One year and over 6,700 downloads later, “Five Rules for Pricing Excellence: Getting the Most for Your Services” has become one of the most popular ChangeThis manifestos to date. To all who have downloaded and viewed our eBook over the past twelve months, thank you! I hope that you’ve come to appreciate these five rules for pricing excellence. For those who haven’t, what’s taking you so long?
Pricing is critical, and short-changing your pricing strategy is the fastest way to leave cash on the table—money that will be lost forever and never recovered.
So after that initial spark of innovation and the completion of the design, development and marketing phases that follow, don’t screw up the process by treating price as an afterthought. Have you spent as much time and resources on price as you have on your latest social media campaign? (Probably not.) The most successful organizations know that pricing is strategic and it can affect top-line growth and bottom-line profitability faster and more directly than anything else.
Pricing is also a key element of your brand. It sends a message to the market and creates expectations about value. It’s often the first impression you make, either attracting buyers or repelling them. And it can create the last, and lasting, impression, depending on perceived value for price paid. Think about it: Is your price sending the message you intended?
Master these five rules and you’ll be well on your way to achieving pricing excellence, along with putting more coin in your pocket.
Rule One: Anchors aren’t just for ships.
Rule Two: Never underestimate the power of Free.
Rule Three: Innovate with price.
Rule Four: Let price drive value.
Rule Five: Price wars are a fool’s game.
