Speaker:
Welcome to The Pricing Lady podcast.
2
:
I'm Janene your hostess.
3
:
This is where smart business owners price
with purpose and profit with clarity.
4
:
Today, I wanna talk to you about
something I hear constantly in my work.
5
:
People will come and say to me, Janene,
I don't know if my pricing is right.
6
:
Ultimately, they don't trust their prices.
7
:
What I've learned over time is that
when Pricing feels hard to trust,
8
:
it's often because the decision
doesn't allow them to trust it.
9
:
Let me explain.
10
:
A price you can't trust is almost
always the result of a decision or
11
:
decisions that weren't robust enough.
12
:
Never in all my years has someone come
to me and said, "Janene, I made a bad
13
:
decision about what price to have."
14
:
No, that's not how you,
or they would describe it.
15
:
They say, "help me.
16
:
I don't know if my Pricing is right."
17
:
And this is a very important distinction.
18
:
Now, what does this look
like in their business.
19
:
First of all, they may feel it as second
guessing themselves, as hesitating to take
20
:
action when it's needed, to change a price
or to create that offer or to set the
21
:
price before the offer goes out the door.
22
:
Or they unnecessarily discount when they
get pressure or pushback from a client.
23
:
Yes, they have prices, but they
don't feel great about them, and
24
:
they don't know what to do about it.
25
:
Pricing day to day ends up feeling
like a struggle, and it's consuming
26
:
more energy than it should.
27
:
I see it as a decision issue.
28
:
But they see it as, I don't, or
I haven't found the right number.
29
:
The competitors have lower prices.
30
:
Maybe my price just needs to be
tweaked a little bit, or no one
31
:
is really willing to pay that.
32
:
These are the things that I hear from
people that they describe as the problem.
33
:
And none of this is necessarily wrong.
34
:
That is.
35
:
You know, a problem, let's say, but
it's not the root of the problem.
36
:
Those are more symptoms of the problem.
37
:
And if you're focused on, I haven't found
the right number, I haven't found the
38
:
right number, then you're gonna be looking
for the solution in the wrong place.
39
:
Rather than going deeper to the
root of the issues, you end up
40
:
focusing on the wrong things.
41
:
When I talk with clients and listen
to what's going on in their businesses
42
:
and try to assess how I can best help
them, I don't start with the number.
43
:
The reality is that even if
the number needs to change,
44
:
the number is not the problem.
45
:
Here's what I look for.
46
:
Who is the customer that you're targeting?
47
:
What do you offer?
48
:
What's the value behind it?
49
:
How do you work with them?
50
:
How did you arrive at that
number or those prices?
51
:
And where do things feel
most painful right now?
52
:
These are the things that help
me understand if the decision
53
:
behind the price was strong
and what might need working on.
54
:
The truth is that if the decision
were strong enough, then pressure
55
:
wouldn't automatically turn into
doubt, and that's why it feels
56
:
so difficult in your business.
57
:
Now let's talk about the one-legged table.
58
:
This is an analogy that
I came up with recently.
59
:
I find it helps people to
see this in a different way.
60
:
A table with one leg is still a table.
61
:
It might not even stand up, or it might
stand up until you put some weight on it.
62
:
The problem isn't that there's no table.
63
:
It's that it can't hold much, right?
64
:
Now Pricing based mostly or only
on the competition, for example,
65
:
is like a one-legged table.
66
:
And whether it's the competition that
you only focus on or the costs that
67
:
you only focus on, focusing on just one
element and having your prices based on
68
:
that will rarely lead you to having a
very stable or robust Pricing decision.
69
:
It's like that one legged table.
70
:
So when Pricing continues to feel wobbly,
it's usually because you're placing
71
:
too much weight on too little thinking.
72
:
It's not your fault necessarily.
73
:
Probably no one taught you how to do it.
74
:
The the important thing here is that you
understand that it's not looking out in
75
:
the market to try and find the answer.
76
:
It's actually looking at how your
Pricing decisions are being made and to
77
:
shift that so that they are stronger.
78
:
Then you can trust in
those decisions more.
79
:
So your table.
80
:
Needs more legs.
81
:
And in this context, I'm talking
about legs like the customer and
82
:
the offer and the value and the
marketplace, and the cost and profit.
83
:
Those are the kinds of legs that
you're, your Pricing decisions need
84
:
so that they can feel more robust.
85
:
I'd like to wrap this
up with the following.
86
:
If you feel that your Pricing collapses
under pressure, you stumble when you
87
:
have to say the price you, the pushback
makes you anxious when you get it
88
:
from clients, you delay sending the
offer even when you know you should.
89
:
Yeah.
90
:
They're not signs that you chose the
wrong price or that you chose badly.
91
:
They are a sign that the decision
or decisions you made were not
92
:
robust enough for you to trust in.
93
:
So if your Pricing feels hard for
you right now, don't rush to try
94
:
and change that number right away.
95
:
Instead, start by looking at
the decision behind it first.
96
:
Thank you so much for joining me today.
97
:
If you wanna support the show, the
number one thing you can do is share
98
:
the episode on social media and tag me.
99
:
That really helps get the word out.
100
:
I wish you a wonderful day,
and as always, enjoy Pricing.
