How to make more money in 2011 (not what you think)

If you have already built a big customer base then:
1. Ask people what they want next
2. Sell them what they want

So I guess the theme of this post is raise your price? Correct me if I am wrong

Or just sell more. But raising your price sounds more efficient in the long run

Just playing devil's advocate here...

I agree with the sentiment here, as most of us charge way less than our stuff's worth. No doubt.

But...

If you're trying to grow your list, you may well value volume of sales more than profit per sale on the front end. It depends on how sophisticated you are as a marketer. If you have upsells, cross-sells, etc. then your primary goal with the 1st sale isn't necessarily to make bank. You're going after the lifetime value of each customer. It's a numbers game in that scenario.

But yes, if you have one product or a bunch of unrelated products, then RAISE your prices in 2011. Hey, we're no different than any other seller out there. How often do prices drop in the "real" world?

John

Interesting. The u.s. Government is screwing us all. So I agree.

Have you been drinking again?

I really, really need to learn to do this. I have the horrible tendency to undervalue my work, time and time again.

So my plan is to release my reports and products at a low price and then bump it up until I get too uncomfortable or sales drop off.

Raising the price depends mainly on the kind of the product, however you can raise it only by $5 or $10 and make a lot more profit!

It's a good point but I don't think everyone here should rush away and raise the prices of their products on a whim.

My advice would be to set up two different product pages for the same product, one at the higher price and one at the lower. Once each has received a substantial amount of traffic (and in essence the SAME amount of substantial traffic) simply see which one has earned you more money.

Of course, a higher priced product means less sales to make the same amount of money as the lower priced product. But it also means less CUSTOMERS most of the time. Less customers means less easy money in the future.

Like all things business related, don't just do something for no reason and without testing it... over time tweaking things and tracking them will lead you to the most efficient, streamlined model for each of your products.

Valid valid valid point thank you very much

I will keep same price and try to increase the customer base. Otherwise some customers will not buy my product again. Because I have many returning customers.

This topic is what saved my brother-in-law's business this year. He owns and manages a chain of urban clothing stores in Virginia. The recession hit his business hard, just like everyone. However, he was especially hit hard because his main target demographic, the urban youth 14-26, had even less money to spend. It got to the point where he was majorly depressed, they were consolidating stores and talking of getting out of the business altogether and closing the chain.

That was around Thanksgiving 2009 and February 2010. Around May/June this year, however things turned around big time because he made one simple change. He raised the prices 1-5% on all products. I think the most on some products, he increased 10%. Though, over all it was a very modest price increase. The result? The profits increased big time without an increase in sales number.

What was key?

-Keeping the price increase modest so as not to turn off his customers. He had already tried majorly discounting stuff and that wasn't getting him an increase in sale numbers, nor revenue. So a small price increase gave him the profit increase.

Now his stores are healthy, as far as cash flow, and he is happy again with the future of the business.

Thanks Winebuddy for starting this thread!