Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Pricing Tips and Other Strategies for Service-Based Businesses with Bridget Brown

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Pricing Tips and Other Strategies for Service-Based Businesses with Bridget Brown · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  What I did to get over that hump is to really look at my competitors and also make sure I
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  have a a pricing list.
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  So that I don't, you know, talk myself down into having a discount for certain clients.
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  So sticking to that pricing list, and keeping up to date with competitors.
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  3210 ignition
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz chat podcast with the number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson's small biz lady.
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  America's number one small business expert, and I'm so excited to welcome you to another
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  episode of the small biz chat podcast.
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  Tonight's show is really a good one.
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  Now here on the small biz chat podcast, We talk about how to start and grow a successful small
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  business.
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  My guests have amazing insight to share, and they will give you savings advice from multiple
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  angles.
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  So now it is time for me to introduce my guest.
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  Bridget Brown, she is a mechanical engineer an owner of pages and posts, a digital design
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  agency based in Alabama.
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  Broad is also a Verizon Small Business digital ready power user with over 40 self paced
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  modules on live events under her belt before founding pages and posts in 2018 Bridget's
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  professional career included various positions in the energy and aerospace industries.
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  She earned her degree from the University of Mississippi, and she has an MBA from the
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  University of Houston, Alright.
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  If you want more information, go to pages and posts.com.
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  Bridgette, welcome.
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  Thank you.
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  Nice to to be here.
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  Thank you for having me, Linda.
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  Alright.
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  So tell us, how did you get into business?
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  I wanna know your origin story.
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  So I would say that I actually stumbled into the desire to have my own business.
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  So one of my cousins was, really interested in genealogy, so just researching our family
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  history.
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  And this cousin passed.
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  And so I stepped into that role of doing the genealogy, helping to hold family unions.
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  As a part of that, I looked at a lot of obituaries of my ancestors, and I noticed the
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  trend.
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  I noticed that There were several family members who own the businesses.
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  They had piece of shots.
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  They had laundromats, neural homes, one auntie, those clothes for the Jack and Five.
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  And I thought, wow.
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  And I guess coming up, I'm always imagined this straight route of college and then, corporate
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  corporate world, and that was at retirement.
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  And but learned from my ancestors that I could have my own business.
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  Education wise, I do have a degree in engineering, and I have a master's in Business
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  Administration.
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  So I decided to start my own business 4 years ago so that I can put my technic my technical
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  and my creative ability together to form a digital marketing agent.
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  So what types of services do you provide?
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  So all business owners need certain assets.
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  That's what I call them.
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  They need the logo.
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  They need the website, the social media content flowing with frequency and add.
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  And so pages and posts, we provide everything that the business owner needs for a good online
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  presence.
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  And we so we do logos, we do websites, social media content, Google ads, Facebook ads, and we
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  also do brochures and presentations so that a business can have that cohesive look no matter
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  where they they advertise.
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  Mhmm.
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  Mhmm.
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  And so who is your, like, ideal niche target customer?
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  Ideal customer is a business that's probably at least 5 years in.
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  So they're kind of out of that testing the water period where they they are set on their
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  on their services or their products, and they are ready to go ahead and create that
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  professional look and to, reach their target out in a in a more aggressive way.
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  So what types of tactics do you typically use to attract your customers?
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  Oh, that's Linda.
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  So far, it has been weird now.
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  That has kept me going at a very good rate these 4 years.
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  I do do some advertising.
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  I do do networking, but, honestly, it has been word-of-mouth.
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  Well, I wanna applaud you because if you have been able to sustain a business for 4 years,
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  majority on word-of-mouth, That means you do good work because nobody would be talking about
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  you and sharing your information if you did not do a great job.
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  So I applaud you.
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  And I think word-of-mouth referrals is a lost art, and I think it's something that more small
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  business owners really could benefit from.
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  Now tell me, what kinds of struggles have you faced in your business?
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  A struggle.
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  So many struggles.
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  In this early period, one of the main things that I had to practice, develop was pricing
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  strategy.
