The Agony of Price
Poor pricing can cripple your business. Too low, profits go. Too high, sales die. As with terms, this fickle field has many pitfalls. To avoid them, I seek your take on the scenarios below.
Think of it as a game of Scruples, without the vodka and fondue.
Perception
A cheap checkout perfume didn’t sell until the supermarket raised its price by 2000%, moved it to the beauty section and put it behind glass.
The perfume was unchanged, but its new handling increased its value in customers’ eyes.
Should we treat our products likewise?
Guilt
As a kid, I pulled aluminium cans from rubbish bins and sold them to Alcoa (well below spot market rates, I suspect). As an adult, Catholic guilt and middle-class angst made it painful to set my copywriting rate at $120/hour.
My business coach said my clients weren’t buying just an hour of my time. They were buying my talent, reputation, two degrees and 24 years’ experience.
Was he right?
Change
A local pub has put digital price display tags on all its bottle shop products. These are linked to a computer.
On Friday nights, just before work drinks end and revellers hit the bottle shop for take-aways, the computer raises all prices by 15%. Prices revert for sober, Saturday morning shoppers.
Is this damnable (or damned good) pricing practice?
Value
A former financial advisor client was extremely fond of contra deals. Because, he asserted, his professional advice was three times more valuable than mine, he wanted three hours of my life in return for each hour of his.
In a man-to-man context, this stuck in my craw.
Should I put him back on my Christmas card list?
Substance
My ebook distils everything I’ve learned (the hard way) about job ad writing. Yet, as a PDF, it’s merely a bag of bytes with no physical substance.
I just doubled its price to $20 (to pay for Google AdWords). Is this the world’s best bargain, or is it a lame joke in light of the billions of free ebooks around?
Your comments on tonight’s fantastic questions will help us discover if the PRICE is RIGHT!!!
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
My thanks to Winston Marsh, who kindly researched the quote below. I couldn’t fit it into this post, but it’s still a ripper:
‘There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey.’
John Ruskin, (attributed)
English critic, essayist & reformer (1819 – 1900)
Great topic Paul. We’ve got a couple of articles on myBRC that might help people working through this issue:
- An online module ‘Working out your prices’: https://mybrc.com.au/Attracting-Business/Planning/Marketing-Plan/Pages/Working_Out_Prices.aspx
- Sell value, not price: https://mybrc.com.au/Attracting-Business/Buy-Sell/Selling-Points/Pages/Sell_Value_Not_Price.aspx
- How to price right for maximum profit: https://mybrc.com.au/Attracting-Business/Buy-Sell/Selling-Points/Pages/Price_Right_Maximum_Profit.aspx
- Pricing strategies: the low downs on mark ups: https://mybrc.com.au/Attracting-Business/Planning/Marketing-Plan/Pages/Pricing_Strategies_Markups.aspx
Hope they can be of assistance…
Did you have a nookie last night Paul? :- )…’cause this one ‘takes the cake’ mate:- ) I would venture to speculate that this article embodies all of those years of copywriting (learned the hard way)…impressive! :- )
It reminds me of when I was a neo-post-pubescent learning about selling from a bunch of mavericks (good ones
), in the Tyre Industry. I was watching how and trying to comprehend why people spent money as they did. So I tried a little experiment.
I went to a nearby Supermarket and bought 6 Plastic Toilet Brushes for $1.80 each. I went back to work and put our business Logo Sticker on the front of each of these fine products.
All six toilet brushes sold within 4 hours…the price? $7.95.
Sure, the unusual folk that bought them may have been my ‘lawful’ prey, but was it a moral act? I don’t think or feel so.
I think this planet could be a much nicer place to live…I don’t like, even the possibility of, being ‘ripped off’ by people that pretend to me (and delude themselves), that they are helping to meet the ‘needs’ of the community.
So how do I make the planet a much nicer place to live? Should I even want to make the planet a nicer place to live? Do I be selfish and make it nicer just for me? Or do I act in a manner that contributes to the ‘actual’ well being of others, even if it is at my expense in the short term, in the hope that it becomes a nicer place for me? It’s a pickle, no doubt about it! :- P Either way it is an egoic agenda.
Which all begs the question, am I the one that is deluded? :- P
But deluded or not, I know which one makes feel and sleep better.
