When you saw the above image, what caught your attention?
I chose an impactful photo for a reason, so please accept my apologies if you find it offensive. It’s difficult not to give the image your full attention for a few seconds, to wonder what it is exactly and is it really what it looks like?
I have been in many businesses who have approached price increases exactly like this. They have communicated an increase in a naked way. A typical example might go something like this:
“Dear Customer,
Thank you for your custom over the last year.
We are writing to inform you that our prices will be going up by [insert number] % as of 1st January.
Kind regards,
Sales Manager”
This is a fine example of why businesses are scared of pricing, and why sales managers dread price increase season. The customer has nothing else to focus on but an increase in price, so that’s what the sales person has to overcome, next time they call. The communication is well and truly laid bare and naked. Worse still, it reads like the customer is being rewarded for his loyalty by having to pay more for it!
Letters like this reduce customer trust, trust that may have been built up over many years.
Avoid naked price increases at all costs!
The ‘no-nakedness’ also applies to any communication with a customer that includes price.
If you do not make it really, and I mean really, clear what value the customer will get if they buy, then all they will focus on will be the price. It will look stark and bare, and will be easy to refuse.
This is one of the dangers of price lists, especially on your website, where you don’t have the chance to ask what the customer’s really looking for, or use your powers of persuasion.
Hopefully, by reading to this point, you have figured out already what the fifth and final shift is.
Mindset Shift No.5: Always clothe price in value
Make sure that every time you mention price, it is well dressed in layers of rich value that meet the customer’s needs.
Tips for the best dressed price increases:
- Never, ever, increase your prices in a naked way; that is, by just telling customers prices are going up.
- Follow the first four mindset shifts so that the customer is constantly reminded of how great your offer is and how well it meets their needs.
- Always wrap pricing and price increase communications with the benefits the customer gets. Do this on your website, in your proposals and during sales calls. Do this every time.
Sales GROWTH Expert provides a range of services to bring external help to businesses that need to grow their own sales experts. Our aim is to support businesses, both small and large, to drive the value they bring to their customers, and the capability of their people to sustain it. For a copy of our latest ebook, PRICING-MINDSET MISTAKES AND HOW TO SHIFT THEM, email amanda@salesgrowthexpert.co.uk and we’ll send it to you.