December 9, 2022

Plumber Pricing

Yesterday I posted here on LinkedIn about my recent superb experience with a plumber, using that story to make the point that how we show up is an intangible value to our clients.

This plumber came to our house on a Friday night, a few hours after I called him, to diagnose the problem. After doing that, he said he could be back the next morning, on a Saturday, to perform the necessary repairs.

Unfortunately for him, though, my experience with this plumber was further elevated by his pricing. Even though he delivered his service so quickly, his price was well below the estimate I received from another plumber who I could never get to show up.

Even though offering the intangibles of both reliability and speed of service, this five-star plumber didn’t price his service to reflect the client-perceived value of those intangibles.

Professional services providers, the speed with which you execute an engagement is a feature and should be priced as one. Bookkeepers, producing financials by the 15th of every month should be priced at a premium relative to engagements which call for the end of the month. Yet so many bookkeepers I’ve run into price all their clients at their same hourly rate (which highlights just one of many problems with hourly pricing, but that’s another subject).

As we approach year-end, some professionals like attorneys or business valuation experts will have clients who, with little to no warning, come walking in with a project which needs to be completed by December 31.

Price the needed velocity. When confronted with a premium price, such clients will make their own determination as to how important that year-end closing is, and therefore how much they value your project.

Speed is a value. Price it.

 

 

Image created using Craiyon (Formerly DALL-E Mini)

(This blog post was also posted on LinkedIn.)

©Ray Business Advisors, LLC and John Ray

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About me: I help solo or small professional services firm owners with the confidence and positioning necessary to improve their pricing and change the trajectory of not only their business but their life.

I have a podcast called The Price and Value Journey, which features interviews with industry leaders and audio versions of my blog posts. You can find the podcast on your favorite podcast app.

I also have a book coming out in 2023:  The Price and Value Journey: Raise Your Confidence, Your Value, and Your Prices to Grow Your Business Using The Generosity Mindset.

For more information, go to PriceValueJourney.com