Literal response to your questions:
Perception – No
Guilt – Yes
Change – YES!
Value – No! He’s a pompous jerk!
Substance – See Guilt above :- P
That’s my 2 bobs worth :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
PS More Good News – I spoke with a really helpful bloke from ACT Health yesterday. And only one day after I submitted my final application for my required Food Business Registration. Surprisingly quick response ey? :- )
Anyway, the good news is that it’s not as scary as I thought it was going to be. The kind officer was very reassuring. I’ll be doing my inspection in just over a week. This means that I will be trading within the next couple of weeks as planned…YAY! Now all I have to do is find enough money to buy enough stock, and petrol, and pay my current & mounting bills and etc etc… I think I’m in the process of taking ‘Acting as if’ to a whole new level :- P.
I never would’ve imagined being excited about a health inspection :- P
Thanks for the article references too Megan…very helpful of you indeed…bless ya cotton soxes :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
Dear Stephen, I’m running out of ways to thank you for the effort you put into your replies. Sometimes I’m tempted to simply swap them for my post and claim them as mine!
Fab news re your business. With enough positive vibes, you can ride the tide, clear the landing obstacles, defuse the mines, take out the pill boxes, bangalore the tank traps, snipe the machine gunners… you get the idea.
And you thought you were ‘metaphored’ to a standstill? :- )
I feel the same way about you and the other fine folks on this blog. The kind comradery and support you’ve shown is humbling to say the least.
May I suggest an adaptation of the 3 visit rule? :- ) When new friends visit my home, the first 3 times I’ll happily play host, gleefully leaping in response to every caprice. After that, and you know where everything is, get it yourself…and I’ll have one while your there :- )
Does that help? :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
Sounds beaut. I’m heading to the pool shortly. If the cleaner comes, tell her to go easy on my Star Wars figurines. Boba Fett is beaucoup miffed at losing his helmet to the Nilfisk!
Hi Paul:
Pricing IS torturous–especially today as the market floods with user-generated and outsourced content, driving pricing down.
Thoughts on a few of your issues:
Guilt: No,you should not feel guilty charging $120 an hour: You are a “value-added copywriter,” a moniker coined by Tom Chandler, Copywriter Underground. Very likely you bring strategic and tactical marketing expertise, project management–and much more–to your work in addition to wordsmithing.
Change: It’s annoying but fair to change pricing–supply and demand.
Substance: I appreciate your honesty in calling the ebook “a bag of bytes with no physical substance.” This well describes MOST ebooks, though authors often hype the missives as Delphic wisdom. In your case, with such a specialized niche, I believe all the bytes add up to value for your customers. And keep in mind you’re charging $20–not $120–a very reasonable price.
Will do cobba:- )
I had to Google ‘Nilfisk’ :- )…I’d never heard of it. I thought it was some obscure species from Star Wars that I’d missed during my 8000 viewings…but a Vacuum Cleaner? Still, it sounds a bit ‘Science Fictiony’ I suppose :- )
And I know I’ve said this before, but I reckon it’s well worth popping in again…re: your kind praise in Comment 5:
It is far, far easier to comment on the creation of another than it is to create engaging content from scratch.
My definition for humility is ’saying it how it is’.
Though I appreciate your kind gesture and sentiment, I know where the ‘Value’ truely is mate…and though I may compliment it, I’m hardly the source.
God! We’re all so bluddy nice to each other here aren’t we? OK! Group Hug! Hahahahahaa! :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
PS Oh! So that’s how you spell ‘beaucoup’? :- )
Thank you, Lorraine; it’s great to see you back!
Funny you should mention strategy. I recently drafted a 3-page summary to ensure I understood a new client’s situation before writing for them.
It had ‘big agency’ strategic and tactical thinking, but with none of the laminating, thermal binding and pie charts. When I later met with other staff, they were surprised to learn I was ‘only’ a copywriter.
It was a lesson in not being too self effacing about one’s expertise.
Thanks again for your valuable comments and please come back soon!
Two learnings in one comment? NOW we’re getting somewhere! Thank you, Stephen.
Very well thought out post, Paul. There is something to be said for asking smart questions, and you done so here.
My opinions:
Perception – This really depends on how you want your clients to think of you. I personally prefer to persue the goal of ‘value’. I’ll (often) charge more, as long as I can justify the value I am also providing.
