Price Talk Tactics: Knowing the Right Time to Discuss Price with Customers

Welcome to Live With The Pricing Lady.

I'm Janene, your hostess.

This show is all about helping you build a sustainably profitable

business while making an unbelievable impact on your world.

Learn from my 20 years of experience and from my guests as we discuss their pricing

challenges, failures, and successes.

Pricing is a way of being or behaving in your business.

My mission is to help you confidently charge for the value you deliver.

Pricing is either hurting or helping your business.

Let's make sure it's helping you reach your dreams.

In this episode of Live with The Pricing Lady we talk about when is the right

time to talk pricing with your customers?

And a sales discussion.

Sometimes it can be really awkward.

So let's take a look at what the timing is and how to go about

doing it in the bright way.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the episode.

Our topic today is all about the conversation of when to talk

prices with your customer and by talk, I mean, communicate, right?

So this can be communicate in different ways.

But we use talk here because most of us will be having actual

conversations with our clients.

You probably are aware of this, but I want to reinforce this message

because it is very important.

How you choose to communicate your prices can make or break a deal.

Not only is the way in which you communicate them going to influence

how much people are willing to pay, but it will often influence whether or

not they are going to pay something.

So it's important for you to take a step back from your day to day in your

business and to think about, okay, how am I committing to educating my prices?

And can I be doing this better?

Before we get into the nitty gritty.

I also want to talk about, you know, there's two different kinds of

businesses that we're talking about here.

And the first is your brick and mortar or your online businesses where prices

communicated at the point of sale.

What do I mean by that?

So in a brick and mortar business, you have a, you know, a product

on the shelf and there's usually either a price tag on the shelf

or a price tag on the item itself.

That's what I mean.

So the price is compute.

Communicated at the point where the customer sees the product immediately.

And this is also a similar, if you have like a membership program or an

online course or other online offers.

You know, where the customer and you are not having a conversation in

advance of them making a purchase.

Then, of course the price has to be communicated at the checkout

right there where, you know, they see the product, usually even do

it one step before the checkout.

So before they say buy, they actually see the price.

And this is something that I think is really important because I

often see that people don't put the price on their landing page.

The price only comes up once you click buy and you go to the checkout page.

And in my book, that's kind of a big, no, no, I think it's, it's good

to communicate that to customers.

Before they click on a buy button.

I think that that is a, a good.

Let's say a best practice in terms of transparency and

building trust with your customer.

I've tested out both.

I find my customers, my clients respond better when they see the

price a few times upfront before they get to the checkout page.

So that's a little bit of a side note here because what

we're really focusing on today.

Is you our services and bespoke or customized offers for

products and software, right?

So these are the types of offers where you have to have a conversation upfront

with the customer in order to be out of bill, to understand what they want first,

before you can really even make an offer.

So I've got five points to share with you today.

Three of them are about timing.

And the other two are a little bit more about how to do

it in a more effective way.

So let's dig right in.

So for these services and customized offers.

The first thing that you need to do is understand the

client needs and expectations.

So we call this scoping the offer.

So you are going to have a conversation you're going to listen to them and

what it is they're looking for.

Maybe they have some goals, maybe they have some objectives.

Maybe they have some sort of transformation they're looking for.

It really depends on what you're offering.

But you need to understand first what it is they really was and what

their expectations of how they're going to get there with you are.

And that is going to be the first part of the conversation you're going to have.

You're not going to bring up price at this point.

You're going to focus on understanding their needs and expectations.

Here's a problem.

If you rush into the pricing discussion too soon, like that's the first place

that you start with, then you're putting your offer in the position

of being transactional, instead of focusing on building the relationship

with the customer and with these types of services and customized offers.

A large part of what you're doing is actually very relationship oriented.

People are looking for a business partner for someone to

work with them, to guide them.

You want to stay in that relationship space and not present your offer

in a transactional concept.

And that's what you're trying to do here, aside from just

understanding the customer.

So, you know, it, the offer them right.

The second thing that you want to do after you understand the client needs

is you want to establish the value.

