You’ve just conquered late payments or may be you’re still in the process. You feel like you have been on the same height for a long time and it’s just about the right moment to add-up some spice to the meal. Price-rise in your services is what you might need to buckle-up the ongoing business.
It’s often said, when in doubt, say cheese. Well, not literally, but you got to keep your calm and take necessary steps to announce a price hike. Why would you need a price hike anyways? This is a self-assessment thing. Of course, you can’t afford to up-the-ante when demand is low. You would only think about it once you have your reputation established in the market.
And it’s often a backache to declare a price rise in your services. But, here are 5 steps to make it a bit easier –
1. Imply new prices on new customers and projects
Your old customers always seek favor. So, it won’t be right on their part to pay more than what they are paying now. Thus, you could impose new rates for rookies that join in or make it mandatory for all customers to pay equally on new projects.
New customers won’t have an issue abiding by your payment terms, leaving behind a few exceptions. Also, it would be a great idea to increase your rates every year or bi-yearly.
2. Soften the sudden shock by advance announcement
Raising the bar uninformed won’t be a nice idea. You must break the news a lot before the change takes place. Give your customers a reason for your decision. Let them know the date and time at which it happens. Offering a discount till that period could be a brilliant idea to sell more.
Another benefit of advance announcement is that you could get sufficient time to look for new customers if existing ones don’t approve of the same.
3. Don’t go beyond the reach
It’s not recommended to go above the line all of a sudden. You should take baby steps and then move further towards a big hike in the coming times, if required. A gradual increase, however could be digested by your customers or the ones that are yet to be your clients.
4. Time it perfectly
The timing has to be right to make sure this increase doesn’t move your customers away. Consider giving that push when you’re ready or rather when your clients are ready.
5. Prices increased? Great, now review them
Okay, so you are all-set to launch new rates. But, did you care to review those again? Is it the price that would still bring-in customers? Also, look into your rates, as to which one does justice to your services. Do you fit-in an hourly rate or a flat monthly fee? I leave this question for you to answer….
But, this is not the end, of course. I would love to hear what you have to say about your experiences of price hike. It would be great learning those. Feel free to leave your comments.