Guilt – Absolutely. Charge more, but be sure to provide value. The best way to do this is to re-invest most of these extra earnings into your business deliverables.
Change – I would personally avoid this bottleshop for this reason alone, and I suspect many others would also. Therein lies the rub – they probably won’t persist at it.
Value – He may be able to charge himself out at much higher rates, but I still get to choose with whom, and how, I do business. If it is a contra deal he wants, I’d be likely to say that since the money is removed from the equation, that leaves only time and effort. The simplest measurement is therefore time, and I would have insisted on a 1:1 ratio. I suspect I would have reacted exactly as you did.
Substance – The answer will be in the results. Wow – that’s a cop out! I have no doubt it is worth more than $20, but are you best using this as a (free) vehicle to develop other income streams? Or do you merely need to be patient, and continue to work on your linking strategies, conversion strategies, and perhaps affiliate programs to get the bonanza you deserve? Time will tell.
Does your e-book honestly have significantly better content that most of the similar free products available? If the answer is “YES!” than you need to convince the right audience of that.
What a great reponse, Stephen H! I’m very pleased to have gained your views.
With regard to marketing my ebook, I’m certainly learning as I go. I could go to the effort of expanding it into a much bigger book, but then there’s a chorus of bloggers insisting I should hand it out for free the instant I do.
Click-through and affiliate income doesn’t feel like the right path for me. What I’d really like is to just sell 40,000 of the buggers and retire to write haikus on a black-sanded beach somewhere…
Every day’s labour | erased by the moon-lit tide | … (Sorry.)
Is my book better than all the rest? Vanity has prevented me from properly sussing out my competition. I’ve convinced myself that no-one else in Australia (nay, the world!) has spent more time writing better recruitment ads for more clients than I. Hence my ebook must be the best.
But that’s not terribly scientific, is it? You raise such good points, Stephen. I may well need a stern reality check. Thank you!
It has been said: “Pride and Vanity have built more Hospitals than all the Virtues together.”
So, I guess the point is if you’re going to succumb to vanity, Paul, at least make it work for you, not against you. I can see it now, The Paul Hassing Clinic for Sick but incredibly Cute Children…
By the way, whenever you feel the need to point out the personality flaws in a random stranger, feel free to drop by my blog and return the favour…’tis a strange world we live – please take no offense. Just trying to be as equally thought provoking!
Well said! If all is vanity and I’m part of the all, does my vanity put me on the Universal train to Mayfair or Old Kent Road?
Time will tell. But can I not tell time?! ZZZZ Buzz Click… Think I’m going to need a big old beach to get all this down!
Greetings,
The answer to price is value. Value is defined by the customer and their ability or willingness to pay. Why is a stamp with a face value of a few cents in 1920 now worth thousands of dollars in 2009?
It is not for the physical item but the value (perceived) it represents. So too with copy writing – price is an indication of quality. You may be able to charge $160 per hour without a problem but $180 may hurt your business. You need to find your tipping point. That’s why I always say you need to test your pricing.
Sometimes putting your prices up 20% reduces your customers by 10% but allows you more time to spend with the good ones. It is invariably the price shoppers that go first.
Price is an indication of quality. We sell Gaggenau ovens for $18,000 each. Sales increased over the past 6 months when our cheaper brands experienced a 20% reduction? Why?, because when you have the best brand in the world people are prepared to pay for it. Supply and demand.
To answer Paul’s questions:
1. Perception is reality. Price is an indicator of quality. The product or service experience must match the price.
2. Guilt. Give it up, the market tells you when you go too far. If a customer is prepared to pay the price and is happy it is therefore good value.
3. Change. No, that’s taking advantage and may even be illegal. That is disrespecting their customers and they will be found out and that will cost them business. Not a good way to go.
4. Value is right, that bloke is a wanker. That will never end well.
5. Substance. It will be valued more at $20 than $10. Again, price is an indicator of quality.
We are paid for the value we create not the hours we work, the number of pages a document is or the size of the pizza. It’s about the result. If it’s good then go for it! If Charlie Sheen can get $30m a year for ‘two and a half men’ I reckon your ebook can run to $20.
