The Price is Right
The TV show “The Price is Right®” is a household name for many of us. I even bought the game several years ago to play with my daughter.
In the “real world” of business, determining the right price for your products or services can be tricky. From my experience, when businesses are in the infant stage, they stumble in determining the right price based on a balance between profitability and what is fair.
In particular, I have discovered that women who offer services such as massage or hypnotherapy, will often under-charge and over-deliver.
The first step is to be aware of what your competition is charging. The second step is to look at what makes your service or product different and, ideally, better than the competition. The third step is to clearly define each product, service or package of services (bundle) in writing. Write it out for yourself first to work out the details of what you are offering. By doing this you are outlining exactly what your clients or customers will be receiving in exchange for their payment.
In your write-up, be sure to include the actual deliverables – such as a 60-minute massage – as well as all the possible benefits they could receive in return (release of muscle tension, reduction of stress, better sleep at night).
Once you complete step three, determine your costs, i.e., time, receptionist fees, laundry, merchant fees, massage oil, rental or leasing of space.
At this point, you can then rejig your prices to be in line with your costs and the value you bring through the service or product you offer.