Pricing question.

Do any of you guys and gals put your party rates on the back of your cards?
I gave it some thought, but what happens when you increase your rates? I also thought about doing this so that people will have my pricing in hand and then they will know if they can afford the service.

Do any of you guys and gals put your party rates on the back of your cards?
I gave it some thought, but what happens when you increase your rates? I also thought about doing this so that people will have my pricing in hand and then they will know if they can afford the service.

What if you used a rubber stamp? Sure that doesn't cover everybody, but you could stay current.

I see the point....but I think i would want people to call me and talk about it.

I bought a Kirby vacuum a few months ago....if the people that called said....can you afford a vacuum cleaner that costs $1700?...i would have said no way. The last vacuum i bought cost $49 at kmart.

But then they demonstrated it for me and showed me why it would be in my best interest to have a vacuum cleaner like this. Ending up paying $1200 for it and i am glad...but there is no way i would have called a place that said....vacuum cleaners between $1200 and $1700!!

Point is...a lot of times you need to demonstrate value BEFORE talking price.

the goal of giving out a business card is to get people to call me. If after we talk, i determine that we are nowhere close to the price range they HAVE to be in, i will thank them for their time and wish them luck. But i want to determine that rather than letting them determine that before they call.

If I was getting tons of calls and i was looking for a way to cut down the needless calls, that might be a way to do it. But that's an unlikely scenario.

Ending up paying $1200 for it and i am glad...but there is no way i would have called a place that said....vacuum cleaners between $1200 and $1700!!


Jeez! And I almost shot my wife when she spent $500 on a Dyson! But I do admit it does a good job.

Great post Scott.. I thought about that as well. I like getting calls but the price thing could be the deal killer. I will decide after I build my site. I have people come up to me at parties and ask what do I charge. If I hand them the card they will have the info and then they can call me to discuss the details. It's just away for me to avoid the explanation of my pricing. In my area I can get my rate. Then again you have a lot of guys in this big city doing the same job for less.
Keep the replies coming.

Greets, John. :)

Scott makes a good point. If you're selling professionalism and quality service, you may wish to communicate with prospective clients before discussing cost.

If your rate is printed on your biz cards, you may miss the art of the sale. :)

I bring my stuff with me. No, it's not on my cards.

I wouldn't have it printed on business cards. On a website, it's easy enough to change, but with cards, if you change your price, ya gotta buy new cards.

Another thing to consider...you give a card to a bride & groom. It has your price of $XXX on it. 2 years later they give it to a friend so they can call you. Your price is now $XXXX. They reply "but your card says $XXX."

We're not even putting a price list on our "flyers" that we hand out at Wedding shows, etc. Instead we have a separate price list (with a "prices good through certain date" disclaimer) along with a description of our services.

Had to trash too many flyers after the last price hike.

I decided to keep the pricing off of my cards. I just wait until the question comes up.

:sqembarrassed:Thats a good idea,But you wouldnt want to underbid yourself.I think putting a starting at price would work better for for me.

Methinks it depends on what type of marketing resources one uses, where the leads come from, and the volume of inquiries.

If one is primarily internet and/or yellow page based advertising, and it's successful, the call volume maybe high. With that type of coverage and call volume, the sheer numbers of tire-kickers or shoppers just beginning their information gathering, may be exhausting, even debilitating as the rejection rate in those two categories is pretty high. In this case, having an absolute bottom-line, won't leave the house for anything less price might be considered in order to prevent wasting time on someone who has no intentions of shopping quality or experience.

If your phone or email inbox is registering less than a handful of inquiries a week, and you're happy with your advertising and marketing structure, having a price of any kind listed may preclude the opporunity to sell someone on your value.

Personally, the tire kickers and price shoppers so nearly destroyed the desire to continue in the mobile DJ field that, for sanity's sake, prices were listed on the web site, but not on the business card. So far posted prices on the web site has really helped in prequalifying leads and filtering out those on a fixed budget less than what I'm willing to agree to, but maybe, just maybe, as radical as it feels and sounds, maybe that's not such a bad idea (some pricing structure on the biz card). Things that makes one go Hmmmmmmm!