Cor struth, Malcolm! Your response bears the wisdom of every book you’ve read and the experience of every deal you’ve done. Really great stuff. Thank you for laying it all out!
“ZZZZ Buzz Click”??? Did you say “ZZZZ Buzz Click”??? Don’t tell me you watched Roger Ramjet too?…Well did you?…I still remember the song…all of it! :- P
WOW! Great comments by Lorraine & Stephen…thanks…I find your comments thoughtful and very useful too :- )
Lorraine’s mention of ’supply & demand’ caught my conjectural eye and curiosity. I am struggling with it in the context of the anecdote Paul used under the heading ‘Change’. And I’m not having a go at you here Lorraine…your fine comments just raised other background issues that I so love going on about.
When I was studying economics, ‘Supply & Demand’ theory, was definitively applied to commodities at the resource/raw material end. It was here that pricing was set and then reflected up the chain of manufacturers etc…to the consumer; at which point price setting became part of Marketing where only the retailer’s demand came into play. Supply had already occurred.
My personal opinion is that I find such ‘price setting’ as delineated above to be opportunistic, immoral and offensive. I find it reprehensible how we seem so comfortable with ripping the guts out of our supposed ‘fellow countrymen’ in such a manner (Petrol pricing comes to mind); and when confronted ‘business people’ regurgitate such rationales as ‘Caveat Emptor’ or ‘it’s legal’ or my favourite “it’s not personal it’s just business” etc… Try running a business without ‘Persons’! .
To quote endless movies – “just because I can do something, does it mean I should?”
At the retail end of the chain, using notions such as supply & demand in relation to stock that has already been purchased is absurd. It’s not supply & demand, it’s just greed (on the part of the retailer), taking advantage of ignorant and/or misinformed customers.
That said, should I have some stock that I have been unable to sell, applying common sense in respect of one’s customers is reasonable…but whilever we continue to just exploit each other, we will just be exploited…that’s not business, that’s stealing.
Clearly I get annoyed at the philoshophical and moral hypocracies used to justify ‘acceptable business practice’. Is the customer ‘actually’ important or just a means to an end?…don’t look now, but you know we’re soaking in it!
Ok! ‘Veen Splented’…I’m all happy again…breathing in the loooove, breathing out the yukkies :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
PS And Paul: I noticed in your vignette of lyrical waxing that you said “black-sanded beach”? You’re not a bluddy closet Kiwi are you mate? If you like black sand I reckon NZ’s the place to go. I suppose I’m just an old crusty dyed in the roadkill Ozzie, but black or even brown sand is just wrong! :- )
Dear Stephen G, our background check of you yielded the Ramjet angle. We thought that might get you in. Big hugs to Operative ‘J’. If our progressive trope analysis is correct, you’ll also thrill to: ‘Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!’
I’m an Aussie (yes I am). I’ve no idea where these black sands are. I thought I might start with Japan but NZ is much closer. I have a brother there who could try to find me a section of land (between the salt water and the sea strand).
Oh Crap! Sorry Malcolm! You must have chimed in while I was ‘Veening my Splent’, so I didn’t get your comment until just now. My apologies if it appeared that I had ignored you…perish the thought! :- ) I intend to fully compensate for my poor chronology forthwith:
I love “Perception is Reality”…will you be my psychologist…I already feel safe with you..:- )
I also realised that I only half answered Paul’s ‘Guilt’ question earlier… I should have said that ‘YES!’ it is ‘damnable’ and ‘NO’ I don’t think it is ‘good’ pricing practice…effective maybe…but ‘good’? Na! So I’m definitely on Malcolm’s boat there (for a change ;- ).
Oh crap! I’m actually agreeing with everyting Malcolm said…where’s the fun in that…come one Malcolm say something stupid…pleeeaaase! :- )
Thanks guys and well done again Paul…this is a good one…not to mention extremely, dare I say it…valuable : )
Cheers
Stephen G
Dear Paul,
Background Check? Don’t tell me you’ve progessed into Nanobots too?…his eyes are everywhere, beware! :- )
Oh dear! Yep! You got me again with Rocky & Bullwinkle. I met a woman a few weeks ago who was literally named after Natasha. Can you guess what her name is? :- P
Oh good! That’s a relief…you’re an ‘Osstraaalyun’ ;- ). Your brother sounds like the best place for him is in NZ. You know what’s between the saltwater and sea strand over their don’t you?
