Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Should I have pricing on my wedding business website?
Transcript
- 0:00Becca: When was the last time you purchased something without knowing
- 0:03how much it was going to cost?
- 0:04If the answer is never or rarely, then why on earth are you trying to
- 0:08make your couples do exactly that?
- 0:10Today, I'm answering the question I get asked the most.
- 0:13Should I put pricing on my website?
- 0:17I'm Becca Pountney, Wedding Business Marketing Expert, Speaker and Blogger,
- 0:21and you're listening to the Wedding Pros Who Are Ready to Grow podcast.
- 0:25I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies and real life
- 0:28examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
- 0:32If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
- 0:36and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
- 0:39love, then you're in the right place.
- 0:41Let's get going with today's episode.
- 0:44Today, we're going to be talking all about pricing.
- 0:47It's a conversation I still have frequently.
- 0:49And if you know anything about me, you will know which side of
- 0:52this argument I fall down on.
- 0:54I absolutely think you should have pricing on your website, and I think
- 0:58it should be clear and transparent.
- 1:00Throughout this episode, I'm going to be discussing exactly how and why I've
- 1:03come to that conclusion and we'll see by the end if you are of the same mind.
- 1:07And if you're not, I would love to hear from you and hear why you
- 1:10don't think pricing should go on your website, just because it's
- 1:13interesting to hear another opinion.
- 1:15However, I will always hang my hat on the fact that we need it.
- 1:18So let's dive into why.
- 1:20Have you ever had an experience like this where you go into a shop and you
- 1:24start browsing around and you find something you really like the look of
- 1:28and you pick it up, look at the bottom and there's no price on the item.
- 1:31So then you start looking around the shelves and having a look at the labels
- 1:35on the shelves trying to match up the name on the label with the item in your hand
- 1:39and still you don't seem to be able to see whether this is price point of this item.
- 1:44You can't find the price anywhere so then you wonder whether it's
- 1:47been put in the wrong place and you start walking around the shop.
- 1:49Trying to work out how much this particular item costs.
- 1:53You want to know how much it costs before you go to the till.
- 1:56If you can't find this information, you then have two choices.
- 1:59Choice number one is you just put it back and don't even
- 2:01bother and walk out the shop.
- 2:03Or choice number two, we have to have a really awkward conversation
- 2:06with a member of staff.
- 2:07Now, I don't know if you've ever been in this scenario, but there's
- 2:10something that's really awkward about going to ask someone how much
- 2:13something costs because you take that item to the till and you say, can you
- 2:16just look up how much this item is?
- 2:18And if they say a number that's.
- 2:20wildly outside what you thought.
- 2:21So say you thought it was a tenner and they suddenly say it's 55 pounds.
- 2:25You now have to have that embarrassing moment of saying, actually I can't afford
- 2:29it and going to sheepishly put it back.
- 2:32We as humans do not like these awkward conversations.
- 2:36We don't like these Awkward situations.
- 2:38And therefore, if we can find a way to avoid them, we will.
- 2:42Let me tell you another story.
- 2:44Over the weekend, I went to my daughter's Christmas fair at school and
- 2:48they had lots of stalls for 50p a go.
- 2:51And there was a few craft stores from local distributors there as well.
- 2:54So we're looking around all of these stores and everything
- 2:57was a couple of pounds.
- 2:58We weren't spending big money and she saw something she liked.
- 3:01It was a candle with her favorite football team on.
- 3:03Not a big candle.
- 3:04Fairly small candle.
- 3:05Looked like a fairly standard kind of candle.
- 3:07They put a sticker of her favorite football team on it,
- 3:11and she said she wanted it.
- 3:13Now, guess what?
- 3:13There was no pricing on anything.
- 3:16So in that moment I had to make a decision.
- 3:19So I just asked, how much is this candle?
- 3:21They said 12 pounds.
- 3:23Now, if I'd have gone on my intuition, I would have thought, yeah, it's probably
- 3:27three or four pounds, maybe a fiver 12.
- 3:29Pounds.
- 3:30Thank goodness I asked and thank goodness they told me because then I
- 3:33made some excuse and left the stall.
- 3:35But my friend had a very different scenario because she went to the same
- 3:39stall and her son had a very similar conversation with her and she made
- 3:43an assumption because everything else at that fair was a fairly low price
- 3:47that it probably fell in a similar kind of price bracket and guess what?
