Lots of stuff on pricing

Not the usual type of blog post today. I’ve had lots of questions about pricing. In particular where to find pricing articles on our website. Yes, our website is a schmozzle. Sorry about that. The good news is our NEW website will – fingers crossed and a quick prayer to the Gods of technology and web designers –  go live on 1 June. But some of you need the stuff NOW. So to save you digging around in a mire of blog posts, I thought I’d do a quick summary of what we’ve written on pricing with where to find it.

I’ve grouped the blog posts under headings to make it easy to follow. It’s obviously not a complete ‘how to price’, just useful stand-alone tips. If you’re interested we do have a whole “How to Price” series coming very soon (June!). It will be in our Kitchen (details at the bottom of the post) and forms part of our Healthy Income Program.

 

Until then, here’s the pricing stuff:

 

1.Getting started

 

Why does pricing matter so much? Here’s a short article I wrote over at Flying Solo as part of my “Pricing for Wimps’ series. It explains a bit about why pricing is so important for a healthy income. And it also explains why we suck at it!

 

So to get you started here are 8 quick pricing tips.

 

And if you’re still dithering, here’s what happens when you price too cheaply

 

2. Practical tips on setting prices

 

Most of us are terrified of pricing our products too high so we price too low. While it feels safe to price low it actually means we have to work super-hard to cover our costs. So here are four tips to help you price for profit!

 

For those of us who make stuff, our time is one of the biggest costs. But we rarely charge enough for it. Here are four steps for costing your time. And if you want more here’s another way of looking at it (from my Flying Solo “Pricing for Wimps” series).

 

Delivery fees! Such a conundrum – do you charge them or do you say it’s free? Here are seven steps to making the right choice.

 

If you’re having trouble with your pricing maybe you’ve got the wrong customer. Here’s an article about pricing handmade. In a nutshell it’s about selling to people who love handmade rather than people who are looking for a bargain!

 

And on that, some customers just don’t understand the work that goes into your product. That’s not their fault. It’s ours. We don’t tell them! Here’s a way that you can help them understand what you do. And here’s another.  And guess what? When customers see the effort you go to they’ll most likely be much happier to pay the proper price!

 

Cripes if you’ve ever bought flowers on Valentine’s Day you’ll have know all about premium pricing but should you do it too? Here are six steps for making the most of a premium ‘opportunity’ but doing it without the YUK factor!

 

And finally, what about the problem of your competitors’ pricing.  Should you charge the same as them? Can you charge more? Here are some thoughts.

 

3. Practical tips on expressing prices

 

The funny, weird and sometimes annoying thing about pricing is that the way a customer feels about your price often has more to do with how you express it than the number itself. Take this for example: one price 13 ways.

 

Or this one: a funny little pricing you can do today!

 

Or this one: about keeping pricing simple.

 

Or maybe this one which is about how you can make project work customers (like design, bookkeeping etc) feel more comfortable about the price.

 

4. Discounting

 

Do you discount your prices? Here’s an article about discounting and why it doesn’t usually work. There’s a bit of maths in the notes. Don’t be put off, it’s just to show your number-wise why discounting is a disaster.

 

Of course ‘don’t discount’ wouldn’t be a rule unless it had exceptions. And one of them is quantity discounts. This article talks about people selling their time (consultants, coaches, health practitioners and the like) but it’s just as applicable if you’re selling homemade.

 

5.Raising prices

 

Here’s some general stuff on raising prices. Why you should do it etc

 

And now that you are convinced here are 11 tips to help you do it.

 

Plus a way to do it nicely

 

And here’s a reason not to do it at all.

 

6. Finally

 

Here are eight really fabulous pricing ideas from the restaurant industry which everyone can use.

 

Has this helped? What are your top pricing problems? Got any pricing tips you’d like to share?

 

******************************************************************************

The Kitchen

 

I promised a quick note about the Kitchen. I guess it’s our club. It’s where we get together to cook up profitable little businesses.

 

Inside the Kitchen we’ve got lots of stuff including the super-practical Healthy Income Program, Healthy Income cookbook, Business Recipes and Kitchen-Table get togethers. All designed to take you step-by step through through the very best stuff you can do to make your business really profitable.

 

It’s nutrition for your business. And it’s fun.

 

If you want to know more just email me –  julia AT thebusinessbakery.com.au

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