Too much fun…but not quite as much as making a Pizza though…so I’m off to make my very first $450.00 pizza..Hey Malcolm! Do you reckon my oven will fit in your jet?…not right now, but when I’m ready to go global :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
$450 for a pizza. Hmmm. Perhaps you should sell it by tender. Or Dutch auction. ‘The Dutch Oven Special: It’s a Blast!’
Or put it on eBay. If you can manage to get the visage of a popular deity to appear in the prosciutto, you could score over $25,000!
BTW everyone, I’m going offline for a couple of days to spend quantity time with Fonnie on her birthday.
I believe this experience is termed a ‘long weekend’. Can’t wait to see what it’s like!
So, please talk among yourselves. Or to them, if you prefer.
With best regards and MANY thanks for all your ace input. P.
‘Dutch Oven Special?’ Yeh! And as a bonus offer I could include one of those new-fangled blankets with sleeves to enhance the impact :- )
You truly are a devious man Paul Hassing…and YOU have a business coach? I wonder who is learning from whom? Popular Prosciutto Deities on eBay!!! You do scare me a bit sometimes…talk about thinking outside the Pizza Box! :- )
I do hope you and Fonnie enjoyed your weekend and that it was indeed ‘a weekend’ and not another overnight emergency Spa?
And a GREAT BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU FONNIE
…are you old now? :- ) Don’t worry, it gets worse! :- )
I’m thinking of doing an eBook called ‘The Joys of Gradual Decomposition’…it’ll have a ‘Men’s Business’ section with flow-charts showing how to pull yourself to bits in an oxygen tent without ripping the seams :- O
I’ll be back later to update you on my weekend which was my first test of my new oven in a multi-pizza cook-up situation for a multi-humanoid ensemble. Strap yourself in for some serious gourmet quality bragging :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
Thank you Stephen; I do a great line in scary. Learned it from a scoutmaster. Alas, not of my own volition.
The weekend in Sydney was a runaway success; we’re still catching up with it. Perfect weather and wonderful times, but the CBD night noises made Abbotsford sound quiet!
Thank you for your generous shout outs on Twitter. You’re really finding your range in there. Who’d have thought there were such things as ‘Pizzabots’ waiting, like seraphims, to lift your Word to greater heights?!
I’m still in work catch up mode, so must fly. It’s wonderful to see your pizza tsunami building. Ride it, Baby! Ride it!
Thanks Cobba :- )
Glad your weekend, was one :- )
Yeh! I’m only too willing to confess my inconsistency as a nubile ‘Twit’…but I do have my moments :- )
Yep! Pizza Tsunami building alright! I’ll be back later to fulfill my earlier (Comment 24), threat :- )
Cheers
Stephen G
Hi Folks :- )
I’m back with my previously threatened weekend noSh-it! Wood-Fired Pizza Wind-Tunnel Testing Report. :- )
I know it may seem indulgent and off-topic, but stay tuned, there’s a method to my madness (a retrospecitve method usually
). I will be including some of my re-considerations on pricing, strongly influenced by this great blog and commenters, and feedback from unsolicited feedback:
I had my first multi-pizza cook-up for a multi-humanoid audience including a couple for my new neighbours.
I’ve gotta say I was multi-dimensionally gobsmacked by the experience.
I was gobsmacked by the performance of the oven over a longer period and how I’m learning to manage it.
I was gobsmacked by the great feedback from, and nil fatalities amongst my erstwhile victims.
I was gobsmacked with being able to finalise my start-up menu in one day.
I was gobsmacked that my now year old costing projections were so accurate and that I’m now 100% confident that I’ll be able to serve to my oh, so lucky customers
, the highest quality, ‘organicest’, yummiest pizzas at a sane price.
As I’m a nubile mobile business, and in the spirit of a previous and excellent blog article (‘Do your thing and do it well – http://mybrc.myobnet.com/2009/08/11/do-your-thing-and-do-it-well/ ), by guest author and regular commenter Joanna Maxwell (CEO of WorkInColour – http://workincolour.com.au/what-we-do/), I’m starting off very simply. I’ll have 3 Pizza selections on the Menu (i.e. 3 Large, 3 Small).
