DesignBiz Rx Weblog

I was speaking to someone about yesterday’s commitment pricing post and he made me realize I left out  some important information. So here’s a follow-up.

First, I don’t want it to appear that I was advocating raising your prices with no consideration for any of the other components that go into setting your prices.

To be successful with commitment pricing you need your clients to invest more than just money with you. They need to invest their time, attention and emotions in order to realize the full value of what they’re purchasing. Now custom design is already a time-intensive and emotionally fraught process, but it’s important to remember that you’re not in the business of selling products, but of an improved, enhanced, more beautiful life. If that’s not worth an investment in time, attention and emotion, I don’t know what is!

I mentioned “full value” in the previous paragraph. Commitment pricing needs to match or exceed the value your client’s get from the service or products you’re offering. What do I mean by this? Just think about how interested or dedicated you would be to selling or promoting something that isn’t worth what you charge for it. What’s the point, for you and for your clients?

And finally, everyone is familiar with the concept that a happy client is easier to build additional business from, in terms of both future projects and referrals, than having to cold-call or market to unknown prospects. So think of your commitment pricing as a means of establishing a support system, for your clients and for your business. Staying in touch, following up, servicing them three-months, six-months or one year down the road, is definitely good for business, but it costs something to do that. This is one aspect where commitment pricing is very aptly named!

So make a commitment–to your clients, yourself and your business–and I think you’ll see the difference almost immediately.