Price and fee setting are thorny issues for SMEs.
Who has not been advised to “stick to your guns” when a client or customer tries to negotiate a lower quote and been assured that they will not lose the customer?
Who has not been told by some guru to “put your prices up” as an indicator that you’re offering a superior service in which you have faith?
Then there are those customers who ask for free or heavily discounted work on the “promise” of further contracts or the loss leader that’s supposed to hook the customer into buying more.
It is easy for the consultant to give advice but how often do they amend it to suit prevailing conditions?
And right now, in most sectors there is an oversupply of most businesses and services and not all the existing businesses will survive.
Those that do will be those businesses that have been wise enough to understand and employ an astute mix of marketing and pricing models that may well include discounting, loss leaders or a range of services at different price points from basic to premium to keep the orders flowing in and the customers happy.
But more than that they will only survive if they can demonstrate quality and a personal service that is the hallmark of many SMEs by comparison with the bigger fish.
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