What do we mean by establishing the value?

Establishing the value is picking points that you heard them

say are important to them.

You know, if they said we really want this done fast, then you're

going to focus on how your offer helps them get this done fast.

That's what you mean by establish the value, you know, in fast means they

save time, which means they save money.

Generally.

Also it can help them earn money quicker.

So it comes down to finances.

So you want to establish a value and here's some areas of value that

are quite often, people are looking for when it comes to services, it

could be the quality of your service.

It could be the convenience of your service.

It could be your experience, you know, for my clients, a lot of it is my years

of pricing and business experience.

It can be the personal attention that you give.

My clients love the little videos that I send them from time to time.

But when they, you know, when you join a program or you work with

me, one-to-one you get nice little onboarding, welcome videos and it's fun.

They (my clients) enjoy that personal touch and experience.

So those are a few areas that, you know, can often make a difference

when it comes to the value side or establishing the value.

The third thing, then once you've understood the needs

and establish the value.

Then you have to time it, right.

So you don't want to open with it as a, you know, it, as in pricing,

you don't want to open with the investment first, because then you

go into the transactional zone.

It's kind of like the friends though.

He don't want to go into the transactional stone, but if you wait too long, then you

may appear to be avoiding the conversation and that will make your customer

or client feel very uncomfortable.

So timing it right.

Is quite important.

My opinion is you or my experience even is that if you understand the client's

needs and you establish a value at that point in time, quite often, if you

ask the question, okay, are there any other questions I can answer for you?

A lot of times your customer will, you might say, well, you know,

how much is this going to cost me?

And you're going to respond with, well, let me tell you about the

investment in order to reach your goals.

Quite often, there's a natural transition there that can happen if you ask the

right question at the right time.

Then often the customer will say, okay, I'm ready to talk

about the investment now.

Now these next two points are really about how to, you know,

talk about this in a better way.

When the time is right and you're ready to talk about the price.

A Really key element here is to be appropriately transparent.

And what do I mean by appropriately?

You may be laughing to yourself.

So, of course we're not trying to hide anything from customers.

What we're trying to do is we're trying to focus our transparency

on the things that are related to the value that our offer brings.

What people often will do is they'll focus on the number of

days or the number of hours.

And those things are rarely if ever related to the value

that your offer brings.

Your value is related to your experience.

The value could be related to the deliverables that you bring, right?

So when you talk transparency in your pricing model then you want to talk

about the things that lead to value.

What happens if you don't do that?

So let's say you, you know, you line, I, you itemize everything in your

offer and give everything a price tag.

Then you're opening the door for the customer to say, well, we don't

need this and we don't need that.

And we don't need this, take those out.

And then all of a sudden your price is reduced.

You're quite often.

For myself.

I have two examples here for you.

One . So I have an offer to help people, you know, set their pricing strategy.

And a lot of people say, well, I don't need to do the first step,

which is always the customer.

Surprise surprise.

If you follow me, you knew that that's all right.

And they say, I don't need to do it.

I said, well, we always look at it.

And for some clients who have already done the work, it's

just a, check-in a verification that you have all that you need.

And for other clients who need to go more in depth, we spend more time there.

But we do every step in the process.

Some clients, we spend more time on one step than the other, but

in the end, it all balances out.

I don't put a separate price tag for each step of the process because

we need to go through all steps.

And that's a really important part of the learning journey and the

process that my clients go through.

So I personally wouldn't itemize those things.

There are other aspects that I do itemize.

So if people want to have more access to me, Then, you know, I have that either

itemized or as an option on the offer.

So you can see what I mean by, you know, focus on the things that are value.

Be transparent, but be transparent in the right way.

Another example that I want to give you here.

Is it from a client?

That I had recently where they wanted me to do some training

for their pricing team.

And they were.

You know, a group of people who had.

Who came into the job through other functions in their business.

So they didn't have a lot of pricing experience.

And they wanted to upscale them quite quickly.

So they said, you know, can you make us an offer to do some, some training,

like, you know, pricing basics.