- 3:51She said yeah sure you can have it and then realized how expensive it was
- 3:54and then felt too embarrassed to buy.
- 3:57Now, neither of these experiences were particularly enjoyable, and as
- 4:01customers, it's why it's really important that we know what the pricing is.
- 4:06Because even if you kind of trick someone or accidentally upsell
- 4:09someone to something that's way more than they want to pay, they don't
- 4:12feel Good about that conversation.
- 4:13They don't feel good about that purchase.
- 4:15They kind of just feel too embarrassed and awkward to say, actually,
- 4:18no, I don't want it anymore.
- 4:20So when it comes to working with our wedding couples, why are so many
- 4:24people still of the impression that we shouldn't put pricing on our websites?
- 4:28Because all we're doing is trying to make our customers have these really
- 4:31difficult, awkward conversations with us.
- 4:33And all that will happen is they will just walk on by and they won't contact you.
- 4:38Or they will contact you, but they shouldn't be contacting you because
- 4:41they can't actually afford your prices.
- 4:43Whenever we come across a brand or a website or an item of clothing
- 4:47or something like that, we'll make a decision in our mind about
- 4:50how much we think that costs.
- 4:52If there is no price tag on it, we have to make that up based on the brand, based
- 4:56on the pictures, based on the imagery.
- 4:58And if we think something's too expensive for us, we will just
- 5:01walk on by, you know, those shops.
- 5:03Sometimes when you go to like a designer outlet, there are the shops that I
- 5:06know that I can just about afford.
- 5:08There's the shops that if I had a bit of saved up money, I could afford.
- 5:11And then there's the other shops, which basically have no one in them
- 5:14and about three items on each rail.
- 5:16And I don't even go in there without looking at the price tag because
- 5:19I can tell that I can't afford it.
- 5:22If you do not have prices on your website, there will be people looking
- 5:25at your website and making a judgment about your product and service and
- 5:29deciding whether or not they can afford it based on little to no information.
- 5:33And again, that might not really be what you want to be doing.
- 5:37So we don't want unexpected surprises.
- 5:39We don't want confusion and we don't want the embarrassment of
- 5:41making our customers have to say to us, actually, we can't afford it.
- 5:45Now, one of the big reasons people say to me that they don't want to put
- 5:49pricing on their website is because they don't want to attract price shoppers.
- 5:54Now, I understand the thought behind this, but I don't think it's quite accurate.
- 5:59So the idea is, well, if I put up the, I cost a hundred pounds and
- 6:02the photographer next door puts up that they cost 50 pounds, they can
- 6:05see both of our prices and they're going to go for the cheapest one.
- 6:09Now that is a theory.
- 6:10But it kind of takes out a lot of other factors in that decision process because
- 6:14when the couples look at those two photographers, they might prefer the more
- 6:17expensive one and they might have the budget to pay for the more expensive one.
- 6:21And actually, it's not about price shopping, they're
- 6:23just making a good decision.
- 6:26In fact, We do actually want to put our prices on our website
- 6:30to detract those price shoppers.
- 6:33Let me explain that more fully.
- 6:34If we put a price on our website, we are telling people that they can't afford us.
- 6:39Because if your minimum spend is a thousand pounds and they
- 6:41only have Hundred pounds.
- 6:43As soon as they see that on your website, they know that you are
- 6:46not the right person for them and they will go elsewhere.
- 6:49However, if there are no prices on your website, they may make an uninformed
- 6:52judgment that they can afford you.
- 6:54Why would they know?
- 6:55Because there's no prices on your site, so therefore they become.
- 6:58time wasters because they jump on the phone with you.
- 7:01They will go back and forward on email about with you.
- 7:04They will talk to you about every detail of everything.
- 7:06And actually they could never have afforded you in the first place.
- 7:09So you end up just wasting a lot of time and it's not fair on them
- 7:13because they didn't know that they couldn't afford to work with you.
- 7:15So you've used up some of their precious time.
- 7:17And also you've wasted your own time with someone who can't
- 7:20afford to pay your prices.
- 7:21You then leave them in the awkward position of having
- 7:23to say they can't afford it.
