How To Price So You Profit!

10 replies
Hey There My Friend,

One of the biggest questions I see floating around the warrior forum, is “How much should I charge for XYZ Service?”

Alot of times this question is followed up by a lazy response that goes like this.. “Price it whatever you want, besides your just going to outsource it to the phillipines, etc etc…”

That’s garbage!


You need to have some sort of pricing strategy in place for your business.
A lot of people are getting clients but they aren’t seeing their bank accounts growing. Here’s why….

You need to take a few thing into account when you’re pricing your services.

1.) How are you going about getting your clients?

– Are you cold calling? If your cold calling then the cost to get a client is relatively low

– Are you emailing? Again, the cost to get a client is pretty low

–Are you using Direct Mail? Mail campaigns can cost in the hundreds to thousands of dollars (but work very well)

–Are you going out on site to meet with potential clients? Have to take into account, gas prices, insurance, etc…

If your cold calling or emailing to get clients you can afford to offer services at a lower price. If you’re using Direct Mail or Going out on site, you’re going to have to cover those costs (Campaign, gas, insurance)… so your price points for your services are going to need to be higher.

It’s important to know your “Gross Margins” for every service transaction.

Meaning if your selling websites for $1000 and it’s costing you $200 to fulfill, your gross margins are $800. $800 of which you can use to put back into your business to grow. However, if you’re selling websites via Direct mail and you have a campaign that cost you $200 plus the fulfillment of another $200, your “gross margins” are $600 instead.

2.) Your pricing will also determine how fast you are going to make sales…

–It’s a lot easier to sell a $25 service opposed to a $5000 dollar service. There’s a longer sales process involved for higher ticket items. But, it’s also easier to sell 1 person a $5000 service compared to 200 people a $25 service = $5000.

I choose to price my services a little bit higher.

3.) Pricing perception

– How do you want your business perceived?

Do you want to be perceived as the BMW or the Toyota? Sure, both get the job done but one is perceived as “better” hence why people are willing to pay higher prices for it.

So before you go forward in your business ask yourself a few questions…

Are my “gross margins” allowing my business to grow?
At what rate do I want to make sales at?
Do I want to sell one “high ticket” item or numerous “small ticket” items.
Do I want to be the BMW of my industry or the Toyota?

4.) Are You offering “residual” services?

– I love offering web design, it’s one of the easiest closes in my mind.. but it doesn’t allow you to earn good money month after month… sure maybe you’ll get hosting, but that’s pennies on the dollar compared to other services.

Offering services like SEO, Lead Generation, Reputation Management, Social Media Management, ETC… allow you to earn money month after month.
Again, with these services you have to take into account how you are going to go about getting these clients and how you are going to charge.

Offering different packages has worked great for me. “Basic Package” ”Premium Package” “Everything In One Package” … here’s the key though, make sure even your “Basic Package” has you positive in the “gross margins” column.

Having services that pay high price points month after month allows you to grow faster opposed to always chasing the next sale. Sure having higher prices may take longer to close the deal but you have less needy clients and a higher income statement at the end of every month!

For Pricing examples go to ReachLocal.com. I believe there LOWEST package is $1200/month and they are a $200 million dollar company… just saying

Thoughts?

How are you pricing your services? I'd love to hear!
#price #profit
  • There's also the issue of what it would cost your potential clients to get a similar product or service elsewhere.
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    • Profile picture of the author danielsteven
      Originally Posted by Hopeless Bromantic View Post

      There's also the issue of what it would cost your potential clients to get a similar product or service elsewhere.
      That comes back to Pricing Perception.

      Sure, some of them will go with the cheaper route but those are the clients that will be more of a hassle that you don't want to work with.
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      • Originally Posted by danielsteven View Post

        That comes back to Pricing Perception.

        Sure, some of them will go with the cheaper route but those are the clients that will be more of a hassle that you don't want to work with.
        With respect, Daniel, I only partly agree. A more sophisticated client than the kind you described will take the cost of ownership and the value that each vendor delivers into account.
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        • Profile picture of the author danielsteven
          Originally Posted by Hopeless Bromantic View Post

          With respect, Daniel, I only partly agree. A more sophisticated client than the kind you described will take the cost of ownership and the value that each vendor delivers into account.
          Of course they aren't all going to take you up on your offer or your price.

          But depending on your marketing your going to need to price accordingly so you actually do profit and not just tread water. You do have to understand market value for a service but at the same time you have to price on how you want to be perceived. If that means you run into a client whose going to want to go a cheaper route, so be it... it's going to happen regardless. Just like if you continually market your going to get clients.

          Reachlocal ($200 million dollar company) ... Majority if not all of their services are $1200/month and up and they have plans for $5,000/month and up.

          Sure a business owner could find some local marketer to do the same thing for $500/month but for some reason a ton of them are willing to work with companies such as Reach local with much higher price points because of... perception.

          Just my opinion.
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          • Now I think you're talking about value perception in addition to pricing perception.

            Of course, some might say that it's a distinction without a difference, since we clearly get each other's points.
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  • Profile picture of the author kenmichaels
    Originally Posted by danielsteven View Post


    2.) Your pricing will also determine how fast you are going to make sales...

    -It's a lot easier to sell a $25 service opposed to a $5000 dollar service.
    You said a lot of good stuff, i am sure people can learn from,
    however those two lines i bolded are completely wrong.

    Pricing does not effect how fast you make sales.

    Methodology, and consistency does.

    And even more important, it is NOT any harder to sell a 5000 dollar item
    vrs a 25.00 item.

    That been proven over and over and over, the same steps, and effort
    are required for just about all price points under 100k.
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    • Profile picture of the author danielsteven
      Originally Posted by kenmichaels View Post

      You said a lot of good stuff, i am sure people can learn from,
      however those two lines i bolded are completely wrong.

      Pricing does not effect how fast you make sales.

      Methodology, and consistency does.

      And even more important, it is NOT any harder to sell a 5000 dollar item
      vrs a 25.00 item.

      That been proven over and over and over, the same steps, and effort
      are required for just about all price points under 100k.
      Hey Ken,

      Thanks for the input! I knew someone would disagree with that... but it's much easier (in my opinion and in my business) to have somebody whip out there credit card for $25 transaction opposed to $5000 transaction.

      $25 vs $5000 ... I think there is a difference there when it comes to how easy it is to sell the service.

      If we talk about a higher price point, let's say $500 or $1000, then I would agree that it's no harder to sell a $5000 service.

      The sales velocity in my business is always much slower when it's a larger ticket item (hell maybe I just suck a sales! could be )

      Thanks for the input Ken!
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  • Profile picture of the author AlbertGA
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    • Profile picture of the author danielsteven
      Originally Posted by AlbertGA View Post

      what then, if your competitor offer same service or product on low price?
      That's going to happen regardless. I wouldn't get caught up with that.
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    • Profile picture of the author iamchrisgreen
      Originally Posted by AlbertGA View Post

      what then, if your competitor offer same service or product on low price?
      If you find yourself in that situation, you have become a commodity purchase. That's a BAD place to be in.

      If it happens a lot, you need to seriously think about your positioning in the marketplace.
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  • Profile picture of the author iamchrisgreen
    Price it high. Overdeliver. Build a reputation for being awesome.
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