ENTREPRENEUR TRIBE: I was listening to a podcast this morning and it featured a quote that fit perfectly for our topic this month which is RAISING YOUR PRICES. “Double your income as fast as you double your self-esteem.” Here are some questions to start this discussion:
Are you looking to make more money in your business this year? If so, is raising prices one way you are doing that? If you haven’t raised prices in the past, why not? Fear? Resistance? If you have raised your prices and have increased your business, how did you do it? What advice do you have for someone who wants to charge what they are worth but are having a hard time making the leap?
To be a part of this tribe it’s very simple…comment below. Anndddd, go!
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Often businesses (or people) are afraid that they will price themselves out of the market and in doing so discount the value of their goods or services. (it is one of the many reasons that manufactures like to control the minimum price of their products sold). If you are convinced that you are able to compete with other designers then stand up for your own value and let your potential costumers know why your price is what it is. For example, if you are an expert at setting up Wix Stores…say so. Price your services accordingly. After all, why should you, the expert, who can quickly and efficiently create a well working e-commerce function be paid less simply because you can do the work quickly. If anything you should receive (and charge) for the fact that by completing a Store quickly (say 1/2 the time that an inexperienced person would use) you are reducing “lost opportunity” by allowing the store owner to start selling sooner.
Never be afraid to ask for what you believe you are worth. If you loose out on a sale simply because someone else will charge less, you likely don’t want the work anyhow. Remember the old question, "Why is there is never enough money to do it right the first time around, but always enough to do it right the second time around?
Ruthann, such great timing on your post! One of my goals this year is to work smarter not harder and make more money in the process. I am starting with reevaluating how I price out projects. After WixCon Miami, I raised my prices. After reading your blog article the other day, I realized I’m undervaluing my expertise. I’ve got to step out from underneath the umbrella of fear and raise my prices again. The process is underway this week. Whoot!
@david-rosenblatt I love this perspective!
Love it!
You should really think twice about charging less 10k per website. If you are charging less than that. Take this into consideration. There is nothing more valuable to companies these days. A small to medium size company will pay their cleaning staff members at least 20k per year. A entry level position 24k per year. A below average sales team position 40k per year. Here’s the trick. Stop thinking of websites as products instead think of them as employees that work 24hrs a day 7 days a week. That doesn’t ask for days off, take smoke breaks, come in late just to play on their phones all day. No a website is more than just a website. It is the first impression, most efficient sales team member, lead generator that can reach. almost any where in the world at any given time. Plus handle multiple clients all at once. Now you tell me. Are your websites not more valuable than a Janitor or entry level position? Answer they are and each year it’s up doubles at min in value. Stop losing wasting time on cheap sites. All your doing is giving money away. Plus cheap sites are always the ones where people complain the most!
I’m not sure I agree with the logic here. And even if I did, it would not apply to small enterprises or startups. But I do agree that the more the client has invested in their website, the more likely they are to be proud of and tout their site.
[@David Rosenblatt] yes of course it applies. I won’t touch a website period won’t make me a min of 75k. Even shallow budget startups. Trick with those sites is to not short yourself rather take % of sales and if you can’t get that don’t waste your time. Contrary to what they all say small businesses are terrible! The majority of them are ran by dictator like owners who shot from the hip rather than the data. Divert from the strategy immediately after the first turn or challenge. Because of lack of capital. That’s why the majority of small businesse stay small or fail. Micro managing themselves straight out of business only to blame all of their failures on everyone and everything rather than themselves.
“How to Stop Underpricing and Overdelivering.” Be sure to get your free checklist at the end!
I’m intrigued…so where do you find the companies that are paying the 75k?