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  As a services business, I think that pricing can be really tricky because, especially when
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  you're in the beginning stage, you're kind of like, well, I don't know if they you know,
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  really see the value, or I don't know if I can charge as much as the competitors who have been
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  out there for years years.
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  I don't know if I can charge that amount.
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  And so it ends up can get you into a pickle if you don't do that pricing strategy correctly.
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  Because you can end up, really under underselling your services.
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  That has been the struggle.
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  But what I did to get over that comp is to really look at my competitors and also making
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  sure I have a a pricing list so that I don't, you know, talk myself down into having a
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  discount for certain clients.
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  So sticking to that pricing list and keeping up to date with competitors.
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  I think that's really important, but pricing sometimes comes down to confidence.
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  And as women, sometimes we we'll tell you the price and say, but I can work it out with you.
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  You know, like, we'll we'll discount ourself before the person has a chance to respond.
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  You know?
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  So you have to be really, really careful with that.
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  Now your your business was two years old when the pandemic hit.
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  How did that affect your business?
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  So now I was already working remotely, but before it's depending, I was able to get out
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  and do networking on a regular basis.
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  The pandemic shut all that down.
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  And so with all of just, you know, phone meetings and calls, that was a struggle because
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  I needed that interaction with other business owner and with potential clients.
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  So that was one of the things that I struggled with during the pandemic.
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  However, the pandemic was really good for my business in particular because it created the
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  need for our business owners to get their ducks in a row, so to get their website online, get
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  get online, get their social media so that they could their target audience because they were
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  no longer able to do that in person.
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  So I would say my sales went up.
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  My revenue went up during the pandemic.
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  Because I was able it was it was just it's a hot demand.
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  Sure.
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  Well, I wanna applaud you because a lot of people can't say that.
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  But what kinds of resources have you sought out over the years really to support your business?
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  Yes.
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  Resources are so important because, like many small business owners, really many minority
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  small business owners there's not a lot of capital up front.
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  And so, finding those resources has been very important.
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  Some of the things that I've looked to, particularly, earn grants and is also supplier
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  diversity programs.
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  A lot of companies are looking to partner with small business get services and products even
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  more so now.
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  And so just taking advantage of those connections to companies, getting in on
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  government contracts that has been those have been the resources that I've tried to, make
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  sure I'm really paying attention to.
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  And that's one of the things that that may be interested in the Verizon Small Business
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  Digital Realty Program.
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  So tell me about that program.
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  What what does it offer and what, you know, what's entailed with it?
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  I cannot say enough, great things about that program.
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  So the small business digital ready program is actually a series of online courses.
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  Also acts to expert webinars and office hours.
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  So it's actually like a whole curriculum on how to operate a business.
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  And I would I can't think of any subject of business ownership that it doesn't touch.
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  Right.
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  And and you have participated in quite a few of of the courses and things.
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  Right?
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  Yes.
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  I have.
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  I was hooked from the first moment.
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  You know, as an engineer, I'm I'm process is very important to me.
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  Having structure and this is very important.
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  So when I went on to the platform and went through the online course, my first online
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  course.
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  I was really impressed by the videos, by the job aids that are given at the end of this
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  video.
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  And then when I went to the first at the expert session and also the office hours, I realized
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  that the facilitators of those sessions were actually the people who were in the videos in
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  the online course.
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  So I just felt like I was dealing with some one on one time with those presenters in the in the
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  own demand courses, and I was actually getting to speak with them just like we are today.
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  So what course would you say did you enjoy the most or had the most impact on your business?
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  I would say the GIC certified course was one of the ones that was most beneficial to me.
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  That course opened my eyes to different certifications that were available, and that
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  was the first time that I knew that there was a state level minority business certification.
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  And so after I completed that course and talked to the the facilitator of the course at the at
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  the office hours, I was able to go in, find out how to apply for that certification.
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  I believe I filled it out in probably, like, 2 to 3 hours.
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  And in about 2 weeks, I had my certification.
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  And I was like, wow.
