Silicon Valley legend Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) was on Tim Ferriss’s (@TimFerriss) podcast recently, and Tim always asks his guests what they would put on a billboard. Marc said two words: “I’ve got one, I’ve actually thought about hiring a skywriter to … Read More
SMB pricing
Price Competition How to Avoid It and How to Win It
Price competition can seem scary, but many of the wounds are self-inflicted. While that sounds discouraging, it’s actually good, because it means you can take control of them, avoid them, and win deals at better price points. Pricing is the … Read More
What I learned selling services
Like a lot of people who accidentally became consultants, I got started because I was really good at helping companies solve certain kinds of problems that they had trouble solving themselves. Like a lot of people who start consulting companies, I … Read More
When you should absolutely not discount your proposal or quote
I got a call from a customer recently asking about whether to discount a proposal. The brief background: after some great initial conversations, the prospect had asked my customer to create a proposal for a mid-sized project. The initial discussion … Read More
3 Reasons to Improve the Way You Price Your Services
A lot of consultants, designers and other service providers ask me about pricing. They usually start by saying that larger competitors are charging $X, say $200/hr, so they feel they should be cheaper, say $125/hr. “Is this right?”, they ask. … Read More
Easy up-selling and solution selling for small business sales
Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies. (In previous posts, I’ve discussed how we often start discounting before we even know if the buyer thinks we are too expensive.) Today, I want to talk about making sure your buyers know … Read More
You’re Not Getting Enough Price Objections
Many business owners and sales reps hate price objections. They view price objections as some kind of faux pas that they should have avoided, an awkward situation, best resolved quickly (and often with huge damage to profits). Do you like … Read More
Pricing Battle Plan for Services
Last week, we looked at how preparing a pricing battle plan increases your sales and profits while decreasing your stress. This week, let’s look at another example, a service business with about 10 professionals. To protect the guilty, we’ll call … Read More
What’s your pricing battle plan?
How many businesses build a cool product, then figure out what to charge for it? How many companies decide what to quote on a proposal after they’ve written the proposal? If you make your pricing decisions then, you are at … Read More
Do Pricing First, Not Last
Creative people love making things– widgets, software, knowledge, service calls. A lot of businesses and product lines get started this way. Someone has a cool idea to make something. Skeptics shoot down the idea. The founder or engineer makes it. … Read More