For pricing experts.

So I started, you know, I made them an offer and then they came back

to me, said, we liked the idea.

We liked the concept.

Can you do it for, you know, 30% cheaper?

And I, you know, I sat back and I thought about that for a moment.

And I said, well, what we can do to meet your budget is we can do the trainings

Live, but I won't deliver any slide decks.

And the beauty of this was that I knew that the slide decks

were really important to them.

I also knew that they take a lot of time and energy on my

side to protect, to prepare.

So by pulling them out, I could.

I was willing to give them, you know, the training itself at.

It's lower at a lower price or a price.

It was closer to their budget.

Let's say we didn't, we didn't go for the full, the full discount there, but

I also knew that those slide decks were.

Massive value to them.

But I realized they didn't.

Think of it that way.

So by, you know, saying, yes, we can meet your budget.

If we take this out, I was able to put them in the position to decide how

valuable are the slide decks to us.

And in doing so they realized, oh, actually we really want those.

Not only for our own reference, but we can actually use that training and our pricing

people can do the training next time.

So it became very valuable to them.

So again, if you're going to be transparent, We're in this case, if

you're going to adjust the price, then you know, be focused on adjusting it

based on, on things that are a value to the client, so that they're in a position

to make decisions based on what level of value they want to get out of things.

So when is the time is right.

Be transparent, but be appropriately transparent.

The last point I want to make here is that when you get to that point

and you're talking price is you want to position your price as part of

the solution, not something they have to suffer through and endure.

Now, this might seem like a really silly.

Point to make, but it has a significant influence.

So one of the things that drives me batty, and I'll tell you,

Madam, or sir, if I hear you call your prices, cost is a thousand.

Lashes with a wet noodle for you, right?

Your prices are not cost, but when you refer to them as cost or talk

about them as cost to your customer, Then they perceive them that way.

So.

Listen to these two phrases.

And tell me what you think sounds like.

Something better for you.

So if I were to say.

The cost of this offer is 5,000 francs.

You know, for a package for this package that I'm offering.

Versus, as I said, for 5,000 francs, you'll get this coaching

package it'll help you to achieve.

Your goal of getting a job within the next three to six months.

What sounds better to you?

Positioning it as a cost or positioning the price as part of the

solution that they are getting to.

I think it's a very clear in the second case that positioning

it as part of the solution.

Puts it in a much better context that, okay, this is something that I

need to do in order to get to what.

To my goal, to what I do, what I want.

So that is what I wanted to share with you today.

If I had to summarize this or boil it down, I would say

it's all about the timing.

Yeah, so scope.

Understand needs and expectations, then establish the value because you can

actually use what you learn from the expectations and the needs to focus on the

correct value points to establish a value that's really relevant to your customer.

And then you want to start talking about your price in the right way,

be appropriately transparent, but also then make sure you position

the price as part of the solution.

That it's something of value that they need to do.

You know, something that they need to take on in order to reach.

The goal that they have in mind or reach their outcomes.

Leaving with your client's needs establishing the value of your offer

and being really clear and honest helps you approach pricing conversations

in a way that fosters trust.

And leads to more successful transactions in your business.

Actually, I would even replace that word transaction with relationships

and partnerships in your business, because that's really, when you're doing

this sort of bespoke and customized offers or solutions for your customers,

it's really about the relationship.

And less about the transaction.

That is all for this episode of Live with The Pricing Lady.

I hope you enjoyed it and have some great ideas for your business.

I look forward to hearing from you soon and as always enjoy pricing.

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Not sure where to start when it comes to improving pricing and profits?

At ThePricingLady.

com you can download a copy of my Self Assessment Pricing Scorecard.

Find out where it's going well and where you can begin improving.

Or just simply book a discovery call with me.

There we can discuss what's up with pricing in your business and

how I might be able to help you.

Thanks once again for joining.

Remember, pricing can hurt or help your business.

Let's make sure it's helping you reach your dreams.

See you next time and as always, enjoy pricing.