- 7:25Or what they will more often do is Ghost you because they don't want to have that
- 7:29embarrassing conversation, so they'll just disappear off the face of the earth.
- 7:33Now, I think there's a difference between time wasters and what
- 7:36I like to call savvy shoppers.
- 7:38We're going to talk a bit more about savvy shoppers in a little
- 7:41while, but I think a savvy shopper is different to a rice shopper.
- 7:45I would like to think of myself as a savvy shopper.
- 7:49I'm looking to get things for the best value for the money that I have,
- 7:52but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm always going for the cheapest option.
- 7:57Let me explain to you this way.
- 7:58Think about holidays.
- 7:59If I've saved up all year 10, 000 to go on a holiday, I'm going to
- 8:04look around for the best thing that I can get with that money.
- 8:07Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to go for the cheapest thing because I
- 8:09might be able to go to a caravan park down the road for 500 and that's a
- 8:13perfectly adequate family holiday.
- 8:15There's nothing wrong with a caravan park.
- 8:17In fact, I used to work on one, but if I saved up 10, 000, I'm probably not going
- 8:22to choose to go to the caravan park.
- 8:24Why?
- 8:25Because I've saved up this money to take my family on this extra special holiday
- 8:28and I want to go on that big holiday.
- 8:30So even though it would be 9, 500 cheaper to go to the caravan park, doesn't
- 8:35mean I'm going to make that decision.
- 8:38On the other hand, if I've got 10, 000, I do want to make sure
- 8:41I get the most out of my 10, 000.
- 8:43So if I decide I want to go to Disney World, which is the most
- 8:46likely destination for a big holiday for my family, I will
- 8:49look at the offers they have.
- 8:50I will look at the different flight options.
- 8:52I will look at whether I should stay in a villa or a hotel.
- 8:55And I will find the best value for 10, 000.
- 8:59That is being a savvy shopper and knowing prices means that savvy shoppers can
- 9:03make really good informed decisions.
- 9:06So don't worry about these time wasters, these price shoppers.
- 9:10Put your prices on your website to deter them, number one, and
- 9:14to attract the savvy shoppers.
- 9:16Now, the second reason people say to me that they can't put prices on
- 9:19their website is because everything they do is bespoke and I get it.
- 9:24If you're a florist or a cake maker or something like that, you're creating
- 9:29something and everything is going to be different depending on what flower
- 9:32types they have, the season, the amount of tiers and that kind of thing.
- 9:36However, I do think that most of you will have a basic from price and most of you
- 9:41will have an idea of pricing that you use in order to build quotes for your clients.
- 9:46So, you will have kind of an average price, maybe you can say the average
- 9:50price for this kind of service is X, or our prices start from X, because if
- 9:55you've only got so many Saturdays in a year, and it's just you, you're probably
- 9:59not going to go out to a wedding that's just buying one small arrangement for 20.
- 10:03I mean, what are they going to get for 20?
- 10:06You know, it might be that your minimum spend on a Saturday is 500 pounds or tell
- 10:11people your minimum spend is 500 pounds.
- 10:13And here's an example of the kind of thing that you can get for 500 pounds.
- 10:17There are ways you can be transparent, even though everything's bespoke.
- 10:22And I bet you things aren't as bespoke as you think they are.
- 10:25Because if you look across the weddings you've had over the last year or two, I
- 10:29guarantee there'll be kind of an average booking value that you're used to getting.
- 10:33And that's a really good starting point.
- 10:34Place for putting together some pricing options and transparency.
- 10:38And we'll talk about more in a little while, how to display pricing on
- 10:42your website, but just because you have something that's bespoke doesn't
- 10:46mean you shouldn't have any pricing.
- 10:48Why?
- 10:48Because we don't want to attract those time wasters again.
- 10:50And again, we do want to attract and inform those savvy shoppers.
- 10:55Okay, we've talked about some of the common objections to putting
- 10:57pricing on your website, but how about the positive reasons?
- 11:00Why do I think that pricing and transparent pricing is
- 11:03particularly important right now?
- 11:05Well, the first thing is Gen Z.
- 11:08We're going to be talking about Gen Z a lot over the coming years because all of
- 11:11a sudden the wedding market is shifting.
- 11:13Whereas we've had a lot of millennial couples, we are now starting to see more
- 11:16Gen Z couples coming through and Gen Z do not know life without the internet.
