Pricing Your Service: 7 Things To Ponder

Life is all about making choices and growing. The same holds true when you’re pricing your service. Use the articles below to assist you as you make informed decisions about price structure.

Before you read the articles, consider these observations:

a. I have never worked with a business owner who charged the right fees for their ideal clients. Early on, I made this mistake as well. Undercharging demeans the value you provide an makes prospects wonder what’s wrong that you’re charging such a low fee. When your prices are “just right” for you, you don’t give discounts.

b. Most often, things like the time it takes to travel to and from a client’s site, the costs associated with travel, and time spent on the phone during the year, are not pre-figured into the art of pricing but should be.

c. To post your fees on your website or not is your choice. There are pros and cons to doing so.

d. Your best clients, i.e. your ideal clients or “AAA” clients, should NOT be paying for you to serve your “B” clients. If that’s how your business is being run now, you’re not acting as a fiduciary to your AAA clients. That’s NOT a way to run a business. You will spend almost double the time hand holding and teaching, your “B” or less than ideal clients.

e. Providing “virtual” services, i.e., services via phone, Skype, Zoom etc., are not priced lower than when you provide the same services face-to-face.

f. Whatever industry you are in, don’t work in a vacuum. Yes, look at the way other people in your industry price their services, but don’t be afraid to look outside your industry for pricing. Annie Jennings is a PR Specialist and colleague. At a time when most PR people were being paid on a retainer basis, she created “pay for performance publicity.” Now, you’ll find many other PR people working that way, too.

g. Whatever industry you are in, don’t work in a vacuum. Yes, look at the way other people in your industry price their services, but don’t be afraid to look outside your industry for pricing. Annie Jennings is a PR Specialist and colleague. At a time when most PR people were being paid on a retainer basis, she created “pay for performance publicity.” Now, you’ll find many other PR people working that way, too.

h. While pricing, leave your emotions on the other side of the door.. You’ll probably have to keep pushing them to the curb. You ARE worth the money you envision you’ll earn.

Below are 7 articles I like on pricing, offered from a variety of industries that could help advisors price their services “just right” for the ideal clients they are looking to serve. There is an art and science to pricing, and our consciences come into place.

1. 5 Concrete Pricing Strategies by Maria Marsala

2. Auri- Guidance Notes For Pricing A Food Product
Although an article for pricing a product, the steps they take to price their product “just right” are similar to all the things that advisors, web designers, and other service business owners should consider

https://auri.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Food-Products-Pricing-Guide-Book_Final.pdf

3. How To Profitably Price Fee-For-Service Financial Planning
Once, pricing your services was done for you, basically with you getting a commission. Today, with more independent advisors and planners choosing their own fees, advisors are realizing that pricing is both an art and a science.
https://www.kitces.com/blog/pricing-cost-fee-for-service-financial-planning/

4. How Much Should Web Design Cost
As in most other industries, there are hidden costs and costs you don’t think about that go into running a viable business.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/how-much-does-a-website-cost/

5. Pricing Your Services
Pricing is one of the most important decisions you need to make to determine whether you turn a profit or not. This article also looks at the various components of pricing.
https://www.inc.com/guides/price-your-services.html

6. Growing Your Revenue: Is the Price Right?
This and other pricing articles are worth reading.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/how-to-choose-the-right-pricing-strategy-for-your-small/471188  

7. A Step by Step Guide to Calculating Your Hourly Rate
This article helps you calculate your hourly rate.  And although I never recommend pricing via hourly rate, because so many people price themselves low, I have my clients figure out their hourly rate first. This way they know what your hourly rate should be.  The rate you charge should be higher for any project.

https://toggl.com/blog/how-to-calculate-billable-hourly-rate

BONUS

Consider that pricing, as well as niching, is a basic component of marketing. For my clients, I have a Pricing Your Services Just Right program with exercises, reading, samples, etc. And this is the book I recommend they all read on pricing to get a thorough education on how services and products are priced, before they price their own.

(c) 2002 updated in 2011, 2019, 2024 Maria Marsala, Elevating Your Business