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Put Your Pricing Out There

By Jacqueline Drew
START Marketing Inc.
www.startmarketing.com

Have you ever walked into a high end store where there were no price tags on anything, and then gotten the distinct feeling that “if you have to ask the price, you just can't afford it?” We all know that this kind of secrecy surrounding prices makes people feel nervous. Most will leave rather than be embarrassed by having to ask the price and then admit it's out of their price range.

But there are many businesses who still take that approach. And most of them are service businesses doing custom tailored work. Like, What does it cost to get a trade show display designed? How about chartering a private plane? How about enlisting the services of an advertising agency? For the most part, you're left in the dark.. But if you own such a business, here are a few reasons why you might reconsider your pricing secrecy strategy:

1. First, if there is no information on the costs, people will assume it's a lot more expensive than it is. So, then they put it off altogether. Did you know that for many destinations, it's cheaper to charter a small private aircraft for a group of four people for less money than it costs to buy four commercial tickets? But if you can't easily find out the costs of chartering, then people will continue to assume it's only for rich businesspeople!
2. If there's no indication of fees, people will never be able to plan to the costs. Typically businesses budget for things well in advance of actually buying them. So even if the price you post is expensive, at least they can plan for it.
3. By posting an indication of your fees, people will get the impression that you are unafraid of your competition. And why should you be afraid? If you are the market leader, posting your pricing is more likely to convince your small competitors to raise their prices, not lower them. And if the competition doesn't post its rates, people will likely assume they're most expensive.
4. Finally, by posting at least “budget figures” for potential clients, you can weed out your workload of preparing custom quotations for clients. The prospects who do call you will then only be the ones who have already mentally prepared themselves for the costs. And the quotations you prepare will be very well qualified.

The upshot is, if you at least give people approximate budget pricing they can work with, they will be much more comfortable calling you for service. And if you don't believe me, check out our fees page and tell me what you think of them!