- 11:21They are.
- 11:22Always used to one click purchasing, they are tech savvy and they are the
- 11:26most informed generation of buyers because they care about the products
- 11:31and services they're buying and they know how to research them online.
- 11:35They know how to do that due diligence and therefore they are really savvy shoppers.
- 11:39Exactly what I was just talking about.
- 11:41You know, Gen Z are the generation that are used to things like Amazon, where
- 11:45you can order any product and it will come the next day or even that day.
- 11:49Uber, where you can literally order a taxi from anywhere in the
- 11:52world and turn up somewhere else in the world within a few minutes.
- 11:56Uber Eats, where you can get any restaurant to deliver to your door
- 11:59and you know, one click ordering.
- 12:01Instant messenger.
- 12:02Everything is happening and it's happening now.
- 12:04Everything is technical and everything makes sense to them.
- 12:06So they can look on Uber.
- 12:08I mean, has anyone been on Uber recently?
- 12:10When you go to order an Uber, it gives you about five or six different
- 12:12options of the car you want.
- 12:14Do you want this executive car, the Uber XL, the green car?
- 12:17And you can See transparently the pricing, you know how much you're going
- 12:20to pay before you get in the Uber.
- 12:22That is so much more enjoyable than getting in a black cab and being
- 12:25at the mercy of the driver and not knowing how much it's going to cost.
- 12:30People want transparency, they want to know your pricing and these are
- 12:33the buyers that are coming through.
- 12:36Now, the great thing about Gen Z is because they're informed buyers, they
- 12:38are doing a lot of their wedding planning research before they speak to you at all.
- 12:42So they know how much money they've got.
- 12:44And it doesn't mean they've got a low budget.
- 12:45They quite often have a high budget, but they know their money and they
- 12:48know how they want to spend it.
- 12:50And therefore they're going to be doing their research to see what's the best
- 12:53thing they can get for their money.
- 12:54If they come on your website and there are no prices, they are more likely to just
- 12:58go to another website because they haven't got time or even the will to reach out
- 13:01and spend ages on the phone to you working out the price they want to make decisions.
- 13:05So if you have really clear prices on your website, it allows them to roughly
- 13:11put together a budget and start planning.
- 13:13When someone gets engaged, they've never planned a wedding before on the
- 13:16whole, unless they work in the industry.
- 13:18So, it's totally new for them.
- 13:20How are they supposed to know how much anything costs?
- 13:22I think the thing I know least about in the wedding industry is flowers.
- 13:25Like, I literally know nothing about how much flowers cost, and
- 13:28they're always more expensive than I think they would be in my mind.
- 13:32Like, we just don't understand flowers.
- 13:34Now, I work in the wedding industry day in, day out, and
- 13:37I don't understand flowers.
- 13:38So, how are this new couple that have just got engaged meant to understand
- 13:41how much it costs to get a bouquet or to get a flower arch or to have
- 13:45silk flowers versus real flowers?
- 13:47So, if you can put together transparent pricing to help them, that's going
- 13:51to help them budget and plan and help them decide whether or not
- 13:54they can work with you or not.
- 13:57The second reason is to stop wasting your own time on those
- 14:00people that can't afford you.
- 14:02We talked a little while ago about time wasters, but when you don't put prices
- 14:06on, you have to go through a whole conversation with someone, even maybe a
- 14:09phone call before you can even ascertain whether or not they can afford you.
- 14:13Now, people don't like answering this question.
- 14:16How much budget do you have?
- 14:17For a couple of reasons.
- 14:18One, they don't like talking about money.
- 14:20Two, they don't want to say the wrong thing.
- 14:22And three, because they don't actually know how much it costs and
- 14:25they don't want to get ripped off.
- 14:26And they're worried if they say they've got 10, 000 that you
- 14:29will just charge them 10, 000.
- 14:31Even if that's not your regular pricing, so you end up going
- 14:35backwards and forwards, having all these awkward conversations where
- 14:37no one wants to talk about money.
- 14:39Whereas if you could just lay it on the table and say, these are the options, this
- 14:42is what it costs, which looks most like where you're thinking, or which of these
- 14:47sits within your budget, then that's a much easier question for people to answer.
