Prices on website or not?

[DOP]

What has gotten you more business. Posting you prices online or leaving them off?

I've only put my prices online and trying to decide if that's the best.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Have a search through the forums, there's tons of posts on this.

 

[DOP]

Thanks I'll give it a try.

 

[callthatgirl]

I vote yes. I took them off and didn't think it was helpful.

 

[krtechsolutions]

I say yes as well, I know myself as a consumer if I don't see prices that means 2 things

1. Your prices are too much and your afraid to list them
2. I have to call your place and then get a sales person that will call me daily until I tell them off or not answer the calls


If prices are on the website and I still call more then likely I am ready to do business when I call

Granted I am just 1 person but that how I look at it

 

[CLC]

I'm currently not listing my prices but there only a couple competitors in my area. Do you list your hourly prices as far as remote, onsite, and in shop? Or do you just list your flat rate pricing such as virus removal?

 

[Boston Pro Comp Serv LLC]

I have then on our site. Not sure if it's helped or not. Most people even when they say they found us on the net, don't seem to know the price. I wonder if the just didn't bother to look or remember. Anyway I'd still vote yes.

 

[Blue]

We're still in the 'launching' phase, as far as the web side of things -- The Geek Group does have a web site, but not one specifically for my CIT department yet. It's coming. I've created a price sheet in Excel (yeah, yeah, I know....), so my prices are at least documented; I intend to export them as a stylized .pdf, which will then be downloadable via a link on the CIT site. It will show prices for virus and malware removal, system backups, nuke & pave, and the diagnostic/bench fees.

Side note: I'm taking a page from a few others' books in waiving the diagnostic fee if they decide to go ahead with repairs; I admit, I was apprehensive about this move, but it's really working out great! My customers don't feel like they're being ripped off, and that I'm doing them a great favor, which makes for excellent customer relations and reputation.

My intention is to have a price sheet which will entice potential customers to come in our doors, as I'm not running a retail site. We do have an ebay store that's been taking off fairly well, though again, it's limited in scope, and we're still working on things such as inventory.

Good question by the TS, though!

 

[RegEdit]

My prices are low and itemized by the task so I am not afraid to post them in great detail.
Also I don't want any confusion with regard to how much I charge for what. The more informed my customers are the less the likelihood of any misunderstanding later. It's also important to explain in detail what work you do for the quoted price and what you don't do. For example, like the big box stores, I repair the Windows Operating system and software that comes bundled on a Windows CD, and I repair computers -- not peripherals. I've had too many customers blaming me when they can't work their video editing software, can't update their pirated tax preparation software, can't connect to the Internet (after a drop off repair), etc.

 

[SupportCover.com]

If you list your prices your customers won't be shocked when you tell them, or they may not even ask.

But be prepared for your competitors to know exactly what you charge, although it may stop "mystery shopper" calls from them too

I vote yes!

 

[drnick5]

I'd say no, you don't want a customer price shopping to find the cheapest place around...and you never want to be the cheapest.

Your site should sell the quality of your work, and that you are the best VALUE, not necessary the cheapest.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

What has gotten you more business. Posting you prices online or leaving them off?

I've only put my prices online and trying to decide if that's the best.

It depends.

Generally the only time you post prices are when you are the cost leader. They you attract a very low quality of client IMO. It comoditizes (says you are like the rest of the low ballers) your business.

If you have prices listed, no need for them to call you and see how much you charge. (if they never talk to you, you miss the chance to impress them with your courtesy, professionalism and quality customer care). They might try to self diagnose to fit into one of your charges categories and come up with the wrong price and run themselves off; or decide not to fix something that they think is too much.

Gives your personal information to your competition.

On the other hand it looks open and honest.

I feel that, while it is sometimes a PITA to take a call and listen to each customer repeat their tails of frustration over and over again, this is exactly the secret to getting that phone call to become a customer. Just shut up and listen, when they are done getting all their worries, complaints and aggravations out on the phone you say, yes, we can fix that. Then they are your customer.

If you are so busy you do not need extra customers, then post your prices hoping that those guys won't call you up and waste your time.

 

[Freedom PC Solutions]

I say yes as well, I know myself as a consumer if I don't see prices that means 2 things

1. Your prices are too much and your afraid to list them
2. I have to call your place and then get a sales person that will call me daily until I tell them off or not answer the calls


If prices are on the website and I still call more then likely I am ready to do business when I call

Granted I am just 1 person but that how I look at it

My thoughts exactly. What are you hiding

If I don't see prices, I don't buy, period. My prices are on my website as well.

 

[14049752]

I don't list my prices for one very simple reason: I don't want my customer to decide what I'm charging for the work they need. What I mean is: Customer has a liquid spill. Their keyboard doesn't work. They decide that since keyboard repair is $40 (or whatever) they'll only be paying $40.....when instead I'm going to tell them I won't touch it for less than $100. (Or the opposite... people that diagnose a faulty keyboard as a virus.)

