Tuesday, October 4, 2011

7 Ways to Raise prices and Have Your Customers Thank You

Raising prices is one of the best ways to double your profits - because all the extra money goes straight into your pocket. Yet, isn't our greatest fear that if we raise prices we will lose customers - or that our new customers will go somewhere else that's cheaper?

Price is determined by the amount of value that your customers see in your product or service. Simply, if they see lots of value they will be willing to pay a higher price. What if you could quickly boost the value in your customers eyes, enough so that they will be willing to pay more for it?

That's where the bonus comes in. A bonus is something that you add to your product or service - that is highly valuable in the customer's eyes, but is very inexpensive for you to provide.  here are 7 ways to raise prices and have your customers thank you.

1.Special free gift.
Try to get a vendor to give you product for free or sell it to you at cost (one man's trash is another man's treasure) - and then give it to your customer with their purchase.  (what do the beer or liquor distributors give away that you can add to the purchase?) 

2. Add a service to a product.
Provide consultation services that only costs you time, but that the customer values greatly. (offer FREE coaching with an open play special.) 

3. Add a product to a service.
Find a product that your customer needs with your service. Partner with a vendor to provide it and share the profits.  (have a ball, bag or shoes anyone?) 

4. Bundle items together.
Put products or services together, that your customer values - but that cost you close to nothing to provide. (offer a slice of pizza and a soft drink or an alcoholic beverage with a late night mid week open play special.) 

5. Convenience.
Provide more convenience for your customers  without utilizing a lot of time or money.(open earlier, stay open later for kids camps, company parties, fund raisers?) 

6. Special arrangement.
Provide the product or service in a more beneficial format for the customer ( Pizza pins n pop, burgers n bowl, chicken wings n bowl?) 

7. Value pricing.
Add more bonuses for customers that will pay more, less for those who will not (my favorite). bonuses could be a free game with a red head pins trike or a 2 liter bottle of a soft drink or a pizza for bringing 5 people to your cosmic show.

Once you find the bonus that works and provide it as an incentive for raising prices - you will be able to raise prices and your customers will thank you for it.