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  That was, you know, so easy, and I never would have known about it if I hadn't been in the
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  program.
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  Well, I I think that's really, really valuable to say.
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  One of the things that I also know about the Verizon program is that they have been very
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  generous with grants for people who participate in that platform.
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  Right?
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  Yes.
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  Yes.
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  That was one of the first things that attracted me to the program.
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  And I saw there was opportunity to receive a $10,000 grant.
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  I said, will let me, mhmm, try to take it, take, a look at this opportunity.
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  And so what the program does it say, if you take at least 2 courses or 10, 2 sessions, then
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  you become qualified to apply for the grant.
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  And I did apply for the grant, and it's the simple application just like some of the ones
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  that you would, apply to for other business funding.
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  So the application won't take long to fill out, but then you're given that opportunity to be
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  selected for that $10,000 grant.
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  Yeah.
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  And my understanding is is that they're about to roll out.
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  I believe that they've made a commitment to fund $1,000,000 worth of grants in 2022.
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  And I know I believe starting April 25th through June, people will be able to start
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  applying again.
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  So if you take the 2 classes or participate in 2 of the mentoring sessions, you become
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  eligible.
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  So, you know, everybody I think should be heading over to verizon.com forward slash
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  digital ready so that you can, see what it's all about because free money is free money.
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  Right?
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  Exactly.
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  Yes.
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  Highly recommend it.
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  Alright.
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  Now tell me this.
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  What is the best business advice that you have ever received?
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  I would say the best business advice is to be slow to hire and quick to fire.
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  So hiring is one of the points in business that allows you to really scale your operation.
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  And, if you do it too early, sometimes you can have to backtrack because if you don't have a
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  revenue to support the salary, then you'll have them.
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  You'll have to make rearrangement.
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  And, also, you can come come into situations where you're tired of someone that's not a
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  great fit, and you can strive over and over to try to to do coaching and try to make it work
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  out But at a certain point, you do have to know when it's time to fire so that your business
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  can't survive.
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  Alright, Bridgette.
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  What is your favorite podcast?
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  My favorite one is the digital marketing podcast.
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  I'll listen to that quite often just so I can stay up on the trends, of the of the industry.
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  That's what Ryan Dice.
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  Right?
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  Yes.
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  Yeah.
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  I I really like him too.
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  He's great.
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  Alright, Bridget.
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  What is your favorite business app?
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  Yes.
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  I mean, everybody has their, there's certain project management after being locked.
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  So mine is Asana.
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  I did try Trello as well, but Asana is the one that fits for me.
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  Love it.
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  Love it.
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  What is your favorite old school marketing tip?
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  I would say there's a lot of emphasis on digital advertising, but don't forget the the
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  snail mail, the the print post card mailer, they can be very successful.
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  And so I've actually recently done that for a client, and Yes.
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  That that can be that's a way to go.
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  And another avenue to get more clients.
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  Love it.
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  Love it.
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  I'm a big fan of it.
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  Alright.
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  Bridget, what is your favorite business book?
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  Mine is goals by Brian Tracy.
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  I would say the power of having smart goals wins every time and makes you so much more
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  productive.
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  I love it.
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  It definitely has made me a few more things.
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  Mhmm.
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  And one of my favorite books is Disrupt You by Jay Samet.
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  And I love that book because he says in order to disrupt the world, start by disrupting
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  yourself.
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  That's one of my very favorite business books.
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  And I and I buy it a lot for young people and give it away because I because I just feel like
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  the mentality is right is right.
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  Listen.
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  Thank you all so much for joining me for this latest episode of the small biz chat podcast.
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  I really enjoy doing this, and our mission is to end small business failure.
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  If you're out here still working on your digital pivot, be sure to check out Small
• 16:09
  Bizlating University, and my brand new course, social media selling.
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  I wanna give you the tools you need to finally start generating the money you deserve online.
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  Thank you all so much for being with us tonight, and I wanna leave you with this.
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  You never lose in business, either you win or you learn.
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  Good night, everybody, and God bless.
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  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 16:43
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.