Often, when deciding what to charge, a caterer thinks only of what they can get by with. Something like: “What price can I place on my catering that will insure the least chance that I’ll miss the sale?” Most buyers of catering tell us only when they think we are asking too much for our hard work, not when they think we’re charging too little. Imagine a buyer saying, “I’ll take the chicken menu but I want you to charge me $2 per person more because your price is too low.” What a wonderful day that would be! Until then, the only thing a caterer can do is to keep reaching for the highest selling price they can get without losing the sale.
The selling price is the right price that enables you to sell your goods and yields an acceptable profit, at the same time giving the customer the feeling of getting value for their money. Pricing to get the right selling price is a combination of both art and science. You need to constantly measure your price by balancing it with profitability, goodwill and repeat business.
I find that if your prices are fair, and you know how they were built up and can defend their value that you client will accept them.
ReplyDeleteWhen a client tells me that my prices are too high, I always ask them "compared to what?" Puts them in the position of substantiating their claim instead of me defending my prices. I find their answer gives me the info I need to build value in my product.
I had a client tell me that my price was too low and wouldn't get accepted because the decision maker would think I didn't take my product as seriously as they took their event.
Sell the value and uniqueness of the product and the price becomes a tertiary issue. If your whole sales process is built on price then you will live and die by the prices of the lowest bidder every time.