- 14:53Now, as well as not wasting time on people who can't afford you, you're also
- 14:56going to have a lot less time going back and forth and putting together quotes.
- 14:59Really, you don't want to be putting together massive long quotes and spending
- 15:02hours and hours on things until they've actually paid you some money or a deposit.
- 15:07So the more.
- 15:08transparent you can be in your pricing, the more decisions they
- 15:10can make before coming to you.
- 15:13Now, a savvy shopper will have looked at your website, looked at all your
- 15:16images, looked at your reviews, looked at your previous work, looked
- 15:19at your prices, worked out that they can afford you, worked out that they
- 15:22like you, and now they're just coming to you to say, Are you available?
- 15:26And let's have a final conversation before I sign the contract as a much
- 15:30better position to be in than just having loads of random inquiries that you don't
- 15:33even know how much money they've got.
- 15:34You don't know if they can afford you and you could be spending hours
- 15:37and hours putting together quotes for someone that just isn't the
- 15:39right person in the first place.
- 15:42And the final thing is it's a lot easier for you to plan.
- 15:45I talk a lot about setting sales targets and working out financials.
- 15:48Can you pay yourself across the year and all of those kind of conversations.
- 15:52But if you have your quotes varying wildly from 10 up to 10, 000, it's
- 15:57really hard for you to work out budgets.
- 15:59Whereas when you know your pricing inside out and you know that it goes up this
- 16:02much each year and it goes up on April the 1st or whatever it is for you, it
- 16:06makes it a lot easier for you to start.
- 16:08Budgeting for the year to work out how much money you can anticipate to come
- 16:11into the business, how much you're planning to spend on the business,
- 16:14how much profit you're going to make, how much you can pay yourself.
- 16:17So having these rough guides on pricing and putting them together can really
- 16:21help with your own planning as well.
- 16:24So to recap, the reason I think you need pricing on your website, first
- 16:27of all, we're dealing with Gen Z.
- 16:29They are want everything now.
- 16:30They want to be able to compare the prices.
- 16:32They want to be savvy shoppers.
- 16:33They are informed buyers and they will just ignore you if they can't find prices.
- 16:37Secondly, you're going to stop wasting time on people who just can't afford you.
- 16:40We want to repel those people.
- 16:42There is someone out there for everyone and if you are going for a lower end
- 16:46of the market budget wise, that's fine.
- 16:48Tell them that so that they can come and find you.
- 16:51But if you are not, if you have a minimum spend, put that on your website.
- 16:55It allows you to spend a lot less time going backwards and forwards.
- 16:58And finally, it's a lot easier for you to plan out your financials.
- 17:02Hopefully by now you are thinking, yes, Becca, I get this.
- 17:05I want to put prices on my website.
- 17:07So I'm going to give you a couple of different ways that you can go about
- 17:10displaying prices because it's not a one size fits all and different clients
- 17:14of mine do it in different ways.
- 17:16And I want to explain to you some of those ways to help you decide
- 17:19what you should be doing yourself.
- 17:21So the absolute minimum, and this really is the absolute minimum because it's
- 17:24not very transparent but it's better than nothing, is to have a from price.
- 17:28Our prices start from 500, 1, 000, 10, 000, 5, whatever it is for you.
- 17:35This automatically tells people they can't afford you if they haven't got at least
- 17:40that money and it also tells them that's a from price so it's only going to go up.
- 17:43from there.
- 17:44So if that's right at the top of their budget, again, chances are unless they
- 17:48go for a basic option, they're not going to be able to work with you.
- 17:51If you do not at least have a from price on, please can I encourage you by the
- 17:55end of this week to get a from price on your website somewhere so that you know
- 17:59that people aren't going to be spending time wasting their time with you even
- 18:03when they can't afford to work with you.
- 18:05Okay.
- 18:06The second option is price ranges.
- 18:08I work with a wedding planner who I think does this incredibly well.
- 18:12So she has three different kinds of services that she offers.
- 18:15She has on the day management, she has partial planning
- 18:17and she has full planning.
- 18:19And within those, she's put together some price ranges because she knows that
- 18:23some of these different factors may vary.
- 18:26Travel may vary, time of year may vary, all these kinds of things.
- 18:29So you can go onto her different package.
