Transcripts
Hello and welcome to this episode
of The Pricing Lady podcast.
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:I'm Janene your hostess, and this is
where smart business owners come to price
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:with purpose and profit with clarity.
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:I'm excited to have
you here with me today.
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:We are going to be talking about
small steps in pricing and why small
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:adjustments mean much more than you think.
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:Over the years, I have worked with
many business owners who simply put off
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:adjusting and looking at their prices
months, but more often, years go by
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:without any small adjustments, and they
come to me at a point in time where
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:they are faced with making big, scary
changes just to remain sustainable.
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:Not a situation you want
to find yourself in.
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:And the tough reality is that if you don't
fine tune over time , you're going end
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:up at a point where you're going to have
to overhaul when you give pricing the
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:right attention on a regular basis, then.
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:Generally, you will only need to make
small adjustments and fine tuning in order
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:to keep your business moving forward.
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:It's easier for you, it's less scary,
and it is generally less risky.
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:In this episode, I'm going share with
you three areas where you might consider
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:making small adjustments that can pay off.
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:I'll give you an example and we'll
talk about the impact of each one.
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:Let's get started.
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:Area number one is communication.
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:Now, we like to think that pricing is all
about the number, and there is numbers.
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:We're going come to numbers
in a minute, don't worry.
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:But a big part of pricing, especially
in service-based businesses,
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:comes in the conversation.
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:So it's important for you to
feel comfortable in that space.
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:And making small adjustments here
can have a big impact, for example.
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:Oftentimes when we're in a conversation
with a client and they hesitate
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:with silence, we feel the urge
to jump in and fill that silence.
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:No.
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:What if instead of jumping
in, you simply paused?
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:Gave them the space to finish
their thought, give them
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:the space to think out loud.
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:Maybe it was a hesitation.
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:Maybe they just needed
to swallow or breathe.
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:We don't know.
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:You, perceive that as a hesitation
about working with you, but you
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:don't actually know if it is.
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:So you need to give them the space to
be able to share the why behind that
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:hesitation if it were one, or to continue
their thought if they're just taking a
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:breather or need to swallow or something.
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:Right.
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:That pause that you put into that
conversation can be very rewarding.
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:Here's why.
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:First you can uncover the
real concern if there is one.
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:A lot of times when people object, it
takes them a few moments or can I even
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:take quite a few moments, for them to
even understand for themself why they've
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:said no or why they're hesitating.
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:You give them the space
to be able to voice that.
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:Second of all, that patience and
openness in the conversation, it builds
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:trust and rapport with your client.
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:Yeah, so maybe that offer isn't right
for them, but they'll be more open
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:to having a conversation about what
could be right for them, if they feel
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:that they can trust you, and it just
builds overall a stronger conversation.
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:You look better in a sense, in their eyes,
in terms of you being a partner for them.
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:And that increases value perception, which
can then also have an impact on what they
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:might be willing to pay for something.
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:That's area number one, communication.
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:Just one small example of a light
adjustment that you can make to what
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:you're doing that could have potential
big impact on your business might
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:actually help you close more deals.
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:Area number two.
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:The numbers I told you, we're
going come back to the numbers.
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:Of course, we were going
come back to the numbers.
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:Even small, new numerical adjustments
can ripple into revenue and profit.
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:If you follow me, if you've attended
any of my webinars, you've probably
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:heard me tell the, story, I guess, of
the impact of a 1% price change and
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:how influential 1% price changes can
be on profitability in a business.
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:So the example here is simply
to go back to last year, look at
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:your revenue and then do the math.
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:What if all of your
prices had been 1% higher?
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:How much more revenue
could you have earned?
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:Now, what if that was over a three
year period or a five year period and
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:you had made consistent 1% adjustments
over that time, those time periods?
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:That starts to add up quite quickly
so micro adjustments can have
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:a compounding effect, much like
interest in your bank account.
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:If you still have that these days,
has, you know, compounds over time.
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:So do price changes and small adjustments
over time can be very effective in keeping
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:your business sustainable over time.
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:Now if you're someone who doesn't
love doing the math part and wants
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:a little help with that, I have
a free toolkit on my website.
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:We'll put the, the link
to it in the show notes.
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:And if you use the profit impact
calculator in there, you can do the
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:math fairly quickly using that tool.
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:But small changes can have big impact
if you do them repeatedly over time.
