The document discusses pricing strategies and their significant impact on profitability, asserting that pricing is often misunderstood by service providers. It emphasizes the importance of value communication over simply setting lower prices and outlines various pricing models like hourly, project-based, and bundled approaches. Additionally, it highlights the mindset and attitude needed to effectively negotiate and establish service fees.

1. To listen to the audio of this program, put this link into
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http://users.macrobatix.com/msatt/pricing.mp3
Pricing Your Services
Strategies, Tactics & Attitude
Mark Satterfield
Gentle Rain Marketing

2. The impact of Pricing decisions
is often underestimated
 McKinsey study: Pricing has a greater
impact on profitability than either sales
volume increases, cost reductions or other
improved efficiencies.

3. What we’re going to cover
today
 Setting fees/prices
– Models
– Mindset
 Negotiating
– Price comes up twice in the discussions.
– How to determine if the person has money.

4. Pricing…more than just what
you charge.
 What prices say about your work
 Importance of having a pricing strategy
– Dominate a market niche.
 However, we often approach pricing from the
perspective of “It’s the primary reason people
don’t hire us.”
– Erroneous assumption
– The research that has been conducted shows that it is
not among the top 3.
– However…it is the most often heard EXCUSE for not
hiring someone.

5. Attitudes towards pricing
 Pricing is more a matter of communication and
ATTITUDE
 You can always be under-priced so might as well
stop using it as an excuse
 Price is based on VALUE.
– If you don’t communicate BENEFITS your price is
ALWAYS too much.
– People are not as price conscious as they are VALUE
conscious

6. Attitudes towards Pricing
 McKinsey Study: “Sellers of services usually have a
lower perception of the VALUE of their services then the
buyer.”
 Gartner Study: “Most providers of services have more
problems with their price structures than anything else-
Customers usually have fewer problems with the price.
Price resistance is almost always in the mind of the seller
not the buyer.
 Exercise…What is the value that others receive from
working with you?
 Worthiness
– www.MarianMassie.com

7. Setting your price
 Where in the market do you want to
operate?
– The reality is that prices are all over the map
 Volume
 Exclusivity

8. Pricing model: Hourly
 Least effective
 Trading time for dollars
 Ok for entry level services.
 Bad for projects…not good for you nor
your clients.

9. Project Pricing Model:
The Michelangelo
 One price for you to do the work.
 Lower price for working with a member of
your staff
 Middle price for working with a member
of your staff who is supervised by you.

10. Pricing model: Success fees.
Contingency arrangements
 Pure success or retainer against success?
 The abandonment factor.
 How to keep people honest.

11. Pricing: Ascension
 Entry level the price very low. Add components
incrementally
 Flow chart the process by which the client
achieves success.
– What will they need at various stages
 Works best with a Bundled/Unbundled strategy

12. Pricing: Bundling & Unbundling
 A “component” approach to pricing
 How it works
– Break you services offer into all of its
components. Over the course of a year, what
would the client get?
– What is the logical sequence?

13. GRM: Segment the market
 Those who want to Learn
– Desire for Knowledge
 Those who want to Do
– Desire for Results
 90%/10%
– The appeal of information products is to the 90%.

14. Pricing for the 10%.
Components of Marketing
1. Marketing message/Differentiation
2. Creation of Free information article/report
3. Development of one-page lead capture website.
4. Autoresponder sequence
5. Promotion of the free report
– Direct mail
– Google/Secondary search engines
– Articles (Article distribution services)
– Trade shows
– Co-registration
– Speaking

15. Pricing
 Bundled…$15,000 against 10%
 Unbundled A…Individual components. Client
self-selects what they need.
– We do them for you (Price X)
– We teach you how to do them (Price Z)
 Unbundled B…We organize the sequence.
– 6 months. March you through the drill.

16. Pricing Model:
Continuity/Forced Continuity
 By once charged till disconnect.
– Memberships
– Subscriptions
– Eliminates renewal decisions
 Forced continuity.
– Buy product A, you are automatically enrolled
in Continuity Program B.
– Advantages/Disadvantages

17. Negotiating Prices & Fees
 But before we do…
 Next months Inner Circle program
– Email marketing
 Mailing Lists, Subject Lines, Avoiding SPAM filters, Email
in follow up, Text vs. HTML, 3 Different types of emails
you need to send regularly to your group…
 July
– Mastering Trade Shows
 Your ideas and questions are always welcome.

18. Determining if you prospect can
afford your services…getting price
on the table
 Prices come up twice in the discussion (Helping
Clients Succeed. M. Khalsa)
 Have you established a budget for this?
– How much?
– How were you planning on funding this?
 3 part question
– I don’t know how much this will cost you…
– Others seeking similar results…
– Can you see yourself falling somewhere in that
range?

19. Overcoming price resistance
 When to discuss price
– Problem
– Results
– Then…Price
 Loading up the “Balance beam”.
– Communicating benefits…”Here’s what you get and
this is why it’s important to you.”
– Other critical component of communicating benefits
is focusing on issues of fear/insecurity
 Thought it would be easier to get new clients
 Others seem to be successful, what am I doing wrong?
 Get leads but can’t seem to convert many of them.
 Would love to just be able to focus on the specific service I
offer…would like to have marketing run on auto-pilot.

20. Summary on Pricing
 It’s a much a matter of Attitude as it is Tactics.
 Different approaches you can adopt.
 Naturally if you’d like to discuss your personal
pricing strategy please let me know.