[@Ruthann Bowen] 2019 is the year of the small market cap companies. There is soooo many small-medium market cap publicly traded companies it’s not even funny!!! Small increases in private businesses means nothing. Plus you have 1 owner that makes shoot from the hip decisions that vary in logic and reason from day to day. A small increase in publicly traded companies means millions of dollars potentially. Target companies who’s stock is in nuetral or in decline. But the incredible amount of publicly traded companies with crappy websites is insane! Here’s the secret sauce. CEOs have one job raise the stock price no matter what. Sales mean nothing to CEOs as long as the stock price isn’t moving uowards. It’s the perception of growth and forward thinking that matters not P to E. It’s easier to Target investors and raise a billion in market cap then raise their sales a billion.
Very interesting…
@ruthannbowen I am also wondering the same…
Needed this!!! Thank you!
Hi Partners! I was looking for some advice on raising my prices. In particular, I have a client whose “project scope” has expanded multiple times over the last year. Fortunately I have a term for revisions in my contract that states “Additional fees will be charged…for additions to project scope.” However, I have never had a client whose project has dragged on this long and met so many twists and turns.
We are coming up to a year when we first began and the site still isn’t completed. Now he is really committed to getting it up and live…
His original package was for a 5 page site, which includes 3 full revision passes (the final revision pass for after the site is launched, just to catch any loose ends). His first request for an addition to project scope I priced him at $150/page for 6 new pages. Oh. And did I mention, these are Dynamic Pages, which includes me building multiple databases with connected reference fields? 6 months later, I am like… what was I thinking!? I should have charged him double for dynamic content pages.
Also. I did not account for the additional revision passes it would take to design these additional pages. But I designed them to his specifications. And then after a short summer break, he comes back at me that he wants a different layout for those pages! I complied but never mentioned any additional fees (i should have, but I told myself, this would be the last round). And now! (read on).
He has one final project scope addition he’d like to create - basically a third layer. It involves a customized Wix Store using coding, multiple collections and connecting to dynamic pages! I can do what he wants, in fact have three different ways I can offer him to complete the work but… now I have to reprice him. I am lost.
What started as a 5 page site, has turned into a 16 page site, never mind the hundreds of multiplying pages it will create using both dynamic content and store product pages. I took a step back and realized, if someone came to me today and requested this exact site, I am about to finish building… I would have quoted them $5000 to start. However, the last quote I gave him was for much less.
The good news is he REALLY wants to get the site up now and he REALLY wants these final additions. So the real question: How do I present this upsell to him? I don’t know how to lay all this out on paper. How to invoice him and/or what to put down in an updated/revised contract.
I’ve realized, I don’t have a strong pricing structure when it comes to dealing with client add ons: eg. store functionality. I don’t do a lot of eCommerce. I have my basic store add on in the Wix Arena as starting at $500 for 20 products. But how do I price it with additional products? The setup of Collections (5 Collections in this case)? Customized coding? Additional revision passes.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
To start with, I would propose that your pricing is all wrong from the beginning. Charging per page is like charging for a pound of material, regardless of what the material is. Would you charge the same for say a pound of topsoil as for a pound of gold?
You can now tell your client that over the year your pricing structure has changed and that you now charge based on multiple factors. Then provide a quote based on what it will take to create the store, its functions, and the value it brings to the site.
If you need help understanding how to charge feel free to contact me at info@ssgconsulting.com
@david-rosenblatt thank you David!
@david-rosenblatt Yes, thank you David! I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, I have to honor the price I already quoted him for the original site and first addition to scope. But if he questions my updated invoice for the new store add on/coding functionality etc, I will explain my pricing has changed. And more to the point, I agree that the problem is with my original pricing structure to begin with. I agree that I should have value based pricing over charging per page or per hour. I feel clueless how to present this to the client. How to present it so I can help them understand the value I bring to their project. I feel like whenever I quote appropriately, people always seem surprised by how much things cost. If they don’t have the budget that’s one thing. But I feel like sometimes it’s a question of framing for them the value of what I’m providing. Would love to email me you and have you take a look if it’s not too much trouble! Thank you again!!
I look forward to your email ash4Dzyns
@david-rosenblatt emailed you!!