- 18:32Pages and at least get an idea that this is going to cost you between
- 18:363, or between 10, 000 and 15, 000 and you can understand that idea.
- 18:42So you know this is the bottom that it's going to be and this
- 18:46is also the top it's going to be.
- 18:47So if your budget fits somewhere within that region.
- 18:50Great.
- 18:51Now the thing with a price range is you need to be able to explain to someone
- 18:55once you get to consultation phase, why you've come to the price you've come to
- 18:59within that range, why it's not bottom of the range or why it is top of the range.
- 19:03So you need to have your own processes in place to know how
- 19:06you're charging within those ranges.
- 19:08And so you can clearly explain that to someone again, if you're transparent
- 19:11about it and you explain, well, the reason that I'm charging you more is
- 19:15because you're having a bigger wedding.
- 19:16Therefore, I need to have an extra coordinator on the day.
- 19:19It's, um, Back to back on another wedding and you're going to
- 19:22need to have me there two days.
- 19:23So there's going to be a surcharge for that.
- 19:25And also you're in Scotland and I'm in Southampton.
- 19:28So I've got to add on travel and therefore that's why it's
- 19:30come to the top of the range.
- 19:32If you can explain that to someone clearly and precisely, you won't have a problem.
- 19:35It's when we try and hide behind it that we have an issue.
- 19:38So price ranges may be something that you could think about.
- 19:42The next option is packages.
- 19:45I don't know if you've ever heard of the Goldilocks pricing strategy.
- 19:48I've recently been listening to Stephen Bartlett's new book and he talks
- 19:52about Goldilocks pricing strategy.
- 19:54So I've been doing some research into it.
- 19:56It's very similar as well to what my lovely friend Kelly Mortimer teaches.
- 20:00But basically the Goldilocks pricing strategy is what a
- 20:03lot of businesses are using.
- 20:05So the idea behind it is you put your pricing into three sections, three
- 20:10price points, probably some kind of package around those price points.
- 20:14And you have one that's the lowest one, you know, That's too small.
- 20:18You have one that's the biggest one, it's too big, and then you
- 20:21have one in the middle that's just right, just like Goldilocks and the
- 20:23Free Bears, if you know that story.
- 20:25Now the idea behind this is it shows people a range and it shows them
- 20:29what they get within the range.
- 20:30Now the place you will see this all of the time is on software websites.
- 20:34If any of you use anything like Calendly or Email marketing
- 20:39software or anything like that.
- 20:40When you go to sign up, they usually have three price points
- 20:43on the screen in front of you.
- 20:45They have one that's low, the basic or possibly free version.
- 20:48They have one that's high for big businesses, normally the pro version.
- 20:51And then they have one that's just right for you.
- 20:53They're in the middle, go to some of those websites and you will see
- 20:57this displayed in front of you.
- 20:58It shows you all the benefits and features of each of the price levels,
- 21:01and you can make an informed decision.
- 21:04So how does this work in the wedding industry?
- 21:06Well, the low package is the lowest minimum amount you're willing
- 21:09to go out for, for your service.
- 21:10It might be only available on off peak dates, or it might just be
- 21:13a very basic level of service.
- 21:16Your high package is everything, bells and whistles, really, really expensive.
- 21:20The highest price you could possibly go out for with everything included.
- 21:24And then the just right price is the one that most people will buy.
- 21:27That's the whole point of the Goldilocks effect.
- 21:29And it's the one that is kind of your average booking value.
- 21:33Again, you should display these on your website.
- 21:35If you're going to go for packages, the same way the software companies do.
- 21:39That is why it works.
- 21:40They do this because it works for them.
- 21:42So you should be doing the same.
- 21:43I often say, look at what the big players are doing in the market
- 21:46because they spent a lot of money and a lot of time researching this stuff.
- 21:49If it's working for them, it's likely to work for you as well.
- 21:52So that's the pricing.
- 21:54model in packages, Goldilocks pricing strategy.
- 21:57And then the final example is one that I've seen a couple of my clients do,
- 22:01and it's worked out quite well for them.
- 22:03And they tend to fall into that cake maker or florist category.
- 22:08You know, the one we talked about earlier where everything's bespoke and it's really
- 22:11hard to give prices or make packages.
