When you’re first starting out online, it can be tough deciding on an entrepreneurial pricing strategy for your products and services.
So today we’re talking about how to choose what price you should be charging, and whether you should be displaying your prices on your website or not.
Entrepreneurial Pricing Advice
What To Consider As You Price Your Offerings
When it comes to choosing a price, there are a number of things to consider. The first one is the value of the product or service you’re providing.
When it comes to determining the value of what you offer, there’s no better way than to put yourself into the shoes of your ideal customer. Will it be worth it to them to have this problem solved?
To have this part of their life enhanced? It doesn’t matter what products you sell, whether it’s a service where you do something for them, and answer questions or give advice, or you sell jewelry or decorative notebooks.
There is a value that you are providing in their lives, you just need to get a feel for how much they value this addition to their life.
After you determine the value you need to determine what the market will bear. Usually this is done by looking at your competitors pricing. But it really sucks when you look at your competitors pricing because you’re just setting the bar where ever your competitors are.
And sometimes you’re going to be seen and compared to competitors, and you don’t want to be just like one of them. You are different. You are reading and watching this video and do things that other providers or product sellers think you and your industry don’t know.
That’s why you need to be aware of the pricing of your market, but not be dictated by it.
There’s always a place for you to define your own category for yourself.
Your Business Model: One To One or One To Many?
If your market is fairly small or you don’t have access to a lot of the people in your market at this point, it makes more sense to have higher prices and to sell fewer of what it is that you offer.
As you start to scale and to be able to reach more people, your prices can then go down to reflect this reality. This might seem kind of counterintuitive, but actually makes total sense when you think about it from a business perspective instead of from a “this is what we’re supposed to do” perspective
It’s possible to choose a price that feels good and that fits with the market and that people end up buying or hiring from you, but it’s not a resonance with what you feel good charging.
Maybe you’re not charging enough to feel comfortable offering these packages or products. This can happen when you know your value, but you just haven’t been tested or proven in the marketplace yet.
In this case, it makes sense to work for free or to give away some temp polls and get feedback so that you actually are sure about your confidence before you start offering your packages at this price point.
Another option, is to offer your products or services at a lower price point and receive enough positive feedback that you can then raise your prices over time. This is a great way to go no matter what business you’re in, because it will help you build up your confidence as you go forward and prove to yourself and your future customers that you’ve got the chops.
Pricing is something you grow into. You can’t start out charging something you don’t feel comfortable charging. But you also can’t charge such a low price that you don’t feel good offering your services or products at that price because it makes you feel resentful.
Should You Put Your Prices On Your Website?
So now we’re back to the age old question: should you put your prices on your website?
If you’re selling something that people can buy off the virtual shelf, then yes. People need to know what it cost to buy it. If instead you offer a premium service and the price will vary depending on the scope of the work, setting a price range is a great way to go.
Having some prices online helps you to filter out the people who aren’t able or willing to invest with you yet. If you’re just getting started and you don’t want to filter anyone out because you just need to get clients in the door, then asking people to get in touch with you for pricing information makes sense.
One drawback to not having prices on your site is that people will likely assume that it’s more expensive than it really is, so you need to be able to have a great sales conversation to deliver your pricing.
So the bottom line is: yes you want to put prices on your website most of the time unless it’s a variable pricing model or you plan to increase prices fairly quickly… And you’ll want to ease into your pricing structure and let it evolve as you evolve and are able to reach more people, too.
Entrepreneurial Pricing Ahoy! Got Questions?
Let me know your pricing questions in the comments below!
