Five Essential Tips Before You Raise Your Price

Five Essential Tips for Raising Services PricesEconomic conditions over the past couple of years have made raising prices the exception rather than the norm for many businesses including IT solution providers and managed services providers. But now that the economy seems headed towards recovery, it may be time to look at your price structure again and give yourself a raise. Before you do, consider these five essential tips.

Look Around YouHas the market you served remained relatively stable in terms of competitors? Or has the recession spurred new start ups, or even vendors looking to sell those same services to your customers. Tread carefully if that’s the case.

Examine the Value-AddIf you are providing more value to customers then it’s only natural you should command more payment in return. What additional services can you add to what is already offered? What are your customers’ headaches today and how can you cure them?

Unbundle Your ServicesAre you selling your services as part of a comprehensive package? Consider unbundling some or all of them. That way customers can pick and choose what they want. They may end up reducing their total bill but be willing to pay a premium for the services they really want.

Decide How MuchIf you do decide to raise prices, the amount you raise them by will be a big part of the decision. Think about customer tolerances and how you will promote the value they gain. Keep in mind that a big price increase can get the pain over sooner compared to several smaller increases.

Be Strategic About TimingIt will be easier to raise prices when you introduce new features or better performance, so it may be wise to time price increases with upgrades of your platform if you are an MSP.