Below is a sample “We’re Raising Our Prices” letter that you can adapt for use in your business. Note the reasons given for increasing prices. Of course I just made them up, but the point is to use valid reasons that may apply to your business. Insurance premiums, wage increases, transportation costs, fuel costs, increased Australian dollar or currency exchange rates, additional security measures, skills shortages, property taxes, decreased from profit margins, having to move to new facilities and dozens of others are all valid reasons. that you can use to increase your prices.
Can you see how they have made a limited offer to entice business owners to buy now? And with cash in advance? So not only do they get the most companies to pay the highest prices, they also get an immediate cash flow boost from the top 10 companies that pay upfront. And they clearly detail the additional products and services they are offering. So while they have to raise their prices, they offer extras to sweeten the deal. You will see that a specific dollar amount was mentioned at the very beginning. That’s to get the attention of the owners. If that was hidden at the bottom of the letter, chances are they wouldn’t even have read that far. Would you read a letter that said “Save $4,975 when you buy now”? I guess you would. So keep in mind that you need to grab their attention from the very beginning. Then tell them you don’t want to raise your prices, but because of (insert your business reasons), you have to. It’s really that simple. I mean, would you be offended if you received a letter like that?
Add a few extras to sweeten the deal
After you’ve explained how you should increase your prices, add a few additional products and services, and you’ll find that no one really notices. If they are happy with your product or service, they will continue to use it. You can include additional value within your own business, as we have seen in this chapter. Or add some other business value, like the free “Insurance Consultant” consultation on the chart. In this case they have done both. They will provide some additional services and some gifts from another business.
Your action plan to increase your prices and add value
- Create a valid USP for your business, something that will make your customers say “Wow, this lady really knows her stuff, what a great business.” Involve all your staff; Make it something everyone is a part of. Remember that a good USP formula is… “You know when (insert common problem or frustration for your industry or profession here), well what we do is (show how you solve this problem better, faster, easier or even cheaper than the others )”.
- Stop competing on price, don’t be a retailer, if you have a price advantage over the competition that’s fine. But don’t be a detailer. Compete based on your USP and the tremendous additional value you offer your customers.
- Add Value and Raise Your Prices – Add tons of additional value to your product or service. Make your business stand out so much that price becomes irrelevant to your customers.
- Contact related but non-competing businesses in your local area; explain to them that it costs money to get a new customer. They should know this anyway. You will send them new clients for free, they just have to give away some of their time, or a free meal, or 3 free hours of gardening, and so on. If they know it costs them $200 to get a new customer, there’s no use giving away a small sample of your product or service to get that customer. Particularly when you explain how that person can become a customer for life.
- Give coupons, discounts, gifts, extras, etc. with every sale you make. Once you’ve gotten the other businesses to agree, give away some of your coupons, discount coupons, giveaways, etc. with each purchase.
- Add extra value from within your company: small things like extra service, thank you letters and calls, follow up calls, cleaning up after follow up visits, birthday cards or phone calls, being on time, making sure your customers understand what’s about to happen next, alerting your customers to useful information that could help them, sending flowers and gifts or scratch-off lottery tickets, etc., can make a world of difference in your customers’ perception of you. And it’s all a matter of perception. You see, you could be the most honest person to walk this earth. But if you’re a used car dealer, people will have a certain perception of you. It is not true, but it is true in their minds. And what you want is for your customer’s mind to say, “Wow, this guy is the best, most reliable car salesman I’ve ever seen.” By doing some or all of the above little things, your customers will perceive you as someone special, unique, different, and caring.
- Offer an outrageous, better than risk-free guarantee: When you eliminate any risk in doing business with you, your sales can’t help but go up. Even if you are much more expensive than your competitors, the fact that dealing with you is a ‘no risk’ situation will mean that more people will choose you. Most business owners seem too scared to offer an outrageous guarantee. They think that people will take advantage of them. The simple fact is that they won’t. You will probably find that maybe I in 100 or I in 1000 people take unfair advantage of your guarantee. And who really cares? Because, when you offer a better than risk-free guarantee, you’ll soon be making so many more sales at a much higher price than you are now, that you certainly won’t care if 1% or more of people try to rip you off.