Here’s what’s in/on them:
Until I branch out into Gluten Free bases and White Sauce (i.e. non-tomato. I’m working on an organic Potato, Kumara & Leek sauce), all current menu items will share the same Organic Dough Base & Organic Fresh Whole Tomato Sauce (my own recipe
). Of course, customers will be able to request any combination they like from the listed ingredients, to create their own unique noSh-it! Eatin’ Grin :- ).
The following recipes list the toppings only (Large & Small versions thereof):
This One – Organic Spicy Salami, Organic Emu Salami, Organic Proscuitto, 2 types of Organic Fresh Mozarella (young & mature), Organic Parmesan, Organic Cheddar (goes nice & brown & crisp on top) & Fresh Organic Basil.
That One – Same as above minus the meat, plus Organic Mushrooms, Organic Capsicum, Organic halved Cherrie Tomatoes, Organic Raw Cashews which roast perfectly (or pine nuts, walnuts, sesame or sunflower seeds) & Fresh Organic Basil. This is effectively the vego one.
The Other One – Same as ‘That One’ above, but with cold Smoked Ocean Trout.
Optional and highly recommended on all of the above is a centrepiece of Organic Salad with melted Tasmanian Brie poured over the top. The salad is made of Organic Rocket, Baby English Spinach, & Raw Boc Choy with a couple of secret herbs and a very mild, light dressing (my own recipe). Having never tried this before, I was delighted with the first test (as were my erstwhile test-pilots).
On the subject of pricing, I was forced to review my year old pricing matrix from my Business Plan based on unanimous opinions of select humans wearing that good ol’ noSh-it! Eatin’ Grin :- )
I asked each person that tried my pizzas (everyone tried a bit of each), what would they happily pay for a pizza like that? And would they return for another, feeling that they had received great value & quality previously? The answers and ensuing discussion resulted in a happily simple yet sound pricing matrix of $20 for large & $10 for small (with small optional fluctuations). This was a function of previous actual cost/profit projections (again from my Business Plan), comparisons with sitdown gourment pizza prices, convenience in decision making and payment for customers and making a decent profit.
In a nutshell a resounding success in every area…I’m still struggling to integrate all I learned…
There you go. Feedback & comments/critiques will of course be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Cheers
Stephen G
Good show, Stephen! The cool thing about tectonic shifts is that you sometimes get a chance to slip through the cracks. Here’s to your magma carta!
Thanks mate :- )…and thanks to your good self, the folks and Megan (our myBRC Guardian Angel), for allowing me the opportunity and fine platform upon which to ‘wax pizzical’.
Cheers
Stephen G
PS ‘Magma Carta’? ppfffsstt! Even late in the day, he’s still got it…nice one Dyoood :- )
Morning Folks,
I wasn’t intending on putting up yet another post by me, but this one just somehow seemed to hit the spot this morning.
Now that my friends are starting to send me ‘Small Business Owner’ Jokes (& my apologies if you’ve seen it, I hadn’t), doesn’t it raise questions like:
Is this an affirmation that my commitment is now taking root and I’m now being perceived as a bona fide small business person; or
Are they just being good friends by trying to keep my spirits high as they painfully watch me make my last gasping staggers by dint of shear will & desparation toward a world in which I have about a 5% chance of survival, but they respect that I’m having a go? : )
Hmmm???
But this one made me laugh…
“A man owned a small ranch near San Antonio. The Texas Labor Department got a tip that he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an investigator out to interview him.
“I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them,” demanded
the investigator.
“Well,” replied the rancher, “there’s my ranch hand who’s been with me for 3 years. I pay him $1200 a week plus free room and board.
“The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $1000 per week plus free room and board.
“Then there’s the half-wit. He works about 18 hours every day and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week, pays his own room and board.
But, I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night, and he also sleeps with my wife occasionally.”
“That’s the guy I want to talk to … the half-wit,” says the investigator.
“That would be me,” replied the rancher.”
Cheers
Stephen G
Nice one Stephen. You are what you think you are. You sure look like a real SBO to me. Stick with it and there won’t be a cat on the planet who doesn’t see the same.
I guess that one of the secrets of blogmanship is knowing when to come into the conversation and administer the coup de grace and, as the comments seem to have dried up (mainly because the main contributors are either exhausted from eating pizza or a weekend of debauchery, maybe now is the time.
