. A lot of businesses and product lines get started this way. Someone has a cool idea to make something. Skeptics shoot down the idea. The founder or engineer makes it. Eureka! Triumph! Now, how to price it? At this point, you’ve done the hard work. [...]
Many small business owners consider pricing some kind of dark voodoo that you can only get right with the appropriate incantations, or access to a pricing consultant who knows the right incantations. At risk of hurting my own business, I’m going to tell you that pricing doesn’t have to be so hard. In fact, customers will [...]
