One of my Tweets this morning (August 2010) was just a snippet about profit being far more important than numerous sales or account wins. The reason for it was that I have experienced working with one particular agency who threw everything (including the kitchen sink!) at a possible bit of new business making the creative team work all night to produce hundreds of bits of work in the hope that if enough mud is thrown, something will stick.
This is wrong. Yes, every prospect wants to see what you can do and possibly some ideas. But, the fact that they are sitting in front of you should go some way to reassuring you that you are in the running for their account. In the case of marketing, a prospective client has come to you as you are the expert not them and they will expect to pay for this expertise.
For example, if your house develops a leak in the roof, you will most likely contact a roofing specialist to sort out the problem. Will he/she arrive with an example of previous work done? Maybe. Will he/she start reducing prices to win the work? No. Apply this rule to pretty much every professional service industry and the same will happen.
Don’t be tempted to buy business.
When pricing remember you are a boutique not a supermarket. Stress value rather than actual cost and if need be, set client benefits against your price. You could even break down your costs into some sort of menu or even include some sort of extra.
Always be aware of the sector in which you operate and the price level it justifies. Remember that if you go in at a low price to clinch the deal, you will never be able to increase it. Clients want value not just a cheap price. I have one associate I work with who will never reduce his rates as he is very aware of the level of product he offers and what value it brings to clients. Similarly, I know that Bath Marketing Consultancy’s price and very high quality end product represents great value.
If pricing becomes the issue, treat it as an objection and overcome it. The expression about paying peanuts and getting monkeys is very true!