- Use testimonials to prove what you say is true – Testimonials from previous satisfied customers also help reduce any risk a customer may feel doing business with you.
- Send a letter to all your customers telling them that you are raising your prices. But before doing so, there is a 1-month window of opportunity to buy at the above prices. Use the sample letter as a template. That way, you’ll get a cash flow boost from customers coming in to buy at the old price, and when they all start paying the new, higher prices a month from now. While you’re at it, include a customer survey with the letter and ask them to tell you what they liked best about doing business with you, what they liked least, if they’re happy with your service or product, what you could do. better and so on. You can offer a prize, gift, or incentive for additional responses. When you receive them, pay close attention to what your customers are telling you. Do a lot more of what they like and remove everything they don’t like. Then you can easily justify your increased prices.
- Over time, make sure all your marketing efforts clearly explain why your business is different: Focus on the benefits your customers will get when they do business with you. Or tell them about the disaster they will avoid doing business with you. Emphasize their risk-free guarantee, customer service, reliability, proven track record, double the warranty, lower running costs, etc.
This is a sample letter that you can modify and use…….
Dear Customer,
Save $4,975 when you buy now
This is your last chance to buy at our previous prices – we don’t want to, but we just have to raise our prices
First of all, don’t worry, if you renew your security contract with us in the next 30 days, you’ll not only save on our new prices, but you’ll also get an additional 10% discount that will save you a whopping $4,975 on your contract. current.
We really don’t want to, but we’re going to have to raise our prices. The rising cost of insurance premiums, recent industrial action resulting in wage increases for the security industry, rising fuel costs and land taxes mean we simply must increase our prices or we will go out of business.
We just want to take this opportunity to say “Thank you” for your business, we have enjoyed helping you protect your business and property.
We want you to be assured that you will continue to receive the same great service from us; in fact, we are going to introduce the following new services for your benefit, all at no additional cost.
- Twice as many patrols: We’ll now inspect your property every 20 minutes instead of 40. Your facility will now be more secure than ever.
- Free Nightly Security Escorts for Your Staff – We know that from time to time some of your staff work late at night and as you know “you can’t be too careful these days”. From now on, we will be there to safely escort them to their cars, and we will provide this service free of charge. Just give us a call 10 minutes before you want to leave, and we’ll be there.
- Free “Insurance Consultation” worth $500 – Over the past three years we have served over 50 local businesses. No ome has been stolen in that time. And because of our great track record, companies that use us may be eligible for a significant insurance discount. So we’ve arranged a “free consultation” with our friends at “Jakes Business Insurance” to see if you can save some more money.
- Free $1,000 Value “Property Safety Audit” – We want to maintain our 100% “Theft-Free” record. Therefore, we will offer you a free “property security audit”. We will spend a day reviewing every inch of your business premises and provide you with a full written report. This will cover areas such as fire safety, alarms, personnel safety, “weak spots”, blind spots, etc.
So even though we are going to increase our prices, we are offering a higher level of service, and you may be able to save $1,000 on your insurance policy by using us. Hurry up…
We must clarify that this offer is strictly limited to the first 10 businesses that renew their security contract with us and pay the first two months in advance.
Feel free to call us at 1800,000,000 to discuss any of these changes. Our goal is to provide you with an even better level of service and protection than in the past. We attach to this letter a complete list of our new prices and services, as well as the contracting forms.
Remember, on your current contract you will save $4,975 if you accept this offer. So pick up the phone and give us a call right now, as we can only extend this offer to the first 10 companies that accept it.
Yours sincerely
business owner
Business Name
P.S. This offer is strictly limited to the first 10 companies to renew their security contract with us and pay for the first two months in advance.
So you can see that by using this type of sample letter explaining and justifying your price increase you can build customer loyalty.
The above is just an example of what you can create with a little imagination.
Article written by
MARKETING BY PETER TONKS
www.plustenmarketing.com
Marketing by Peter Tonks.