I reckon that the discussion is all neatly wrapped and tied up with string in this comment from Aldo Gucci*… “The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory.”
Somehow it seems to say it all doesn’t it?
(*The last surviving son of the founder of the elite Italian fashion house that bore his family name who died in Rome recently aged 84.)
You certainly nailed it, Winston. I’d not seen that quote before, but I agree it’s perfect. Thank you!
Dried up? US? You wish! :- )
But you are right about ‘exhausted from eating Pizza’ (very happily I might add
)…actually, you might have included ‘BLUDDY GREAT’ in front of ‘Pizza’… :- )
It’s been another humongous week, and out of a deep-seated sense of fair-play, us ‘bucket-mouths’ are honor bound to allow you ’strategic lurkers’ some space to lay your Golden Eggs :- )
And a Golden Egg it is Winston…thanks :- )
Dear Paul…glad to see your feeling a bit better mate :- ).
Cheers
Stephen G
Thanks, Stephen. I now feel well enough to take the doggies for a walk. It’s been several days and they’re definitely due. Good luck with your ongoing tunnel testing.
Good Onya Sonya! :- )…now where do you suppose I picked up that little gem? :- P
And thanks Cobba…Yep! Another BIG FAT YUMMY noSh-it! Wood-Fired Pizza cook-up & wind tunnel test comin’ up this weekend. I’ve eaten about 14 Pizzas since my Mobile Oven arrived (about 1.7 weeks ago)…and am I even close to getting sick of ‘em?..NO WAY me ol’ Mucker! :- )
What can I say…I’m in Loooooovvvvve! Never thought I’d say that about a Pizza Oven… :- P
Cheers
Stephen G
Good on you, Stephen. So glad to hear you’re having some fun amid your government dramas.
Now to another Stephen. Stephen Hamilton took the time to write me an email full of fab ideas. I thought his views might also benefit others in our community, so gained his permission to reproduce his email (and my response) below. Thanks Stephen H!
Hi Paul,
I was just thinking about your questions on the mybrc blog regarding the pricing for your e-book. And I had an idea I thought was worth sharing with you.
Price it much higher, perhaps $100-$180. (all pricing I suggest are merely suggestions, its the process I think might have legs)
Include 30 minutes of ‘face’ time (I’d suggest something like skype using the video call feature – its free and works well) to guide the client through the theme of the book (I’d suggest that it would be mandatory that the client has read the book at this point), answer any questions they had regarding the book and its message, and perhaps a little extra coaching to ensure they are on the right track.
Maintain your money-back guarantee (I know this will sound a little scary) for the entire amount. You can be sure this will hardly ever get used because: a) the fact the client has interacted with you personally and can bear firsthand witness to your expertise in this field, b) you make them a special offer made available only to people who purchased the book – something like for $180 the client can have a further 3 hours of exclusive access to you either for extra mentoring and training, or editing their copy. This extra commitment from them, and subsequent value they receive, would build trust.
If applicable, perhaps consider selling this as a kit, and include any useful spreadsheets, templates, or other tools the client would benefit from.
I hope this may be of some value to you. I’ve not spent a huge amount of time fleshing this idea out, as you may have already thought of something like this anyway. But I hope in some way it helps. If nothing else, I’m plugging for you, as are the other enthusiastic commenters on the mybrc blog.
Stephen Hamilton http://stephenhamilton.wordpress.com
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Dear Stephen,
Thank you for taking the time and effort to send me your ace ideas.
I’m not a big fan of face time, but I know I need to do it.
To this end, I’ve been asking around for the best webcam to buy.
I have got my head around the guarantee thing. As I mentioned on your blog, it can take time for me to accept good advice but I get there in the end.
I have a heap of top notch copywriting tools lying around that I could assemble into a kit. That’s yet another thing I’ve not thought of.
I’m so grateful for your support; it is a wonderful surprise.
Best regards, P.
Another handy tip from Stephen Hamilton that I thought worth sharing:
‘You might like to start looking here for a webcam: http://shop.skype.com/intl/en-au/webcams/ I imagine there will be somewhere selling the same items for less, but at least you can have a degree of confidence if Skype recommends them.’
Bonza! Just what I needed. Many thanks.