What Should You, As A Business, Charge?
Of the many skills needed to stay in business, knowing how to set fees for your services is one key to successful marketing. Yet the underlying methods and issues on setting fees are too often unfamiliar to service providers, consultants, and other entrepreneurs.
Pricing plays a central role in how much (or little) you earn for the work you do, and in the psychological subtleties of your business relationships. Set prices too high, and you may lose valuable business. Lowering prices may garner you assignments and projects you’d otherwise miss. But too-low prices can also translate to working unnecessarily long hours, to earning less than you should for your efforts, and, in the worst case, to earning less than you need to turn a profit.
According to Launchscore.com, a site that offers startup business data to fledgling entrepreneurs, pricing is a major, major factor in the success of any regionally focused business. Basically, if you don’t price it right, you could fail before you begin.
FUNDAMENTAL STRATEGIES
There are several strategies you can use to set fees, ranging from asking for the going rates to raising your rates until clients say ouch. But …