- 22:13I had a little chat with a cake maker a while ago and having listened to me talk
- 22:17about pricing before, she started on her website and Instagram every time she
- 22:21posted a cake picture, putting the thing underneath it that said approximately
- 22:25how much it would cost to have that cake.
- 22:27I love this idea.
- 22:28It's so transparent and it really gives people an idea of what
- 22:33they can afford for their budget.
- 22:34Because again, I don't understand the difference in costs between
- 22:37a cake that's got lots of sugar flowers on it versus a cake that's
- 22:40just buttercream because I don't understand the ins and outs of baking.
- 22:48So if you show me 10 different cakes and they all show me how much they cost,
- 22:51I can make a really informed decision.
- 22:53I can see, well, if I go for this kind of cake, it's going to cost me more.
- 22:56This kind of cake is going to cost me less.
- 22:57And you can start to build a rough idea of pricing.
- 23:01Even though you know, your cake is going to be bespoke.
- 23:04It's a really interesting idea.
- 23:06Maybe it's something you could consider doing.
- 23:08I really like the idea of it.
- 23:10It's so transparent and you can give rough prices.
- 23:12You know, this kind of cake would cost between 500 and 700 pounds.
- 23:16This cake would cost between 1000 and 2000 pounds, whatever it is for you, but give
- 23:20maybe a range or a from price, but putting the price next to the items can give a
- 23:25real clear sense of transparency where you feel that everything you offer is.
- 23:31You can also do the same kind of price packages, but just
- 23:34give them as rough examples.
- 23:35So, if you wanted a basic cake that's just whatever the most basic thing
- 23:39you can do is, that would be the cheapest option, which will cost this.
- 23:42Uh, an average three tier cake, which is iced and decorated, will cost this.
- 23:46And if you want ten tiers with all the bells and whistles,
- 23:48it's going to cost you this.
- 23:51And that gives them a jumping off point.
- 23:52It doesn't mean they have to pay that much, but it means it gives them an idea
- 23:55when they come and sit down and speak to you, because again, you don't have
- 23:58to say to them, What's your budget?
- 24:00You can show them the three options that they've already seen before and
- 24:03say, okay, thinking about your budget, which of these options do you think
- 24:07is closest to what you're looking for?
- 24:10Now you're going to get an idea of what they've got and you
- 24:12can start to build from there.
- 24:16Okay, so we've talked about how to display the prices, but where do you think finally
- 24:21we should be displaying these prices?
- 24:23Okay, I'm going to give you a few different places where I think you
- 24:26should be definitely displaying prices.
- 24:28First of all, directly on your site.
- 24:30I think it's really important to have a pricing and packages page that
- 24:34you lay out everything and have it clearly navigated from the top bar,
- 24:37because if I'm looking for pricing, I am looking for the word Pricing or
- 24:41packages to understand where to go.
- 24:43So don't mask it by calling it something fancy.
- 24:46Say it as it is.
- 24:47Let me go there and find out and make my own decisions.
- 24:50Stop being afraid of people seeing your pricing.
- 24:52You are confident in your pricing.
- 24:54You know why you're charging what you charge.
- 24:56Therefore, share it with people.
- 24:58Don't hide it behind this secret wall.
- 25:01So have it direct on your site, have a pricing page.
- 25:03If you can put it all on one page, this makes it really easy
- 25:05for you to direct people to.
- 25:07Whenever anyone asks that question about pricing, you could just send
- 25:10them a URL straight to that page, which explains everything they need to know.
- 25:15Okay, the second place is some kind of digital brochure.
- 25:17I know lots of people, particularly venues, but other suppliers as well,
- 25:20like to put together a digital brochure.
- 25:22This can be a really nice way to send something to your couples,
- 25:25for them to have a look through and see the different options and
- 25:28the different prices that you have.
- 25:30Now sometimes people put these behind an email wall.
- 25:33What I mean by that is you have to put in your email address
- 25:36in order to download it.
- 25:38And I understand why people are doing that because they want to
- 25:40capture email addresses, but I also don't think this is the best idea.
- 25:44Why?
- 25:45Because some people don't want you to have their details when
- 25:48they're just looking at prices.
- 25:49They're worried you're going to hound them even though they
- 25:51then can't afford you, right?
- 25:52We're going back to the same problem as we had at the beginning.
- 25:55Because now they've told you they're interested, so now you
- 25:58might contact them and they can't actually afford you anymore.
