Pricing Mistakes that can Slow Down Sales

Pricing your product is just as important as your marketing plan. In fact, without the right price you could see all of your hard efforts of your marketing collapse around you. Not only can solid pricing turn your account books from red to black, but it can also help engender strong customer loyalty.

You should know what it costs to make what you're selling and get it to your customer. How you determine the price on top of those hard costs could be the make or break of your business.

Here are some common pricing mistakes that can slow down your sales or even bring them to a screeching halt!

Pricing without a strategy.

Your pricing strategy should always support your company’s marketing and operational goals. If you’re holding a discount promotion on a product at below cost, make sure that you can upsell your customer so you make a profit down the road. Likewise, price raises can only work if the customer feels that they are getting a lot of value from your company. A good pricing strategy should allow your products to be sold, with long-term profitability goals in mind and also being competitive. 

De-valuing your service or product.

Underselling is just as bad as overselling when it comes to pricing. You might know down to the penny what an object costs to manufacture and deliver but what about all the other costs associated with selling that product? What does it cost for you to hire a staff, rent a space and market that product? Those line items should all be factored into your price point. Remember you're hoping for volume sales to amortize all of those overhead costs.

Chasing your competitors.

If you're constantly matching your prices to your closest competitors you could be doing a disservice to your business. Unless you're aware of the same overhead and manufacture costs your competitor is applying to their products, their pricing is meaningless. Yes, you should keep an eye on the competition and make appropriate adjustments but don't let that be the total basis for your pricing structure. This issue also comes into play if your slash a price to beat a competitor. In the short run you might get a decent sales bump but those figures could be misleading if those customers won't be coming back for repeat business because they're out looking for the next cheap bargain. Always think of the long game.

Drastic price drops.

Yes, everyone wants to pay a fair price for a product or service. However, if you find yourself dramatically dropping your price for a particular customer they might think they were paying too much for that product to begin with. You don't want to alienate your customers with your drastic pricing policy.