Pricing Struggles: How Do You Define A Fair Price That Justifies Your Value To Your Client?

Stop me if this doesn’t sound familiar… you receive a message from a new prospect who seems interested in your offer.

After a few exchanges of messages and ideas… you get to the sticky part→ The Budget Part.

You decide to take the first step and break down your pricing model (if you have one) to the prospect, telling them what each deliverable would cost.

They respond with… “Thank you very much, we will be in contact”.

But you don’t hear a word from them after that… not a syllable.

The first couple of days, you wonder if they’ve forgotten about your discussion, so you craft a few polite reminders to nudge them. Still nothing, after a few more weeks, you start to feel they do not want to work with you, but you don’t want to give up so easily.

So you do what every self-respecting artisan does, give them some space, and then check in a few weeks later.

Now, a full month after the first contact, you send a message to this prospect reminding them of your previous conversation, and how you’re still up to help them with this project, then you get a polite “yeah, I went with someone else, your pricing didn’t work for me”.

For most of us, the next question that pops into the mind is… “what did I do wrong?”, “was my price too high… or too low?”, “how do I take control of this situation next time?”.

In situations like this, it’s best to take a step back, review the entire sequence of events, and how to chart a path forward.

Setting The Right Price For Your Offers

Today, I will share some crucial tips that can help you avoid situations like this, and also know how to set a fair price so you don’t scare off clients… or undervalue your services.

1. Stay up to date with trends in your space: Sometimes, it gets too easy to become engrossed in your craft and not keep up with recent happenings in your space. When this happens, you may make the mistake of anchoring your services on older prices, when you should have reviewed these prices already. This is why I advise you to stay up to date with pricing trends in your space. 
2. Check out our marketplace: Our marketplace houses service providers like you, with profiles containing their rates for projects and the services they offer. This can give you a good idea of the current rates for your service and offers.
3. Consistently review your packages: What services do you offer? Have you added new offers to your current ones? How often do you review your package prices? Answering these questions will help you review your packages more accurately, especially when you back this up with proper research as I mentioned in (1.).
4. Try out tiered pricing: Different customers have different needs, and sometimes, creating tiers with different prices can help your customers buy these packages directly, get value for their money, and still keep you smiling to the bank. To do this right, you need to research and understand EXACTLY what your clients want– stay up to date with it– and know how to package these wants into offers that will catch their attention and get them to see how your well-thought-out pricing packages can help them.
5. Calculate costs: Do you use materials in your work, or hire extra hands? Incorporate this in your pricing. Remember, the idea is to have enough to cover your costs, ensure it is worth your time, make a profit, and still provide value to your customers.
6. Analyze the demand for your services: In this business, you need a basic idea of economics and an understanding of the dynamics of supply and demand. So take the time to research and understand the demand for your services, and use this information to price your services well… so you don’t overprice and have prospects avoiding you.
7. Think of inflation: We both know things have changed economically in the last 2-3 years, and your rates should reflect this too. In areas where you have had to invest more resources, you should incorporate this subtly into your pricing to ensure your profit margins stay healthy.

So, justifying your value is crucial to your prospects, but you also need to ensure your pricing not only reflects it but also helps you maintain your profit margins.

TL;DR: To provide accurate prices that justify your value to your client, you should→

• Stay up to date with trends in your space.
• Check out our marketplace.
• Consistently review your packages.
• Try out tiered pricing.
• Calculate costs.
• Think of inflation.
• Analyze the demand for your services.