I want the customer to talk to me and get prices from me. I'm not hiding anything, I'll freely give out information when asked.... and I certainly am NOT going to call back to try to pressure a sale.

 

[phaZed]

I don't list my prices for one very simple reason: I don't want my customer to decide what I'm charging for the work they need. What I mean is: Customer has a liquid spill. Their keyboard doesn't work. They decide that since keyboard repair is $40 (or whatever) they'll only be paying $40.....when instead I'm going to tell them I won't touch it for less than $100. (Or the opposite... people that diagnose a faulty keyboard as a virus.)

And that is why I vote yes to post prices... I would never quote one price, just to change it based on the condition of the failure as you stated above. So what if it has a liquid spill that killed the keyboard!? Anything that happens (due to a liquid spill) is on the customer. If the MOBO dies.. charge them for a mobo and install! If they decide to not fix additional problems, well, here's your broken laptop back with a new keyboard, that will be $40!

Oh, and the customer isn't deciding your charge in any case.. you are. If you don't want to charge $40 for laptop keyboards with a spill, put a star (*) on the price and state your intentions below "* Except keyboard with spills."

 

[14049752]

And that is why I vote yes to post prices... I would never quote one price, just to change it based on the condition of the failure as you stated above. So what if it has a liquid spill that killed the keyboard!? Anything that happens (due to a liquid spill) is on the customer. If the MOBO dies.. charge them for a mobo and install! If they decide to not fix additional problems, well, here's your broken laptop back with a new keyboard, that will be $40!

Oh, and the customer isn't deciding your charge in any case.. you are.

I would *NEVER* give a customer a broken system back with a new keyboard. I started out doing what you said, making exceptions based on the situation...but to me a liquid spill is ALWAYS the full price service. It was just an example... But working with the same example...that keyboard customer could come back two days later, angry because I didn't check it completely and now it doesn't power on.

It's not like I'm randomly choosing what to charge people, I have prices set for service...

Basically, the idea is that I don't use a customer's diagnosis...so by extension I'm not going to give them a chance to "diagnose the problem" then decide what they're going to pay me. I know that I am the one that sets the price with them when they bring it in, but not listing prices just means that they need to talk to me and let me give them the correct price.

 

[phaZed]

I would *NEVER* give a customer a broken system back with a new keyboard.

What if the additional repairs are too costly for the customer?

So, either you would:
1. Keep their computer.
2. Pay for a motherboard/time to fix computer on your dime
3.Take keyboard out and put broken one back in, "sorry, no charge" - ?


I assume that you would question the customer and perform a quick diagnostic to make sure the system boots? I would. Let's use the water spill example. I would remove the keyboard before ordering and verify that water is not sitting underneath or on the motherboard.. if there is, I would immediately call the customer and have them decide as to what they want to do:

1. Full system take-apart and cleaning (Explaining CPU may die in 2 days if not performed), and install keyboard. (Extra $$$)
2. Take a chance and just install the keyboard.
3. Cancel ordering the keyboard, do not repair.

If they take option 2, for example, oh well, they knew the risks involved.

I started out doing what you said, making exceptions based on the situation...but to me a liquid spill is ALWAYS the full price service. It was just an example... But working with the same example...that keyboard customer could come back two days later, angry because I didn't check it completely and now it doesn't power on.

It's not like I'm randomly choosing what to charge people, I have prices set for service...

I'm not sure where your coming from, I didn't say I make exceptions based on the situation... you did when you said you would charge more than double for the same service depending on the situation (Keyboard replacement, Liquid spill). Nor does it sound like that is having "prices set for service" when there are in fact two different prices.

My prices don't change based on situation.

If that customer comes back, angry because it doesn't power on, it's because they didn't decide to do what I told them to.

 

[14049752]

What if the additional repairs are too costly for the customer?

So, either you would:
1. Keep their computer.
2. Pay for a motherboard/time to fix computer on your dime
3.Take keyboard out and put broken one back in, "sorry, no charge" - ?


I assume that you would question the customer and perform a quick diagnostic to make sure the system boots? I would. Let's use the water spill example. I would remove the keyboard before ordering and verify that water is not sitting underneath or on the motherboard.. if there is, I would immediately call the customer and have them decide as to what they want to do:

1. Full system take-apart and cleaning (Explaining CPU may die in 2 days if not performed), and install keyboard. (Extra $$$)
2. Take a chance and just install the keyboard.
3. Cancel ordering the keyboard, do not repair.

If they take option 2, for example, oh well, they knew the risks involved.



