Tip 6: Never belittle what you do.

I know of several people (women, actually!!) who unintentionally diminish their value in a misguided attempt (and interpretation) of modesty.

If you have just done someone a favor, and they are expressing their gratitude, here are three things you can say to instantly diminish the value of what you did:

1) “It was nothing really”
2) “Any fool can do it”
3) “It only took a few minutes” [when it didn’t]

As soon as the magician has shown you how he did the trick, the magic disappears.
If someone is grateful for what you did, accept their praise (and money) without discrediting what you did. If they thought that what you did was magic let it remain that way. Just say: Thank you.

Tip 5: There will always be some customers you can’t afford to do business with …

… for a number of reasons. Here are 12:

1) The client or the job is too big for you – you don’t have the resources;
2) you’ll lose other customers that are important to you;
3) you’ll become too specialized;
4) they drive too hard a bargain;
5) they’ll be too time consuming;
6) their dodgy reputation will taint your good name;
7) you’ll generate bad press from the deal;
8) they will bully you;
9) you suspect they’re working for your opposition (or they will become your competition);
10) what they want is unreasonable or unachievable;
11) the risk of failure is too high;
12) doing business with them will ultimately cause you some commercial harm.

©2006 Jane Francis is the author of Price Yourself Right: A guide to charging what you are worth (ISBN: 0-595-38601-6) available at Barnes and Noble (USA), WH Smith (UK) or online at amazon.com

‘Price Yourself Right’ Tip 4: Know when to walk away.

There will always be some customers you simply can’t afford to do business with so you gotta know when to walk away!

Kenny Rogers immortalized those words in the song The Gambler*

“You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, Know when to walk away, and know when to run. You never count your money, when you’re sittin’ at the table. There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.”

*words by Don Schlitz

The same as gambling, when you pitch your price, you gotta know your odds, know your limits and know when to call it quits.

©2006 Jane Francis is the author of Price Yourself Right: A guide to charging what you are worth (ISBN: 0-595-38601-6) available at Barnes and Noble (USA), WH Smith (UK) or online at amazon.com

Tip 3: Price makes a statement about credibility.

So you want to buy a genuine Rolex™ watch for ten dollars? I don’t think so!

As part of our growing up process we learn to think cheap = nasty and expensive = quality. It may not be true but that's what we learn to associate with those words. And if that's what's in your customer's mind you'd better not forget: Perception is Reality!

Does your price reflect your quality and credibility?

There’s a lovely saying attributed to the Gucci family:
Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten.

© 2006, Jane Francis is the author of "Price Yourself Right”. You can buy the book here.

Tip 2: Don't confuse volume with margin

It is ingrained in our psyche to expect to get a discount on volume. Even as children it doesn't take us long to figure out that sweets bought individually are more expensive [per item] than the whole bag!

Somehow it is easier to see the discounts and savings on products as apposed to time ... which is why service providers often end up getting busier and busier, doing more and more for less per unit of time sold.

Those that want to work (and that's a large percentage of self-starters) also want to feel busy -that way we don't need to worry we're going to run out of work. Besides if we're busy we won't have time to worry or we'll have something to do to take our minds off it!

But the important question to ask of yourself, and others, is not ‘Are you busy?’ but ‘Are you profitable?’ You can be very busy and still go bust (or have a heart attack) if you are not keeping a disciplined eye on your gross margin.

So today's tip is to watch it: Don't confuse volume with margin.

© 2006 Jane Francis is the author of "Price Yourself Right”. You can buy the book here.

Tips to help you 'Price Yourself Right' start today

Over the next six months I will blog a tip every couple of days. Here's today's tip:

Always remember that if your competition can sell at those low prices [and go out of business]—you can to.

Do you sometimes wonder how your competition can afford to sell at such low prices? The truth is often they can't ... often the low prices are a sign that they need the cash flow [to pay their suppliers and staff without which they wouldn't even have a business]. The low prices are a last ditch attempt at survival—and you don't want to join them!