- 26:01The other reason is, and this is really true, I know quite a
- 26:04lot of people that think they're getting engaged and therefore want
- 26:06to start doing their research.
- 26:08Now, and they don't want to put their name in.
- 26:10They don't want to put their email address in.
- 26:12They don't want their partner to know that that's what they're doing, but they
- 26:14do want to get their ducks in a row.
- 26:16So as soon as they get engaged, they know where they're going first
- 26:19because they've done their research.
- 26:21So if you are going to have a digital brochure, don't hide
- 26:24it behind some kind of wall.
- 26:26Make sure you've got your prices available and then have that brochure
- 26:29downloadable or sent to them on email as an additional thing.
- 26:33There are other ways you can capture email addresses without
- 26:36it being through the brochure.
- 26:38Obviously, you can collect email addresses when they make the inquiry.
- 26:40You can have some kind of lead magnet, you know, 10 top tips
- 26:43for this or your guide to this.
- 26:45But don't hide your pricing behind that kind of wall because
- 26:48you are going to put people off.
- 26:51And again, they might just not inquire with you because they can't see your
- 26:53pricing and they don't want to have that embarrassing conversation when
- 26:57they realize they can't afford you.
- 26:59The next place is I think you should put that link to your pricing in everything.
- 27:03So if someone inquires on your website, automatically send them a reply that
- 27:07says, Hi, great to hear from you.
- 27:09Hopefully you've had a chance to look at our pricing page
- 27:11because they don't always see it.
- 27:13So make sure they've got a link to it.
- 27:14If you've looked at the prices and you're ready to chat, here's
- 27:17a link to book into our calendar.
- 27:18Thanks, Becca.
- 27:20All right.
- 27:20Put your pricing everywhere in your followup emails.
- 27:22Have you had a chance to look at our pricing yet so that they can see it?
- 27:25Because we know that.
- 27:27Not everyone looks at everything.
- 27:28People are time poor and therefore they might need a little reminder
- 27:31to go and check that out.
- 27:34You're out of office is also a really good place to put a link to your pricing
- 27:37because if people are contacting you and you're on holiday or you're off for the
- 27:40Christmas break, it gives them a reminder.
- 27:43So it's like, Hey, we're currently out of the office.
- 27:45However, you can find all of our pricing here and you can also book into
- 27:49our calendar here and it allows them to do things even when you're away.
- 27:53And the final place is social media.
- 27:56Don't be afraid of putting your prices on social media.
- 27:58Exactly like I just explained before about the cakes and the flowers.
- 28:03If you're posting things, why not put a rough budget circa this much?
- 28:08You will not know how many couples go onto Pinterest and look at big floral
- 28:12arrangements and then guess how much they think they cost and have no idea.
- 28:16So why not be the person that starts to educate them and show them
- 28:19roughly how much something like that would cost or how they could bring
- 28:21that cost down using faux flowers.
- 28:23Or different kinds of flowers.
- 28:25Be the person who educates them on price.
- 28:27Help them out and you're more likely to make the sale.
- 28:31Talk about your range of prices.
- 28:32Talk about your pricing, talk about your from price.
- 28:34Talk about how you've come to that on social media.
- 28:37Let's normalize talking about the money rather than hiding.
- 28:41Behind it.
- 28:43Okay.
- 28:43In this episode, we've covered a lot of ground when it comes to pricing.
- 28:47I've overcome your objections to why you don't want to put your pricing on there.
- 28:50I told you the reasons I think you should put price on your website.
- 28:53I've told you how and where to display your prices.
- 28:57So the question is, do you think your pricing is transparent enough?
- 29:00Or does it need some work?
- 29:02I'm going to leave you with that question as we finish today's episode.
- 29:05If you enjoy listening to this podcast, I would absolutely love it if you
- 29:09could leave me a rating or review on whatever platform you're listening to.
- 29:12If you listen on Apple, please go ahead and leave a review there.
- 29:15The same on Spotify, the same on Amazon.
- 29:17Ratings and reviews help people find the show and the bigger the
- 29:20show gets, the better the guests I can get on to teach you all about
- 29:24growing your wedding business.
- 29:27I will see you next week.
- 29:28Go out there, put your prices on your website and be transparent.