I'm not sure where your coming from, I didn't say I make exceptions based on the situation... you did when you said you would charge more than double for the same service depending on the situation (Keyboard replacement, Liquid spill). Nor does it sound like that is having "prices set for service" when there are in fact two different prices.

My prices don't change based on situation.

If that customer comes back, angry because it doesn't power on, it's because they didn't decide to do what I told them to.

I think you're reading too much into what I said. Simply put, if I know there is a liquid spill, I won't touch it if they don't do the full service. That's just my policy, because of how we charge.

Our charges are flat rates. The customer's going to know the deal up front, and they're going to know what they're getting when they pay us. My point was simply that I don't want them deciding on their own, or not telling me everything, or....whatever just to try to fit their needs into a lower priced service tier.


I'm not charging more based on the "same situation" as you say. I'm charging based on two situations. Situation 1 is a faulty keyboard, no liquid spill. Situation 2 is a faulty keyboard caused by a liquid spill. To me, those are very different work orders.

The "making an exception" is that for EVERY liquid spill I charge the "full diag price"....even if the keyboard is the only symptom the customer is reporting now.



Anyway, I don't feel like explaining anything further. I was admittedly a little annoyed when other posts suggested that not posting prices is akin to being a pushy salesman with something to hide.

 

[phaZed]

OK, my mistake, didn't mean to annoy you, just trying to clarify.

 

[PCX]

It depends.

Generally the only time you post prices are when you are the cost leader. They you attract a very low quality of client IMO. It comoditizes (says you are like the rest of the low ballers) your business.

If you have prices listed, no need for them to call you and see how much you charge. (if they never talk to you, you miss the chance to impress them with your courtesy, professionalism and quality customer care). They might try to self diagnose to fit into one of your charges categories and come up with the wrong price and run themselves off; or decide not to fix something that they think is too much.

Gives your personal information to your competition.

On the other hand it looks open and honest.

I feel that, while it is sometimes a PITA to take a call and listen to each customer repeat their tails of frustration over and over again, this is exactly the secret to getting that phone call to become a customer. Just shut up and listen, when they are done getting all their worries, complaints and aggravations out on the phone you say, yes, we can fix that. Then they are your customer.

If you are so busy you do not need extra customers, then post your prices hoping that those guys won't call you up and waste your time.

+1

A few goals you want to keep in mind.

1. Avoid being shopped based on price: Those who are shopping based on price will skip your site or refrain from calling you if you are not the cheapest.

2. Get people to call you: If everything about your site says quality and professionalism, but you list no prices, then you should have in the least intrigued them enough to call you. However, if your site is crap and you don't list your prices, then don't expect them to call you at all. If you site is crap and you DO list your prices, then you are probably better off being the cheapest so that you at least get those customers . . .

One thing to note about having people call you is that if your competition is anything like mine, then most are rude, arrogant or simply unprofessional over the phone and if I were the customer, I would never do business with half of them. Use the phone call to win them over.

3. Turn price shoppers into quality shoppers: Yes, this can be done. Those who are shopping based on priced probably would not have called you if you listed your prices on your site and you were not the cheapest. While these are typically not the customers you want anyways, you have to realize that sometimes these customers are simply price conscientious and not cheap. In other words, they think that a virus removal is a virus removal and that one repair being done by one shop is no different than the same repair being done by another shop, so why pay more when you can pay less. The call you receive is your chances to quickly educate them on why you are better or in the very least give them the impression that you are better and that you are worth being paid more.

4. Staying ahead of the competition: This is probably debatable or in the least should be done with balance. We experiment with different price structures, packages, bundles etc. and we would rather keep these things a secret from the competition for as long as possible. There is a couple reasons for this. One, most of our competition does not price things in the same manner as we do. This is important because we price things in such a way that makes up-selling easy and very profitable. This is one of those things that gives us a financial edge over our competition and allows us to invest more money into the business for things like advertising. Another thing that we try and avoid is price wars. We noticed in the past that when we would post our prices publicly on local sites or on our site, that shortly afterwards, our competition would post their prices, but at a cheaper price.

The other side of this token is that you may want to post some prices, but maybe not your price structures or bundled packages that allow you to easily up-sell.

One thing that is debatable for us is when we are doing promotions or when we are trying to increase front end sales (products or services that get prospective customers in the door) in order to ultimately increase back end sales (products or services that you up-sell to your new customers or already current customers). The debate for us is "do we post this new lower price publicly in order to attract more customers to ultimately increase our back end sales?" or "Do we only mention these promotions when customers call us on the phone?" On one end, you increase the likelihood of you receiving more calls, but you also chance your competition catching on to your promotion and either copying you or starting a price war. On the other hand though, you chance not receiving as many calls (which may actually be a good thing if they are only attracting cheap customers), but you in the very least avoid your competition catching on until they decide to mystery shop you.