Profitability - Pricing Strategies To Make Money
by: Kerri Salls
At a meeting the other day, a marketing consultant opened her talk by asking the group, "What are you worth?" She went on to discuss all the different ways we minimize our worth or discount our value in desperate attempts to close the sale. After all the pitfalls of pricing and selling were laid out, she closed the talk by asking again, "What are you worth?" The responses around the room were very entertaining as people began to realize or give themselves permission to adjust their prices to make a profit!
As a wakeup call for your own business, I want to give you some options to consider ensuring your pricing delivers the profitability you deserve.
1. Educate your customers. When prospects approach you or calls/emails you for an estimate/quote, this is a buying signal. They are telling you they are ready to buy and willing to spend money to purchase your expertise. - Provide superior service and they won't look elsewhere and won't blink at your price. Excellence is priceless.
2. Many prospects perceive value and price as equal. A lower price can actually hurt your credibility and sales because they associate the best quality products and services with premium pricing. Listen to your customers. - Do some competitive research and be sure you are not shorting yourself.
3. Periodically calculate your profit margin to be sure what you charge, after expenses and overhead, pays you a good living. Covering expenses, overhead and payroll is not enough.
4. Periodically do the numbers to be sure that the actual cost/hour and price/hour give you the necessary profit margin. Your daily rate may sound reasonable. But if you bill for 7 or 8 hours and put in 12 -14 hours, you may actually be paying yourself less than your lowliest employee or intern.
5. There are ways to keep your prices fixed to maintain value and yet be flexible. Add the flexibility by designing different bundles of services or different packages of hours/month or hours/project to be contracted.
6. Set your fees just a bit above what you feel comfortable asking for. Then, bump them up incrementally until clients complain or you stop getting reorders.
7. When asked, be upfront about your prices, and then zip it. Do not apologize for your prices, defend your prices, or justify how you derived the price.
8. Yes, there are strategic times when negotiating a price is in your best interest. For example: a unique packaging of services for a new type of client, or the pilot or beta testing of a new product or program.
9. If you still think your initial consultation/sales presentation with a client should be for free, set some boundaries and expectations and clearly state the value and your investment in preparing for that initial consultation. Another way to approach this is to charge for the initial consultation at your full rate and if they purchase your product or service, that fee gets applied to the final invoice payment.
10. If you close the sale and get paid on that one sale but provide value-added services of following up in a number of ways, are you losing money from the opportunity costs? Maybe you can charge a small premium to provide stellar customer service. Clients will value it more if they have to pay for it.
You have to appreciate what you are worth before your clients will. Decide what you are worth in the marketplace. Be sure your fee or rate has a profitability factor built in. You are worth it.
About The Author
Kerri Salls, MBA runs a virtual business school to train, consult and coach small business CEO's and entrepreneurs in 10 key strategies to make more profit in less time. Learn more at http://www.breakthrough-business-school.com/products.html or sign up for a free weekly newsletter at http://www.breakthrough-business-school.com/newsletter.shtml.
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State Taxes
State Taxes
by: Matt Bacak
Small businesses owners are dependent upon each state for their liability when it comes to payroll taxes for their state of operation.
Each state varies, and there are even some states that do not withhold state tax and require no state income tax filing.
Each state requires that an employer deduct and withhold unemployment tax, just the same as at the federal level.
Generally, however tax rates for the state level on unemployment tax will vary depending upon the employment history of the business.
Once in business long enough, a tax rate can be established based upon the employer's experience with benefit charges and taxable payroll.
Taxes are deducted in the same manner as federal taxes, each pay period and filed with the applicable state on a monthly basis.
Most states will also require a quarterly information report comparable to the 941 federal forms.
Payroll > State Taxes
10 Reasons Why Time And Attendance Systems Are NOT Just Substitutes For Clock Cards
10 Reasons Why Time And Attendance Systems Are NOT Just Substitutes For Clock Cards
by: Derek Gardner
Time and Attendance Systems don't get the attention they deserve. They are simply seen as a modern substitute for clock cards: a good way of making sure your workforce is where it should be. But there's more to it than that. Used intelligently, the information recorded through Time and Attendance Systems can be used to enrich a whole range of business processes. In essence, it can help you understand and deploy your resources better in everything from skills utilisation to scheduling and actual job costing.
Implementation:
A Time and Attendance Systems is very easy to use and implement. And it works very well over an intranet. Team members across the country can access the system effortlessly every day.
Getting used to the system:
After only a few weeks on the Time and Attendance System, it has made the process of tracking...
10 Reasons Why Time And Attendance Systems Are NOT Just Substitutes For Clock Cards
Payroll > 10 Reasons Why Time And Attendance Systems Are NOT Just Substitutes For Clock Cards
Business Tools to Help You Run a Successful Business
Business Tools to Help You Run a Successful Business
by: Halstatt Pires
Setting up a small business, whether web based or not, can be a very time consuming and difficult task. The increasing popularity of the Internet and the resources available has seen a massive increase in business tools to help you on your way.
When setting up a business, even the best prepared among us will struggle to do everything and remember everything. It is very unlikely that we will understand all of the financial and legal ramifications of a new business, especially when we need to concentrate on getting that elusive first sale or completing the first contract. It isn?t always feasible to employ an accountant and a solicitor as well as a secretary, a salesperson and any other workers needed in the daily running of the business. So, we need to be able to diversify when setting up a new business and the best piece of advice anyone can give you to help is to make...
Business Tools to Help You Run a Successful Business
Payroll > Business Tools to Help You Run a Successful Business
Find some Sample Payroll Check Stubs on the Net for Easy Reference
Find some Sample Payroll Check Stubs on the Net for Easy Reference
by: Sara Jenkins
Starting a business? For many people, the bravery to venture out on your own is the ultimate dream, you?re your own boss, you make your own time, and your dreams of making it big in the independent business lives on. But don?t forget there are many responsibilities. As the business grows so is the need for manpower. This means salaries to pay and records to make and keep. Maintaining a pleasant working condition is imperative, and nothing makes a disgruntled employee than a spotty payroll check stub. Everyone wants fair compensation and as the owner of the company or at least the accountant, you want to make sure that this followed to the T.
Salaries may be given depending on the preference of the company or to the nature of the business. Some provide salary schemes as bi-monthly, monthly or quarterly (every week).
There are now many ways to pay the...
Find some Sample Payroll Check Stubs on the Net for Easy Reference
Payroll > Find some Sample Payroll Check Stubs on the Net for Easy Reference