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:Now one of the things that I hear
from people often when I talk about,
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:you know, small changes in price,
is that when you know, they're like,
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:oh, well I charge 2000 if I, you
%, that's:
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:It's a weird number.
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:Okay?
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:You can do it a little bit more.
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:You can make it 2050 if that's what you,
if that feels more comfortable to you.
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:Chances are if somebody's
willing to pay:
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:probably willing to pay 2050.
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:So it won't have a huge impact
on the number of people that
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:are actually buying from you.
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:Don't stress out about that too
much if it seems like an odd looking
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:number with just a 1% price change.
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:The point here is for you to
consider it and think about
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:it on a more regular basis.
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:Area number three, process I
process is so important in pricing.
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:It is one of those things that I simply
can't emphasize enough, and even if you're
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:a one woman or one man show, the process
is still important in your business.
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:Proposals and offers are part
of the pricing experience for
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:you and for your customer.
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:This is where a lot of people get hung up.
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:They're spending a lot more time
than they should be on creating
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:offers and things like that.
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:Now, the example I'd like to use here is
a lot of people I see don't put a validity
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:date on their offers, and to me this is.
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:Also a pricing risk in a business.
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:So you send an offer out, sometimes you
won't hear back from the client for a
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:long time, and you know, six or eight
months later they might come back to
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:you and say, okay, we're ready now.
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:And maybe you've changed your prices
since then, or maybe you structured
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:your offer differently if you don't have
a validity on validity date on there.
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:Then you might feel compelled to accept
the terms from before, even though
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:they're not aligned with your new terms.
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:Or you might then have to have an
awkward discussion about, well, I
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:don't offer this anymore, but I do
offer that and let me send you an
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:offer for this, and so on and so forth.
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:Whereas if you have a validity
date on there and that time has run
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:out, yeah, so maybe it was valid
through December and it's February.
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:You can say, well, first let's
just have a short conversation.
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:Was this still how you
wanted to work together?
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:And then I can send you an updated offer.
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:Yeah.
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:So then they have a nice, fresh,
valid offer in front of them.
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:Enough people don't do this.
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:And I, I personally, I never understood
why it's a very easy thing to do.
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:The impact is that one, it signals
professionalism, shows people that
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:you're aware that things change
over time and that you want to be
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:able to do the best, not just for
your business but also for them.
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:So if you change something in your
business and you have to accept old terms.
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:It might actually not be in the
best interest of the client as well.
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:That has happened or can happen as well.
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:It adds a bit of urgency to your
offer without it feeling gimmicky.
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:Like, uh, last chance.
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:Last chance.
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:No.
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:It just says, okay, I'm willing
to honor this for the next two
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:or three months, but beyond that,
then we're going revisit it again.
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:And I think that that's, you
know, it gives a little bit of
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:urgency, but it's reasonable.
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:Yeah.
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:You're not pressuring anyone.
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:It can help reduce indecision.
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:And speed up decisions.
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:and it protects you over time so
you're not stuck, as I said, with
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:outdated offers, terms or conditions.
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:Those are the three areas
that I want to share with you.
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:Examples of how you can make small
adjustments to either increase
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:your prices over time or to reduce
the risk that you have in your
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:business when it comes to pricing.
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:It is important not just to do
these examples because I've talked
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:about them here, but to consider
if they're right for your business.
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:They may not be.
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:You may need to make other
communication related adjustments
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:or other number adjustments.
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:It depends on your business
and what's right for you.
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:The power comes from making
the right adjustments at the
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:right time in the right way.
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:The problem is that making
adjustments to pricing often comes
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:with an emotional charge to it.
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:And so you put it off and you put it
off and you put it off, and that's
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:where you end up in that position of
having to make big, scary changes.
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:And I'd like for you to
avoid that if you can.
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:So to wrap up the episode, I'd like
to ask you to reflect on two things.
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:So first are big changes in pricing
needed in your business right now, and if
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:so, what have you been putting off now?
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:If you're not sure where to look at
what you've been putting off, you might
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:check out the last episode I did where
I gave you five questions to do a quick
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:review on your pricing and we'll put
that link in the show notes as well.
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:The second question I want you to reflect
on is, is there one small adjustment you
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:can make now in your business, whether
it be in the communications, in the
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:numbers, or in the process, what is going
help you to take one small step forward?
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:That's what I have for you today.
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:I wish you all the best.
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:I'll see you in the next episode,
and as always, enjoy pricing.