This Podcast episode covers one of the most commonly asked questions I get during coaching sessions which is, “Should I advertise my prices on my website?”
The very short answer is, “No!” don’t advertise your prices on your website.
There are several reasons for this which I go through in the podcast episode and I’ll also outline below:
1. You Could be Qualifying Prospects Out Too SoonIn the example I walk listeners though in this episode of the Fearless Business Podcast, I talked about a beauty business that I worked with.
They were so focussed on getting more customers via marketing as a way to grow their business, they were ignoring just about every other metric within the business. I looked at their finances and the business wasn’t looking shabby profit wise, but growth had slowed down dramatically.
The numbers, which did look interesting to me, were on their cold leads into warm enquiries.
It transpired many of their customers were “price sensitive” and were asking for prices up front in Messenger and via email.
And my client was giving them the prices. This isn’t a big issue in its own right however it quickly became apparent that many of their prospects were uneducated buyers.
I challenged their belief that giving away prices was a qualifier. It can be used to qualify prospects, but only when demand is so high there are few other ways to qualify prospects.
They were adamant about giving the prices away as their belief was that, “If we don’t give prices when people ask then we are being dishonest!” and they believed in this quite strongly.
I suggested we focus on a campaign to get prospective buyers into their clinic before giving their prices away for 30 days and see if it made any difference. I offered to match any drop in sales if they felt strongly my way contributed to losing clients.
After 30 days their conversion from cold lead to warm prospect went up by 40% and this continued through into the profit and loss account 60-days later.
By inviting prospects into the clinic they could see how amazing my client was, how professional their clinicians were, the quality of the services they provided and above all could learn about the treatments they were interested in buying.
There was no pressure selling, just an opportunity to experience what it would be like to visit the clinic and experience a treatment and consultation.
2. You May Still Be Adjusting To New PricesIf you’re going through a process of increasing your prices, then I’d recommend not publicising your prices.
Pricing is mostly based on mindset and confidence. Today you might not be so bullish about your prices, business or yourself and so it’s “easier” to fall back on your prices that are black and white on your website.
However, tomorrow, for whatever reason, you might be feeling really confident having listened to a podcast from Robin about increasing your prices…but you can’t increase your prices…because they are in black and white on your website.
I don’t know who made up this stupid rule about putting prices up maybe once a year and by only 5-10% if that…what a stupid rule, who decided that one?
When you’re adjusting and testing new price points for your products, you might adjust your prices 6-10 times throughout the year until you reach a natural point of supply and demand. Imagine having to do 6-10 updates on your websites and marketing material.
So, while you’re testing new prices, remove all traces of your price list from websites, social media and your email marketing so that people have to enquire about your products and prices to find out more.
If you’re worried about this then please go back and re-read my comments in the section above.
3. Pricing Is a Conversation StarterPeople buy for many reasons and your prices only make up a small percentage of that buying decision, here are some example of other reasons why people buy, or at least enquire about your products:
- Referral - They heard someone talking about your business/brand and want to know whether your products or services can help them.
- Intrigue - There is something interesting they read in your marketing which prompted them to enquire about your business. They’re not educated buyers but interested to know more.
- Education - They know they need a service similar to yours but want to know more about how it works and most importantly will it work for them.
- Trust - They may trust you more or less than the competition so want to find out whether their hunch is right about your business.
- Speed - How quickly can you provide a solution to them?
- Quality - Can you do it better than your competitors?
- Window shopping - casually browsing potential solutions to their problems.
- Affordability - They like it but can they afford to buy? Do you offer payment plans to help them with this?
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