The reasons to raise your prices in Recession
1. Make more money, with less work
This is really straightforward maths. If you charged double what you charge today, you'd only have to close half as many deals, and do half as much work to earn the same turnover. That means you'll be fresher and more energetic, and everything you do will have more impact. Read on and see how the benefits cumulate to give you a bigger and bigger punch.
Don't advertise your prices
It never works!
Advertising prices can only cost you. I'd love for that not to be the case, but logically it doesn't make sense to list your rates.
- If someone's prepared to pay more than the rate you advertise, they'll take a lower price if you offer it, so you lose.
- If someone wants a cheaper job (which you might be able to do and still turn a profit on; or which you may be keen to do because you just want to; or you really need work this week), and you advertise higher rates, they may also be put off, so you lose.
- If you have clients who've previously paid you higher amounts than you advertise, they may not be happy to see you advertising lower rates.
- The reality is that pricing can often depend on a lot of factors (timeliness, client's budget, urgency, how much other work you have on, how much you want the project, not to mention the particular requirements of the job), so it's really not realistic to advertise rates, unless you want to leave a massive range, which doesn't help anyone anyway.
- Even day-rates are misleading, and is more likely to open you up to detrimental comparisons. There's always someone out there posting cheaper rates than you. They may have hidden costs, or may take longer to do a job, or may likely not do as good a job.
My advice is, avoid the risk of being compared on base numbers, and focus on selling your benefits first. Once someone's bought in to your approach, they'll be amenable to paying your fees (if they can afford them).
I hope these tips have been helpful, and encouraged you raise your eyes above the horizon. There is a world of possibility there, even in a recession, just for the choosing.
