How to Deal With Pricing Issues ?
Answered by:
Mark Mehling (Mark@TakeControlMarketing.com)
Take Control Marketing
Hi Thomas,
What have you done to make your higher price a great value?
When my wife started her petsitting business, she took all the proctored exams to become "Certified" by the two national petsitting organizations in the US.
That allowed her to advertise "The ONLY petsitter in the area Certified by both NAPPS and PSI". This alone explained the higher rates and her other premium features made loyal customers. She had to keep raising her rates because of the number of people calling for service. She started in 2006 and in 2008 made $42000US working alone.
If potential prospects don't understand what you do for their animals, it may take some education. Or maybe a few scripts. My wife used this script when asked if she would do it for less:
"I am not sure what area of service I could reduce in order to lower my prices. My clients want premium service for their babies. If you don't want a loving, caring, and attentive petsitter, we probably aren't a match..."
Hope that helps.
Mark
I like the idea of making sure people know the value of the service. I generally break the rates out to an hourly rate for them and they then see it is not a lot. I do not think the idea of saying that they do not care about their pets if they do not choose me. I think the main difference is that I provide individual one on one care for pets ( one persons pets only at a time ) but I am not sure how to get people to value that, without belittiling the competition which I refuse to do.
Mark, is your wife's service local? What is the name of her company? I've been looking for pet sitters.
Hi Thomas,
I suggest offering a discount for first time clients. If you're worth the higher price they'll probably come back.
Bet