When Should You Raise Your Prices?

When Should You Raise Your Prices?

For many business owners, coming up with a pricing strategy was a challenge in the first place. Now, you’ve been in operation a few years and it may be time to raise your prices, but the anxiety is back.

You fear that if you increase the cost of the product too quickly, customers will go elsewhere. But leaving your prices low without adjustments for inflation, cost of living, overhead, or other variables that affect your expenses, you could run yourself right out of business.

Here’s how to tell if it’s time to raise your prices.

Your Close Rate Is High

If a customer conversion rate is over 80%, you probably have prices that are too low. Ideally, your close rate should be in between 75% and 80%. If the conversion rate is in this range, you may want to check over your prices and see if you should increase them.

Of course, if you have an exceptional product that caught the attention of customers quickly, you may find that you have a higher conversion rate after raising prices. Sometimes, products that are too cheap can be a turn off to consumers – they assume there’s a reason they’re so cheap.

You Haven’t Raised Prices

If you haven’t raised prices in years, or you’ve never raised prices, now is the time. Often, business owners are afraid to raise prices at this point because they believe loyal customers will turn away.

Keep in mind that prices have very little impact on demand, so the demand won’t go anywhere. Sure, some customers may not be happy about the prices going up, but most will support you. A modest increase in price isn’t going to deter anyone.

You’ve Received Competitive Reviews

Whether we like it or not, our competitors’ prices influence our prices and how much the market will bear. You can use this same information to determine when it’s time to raise prices (and by how much).

Check out the prices that competitors are charging for comparable products and use that to inform your new pricing strategy. But don’t let the market dictate your pricing. If you’re the more expensive of the brands, your opportunity to come out ahead is in marketing your product for value or quality, rather than as the bargain.

Tips for Raising Prices

If you’ve determined that raising prices is a good decision, you can soften the blow by approaching pricing incrementally. Instead of doubling your price overnight, raise your prices by the appropriate amount. Consider how much of the price affects budget and how much leeway you have to add to the price.

Another option is to “grandfather” old clients in. With this method, you’ll keep the prices the same for your old customers and only raise prices for the new ones.

Boost Your Profits with Accurate Pricing

Pricing your products or services is always difficult. If you’re looking to raise prices, make sure to be transparent with customers to explain the reasons behind the price increase.

Could you use guidance to achieve your business goals? Work with business coach Allison directly!

When Can You Consider Yourself a CEO?

When Can You Consider Yourself a CEO?

When is a founder considered a CEO? Is it when they start getting a certain number of profits or employees? When do they take on the role and responsibilities of a CEO?

By definition, a CEO is the highest-ranking executive in a company and the point of communication between the board of directors and operations. Typically, the CEO is the final decision-maker in the company and must only report to the board of directors.

This is all true of large corporations, but what about smaller businesses? What if you don’t have a board of directors or other executives?

Plenty of owner/operators or founders call themselves a CEO interchangeably, but is this accurate? At what point are you qualified to call yourself a CEO?

What Makes a CEO?

Legally, yes, you can call yourself a CEO or anything else you like. You’re the majority owner of the business. But calling yourself a CEO and actually being a CEO are quite different.

CEOs have a lot of responsibilities they undertake each day, and their decisions can have a profound impact on a company or its employees. They work up to that position by taking on different management or leadership roles. Perhaps they undergo executive training programs or mentorships within the company.

Yes, you do run a business. But running a business for yourself and running a large corporate with many moving parts and a number of stakeholders to answer to is a big step up.

Furthermore, calling yourself a CEO as a small business owner doesn’t boost your credibility. When it comes to investors, it could even hurt your chances. It’s not only an ego issue, but a concern for how seriously you’ll be taking your business.

Very few people are qualified to be a CEO simply because they founded a company. Investors will realize the title is only a temporary or ego-driven one, and that as your company grows, you’ll need to hire an experienced CEO.

Requirements of a CEO

Though courses are available for executive training, CEOs usually earn their qualifications and position with extensive experience in:

  • – Marketing
  • – Sales
  • – Finance
  • – Operations
  • – Product development
  • – Management
  • – Leadership
  • – Recruiting
  • – Strategy
  • – Accounting

This isn’t a background that can be gained with a college course. The experience is gained by doing the work and learning along the way.

And these are just skills. It doesn’t even include the other qualities you need, such as commitment, integrity, and motivation.

As your business scales, you may need to appoint a CEO and other leaders. You could also appoint yourself, but you don’t know what you don’t know.

Scale Your Business

Building a substantial company requires an experienced team to help it reach success. Simply calling yourself a CEO doesn’t give you the skill set or qualifications, and if you don’t have other leaders to help, you’re only hurting your own success.

Looking for executive coaching? Work with Allison directly to gain the skills you need!

What Is A Life Coach? How 1:1 Coaching Can Help You Move Forward And Crush Goals

What Is A Life Coach? How 1:1 Coaching Can Help You Move Forward And Crush Your Goals

Have you ever found yourself stuck in life? Whether you’re at a loss for what you want to do or you have an end-goal in mind but no clue how to get there, feeling stuck in life is all too common. And chances are, a life coach is someone you could benefit from greatly to provide that necessary nudge in the right direction. 

Life coaches are specialists who help their clients analyze where they are now, where they want to be in the future, and how to connect the two. They help people who aren’t sure how to move forward or what their next best step is by looking at what obstacles are getting in the way and helping an individual find solutions to overcome them. 

How Does it Work?

While the process of working with a Life Coach is similar to how therapy works, it differentiates itself by focusing more on the future rather than looking at your past and understanding your present. Life coaching is more direct in nature and gives individuals the encouragement they need to move past any resistance that’s keeping them from their goals. 

Typically, a coach will begin your relationship with a discovery call during which they’ll ask questions to get to know you a little better and to figure out how they can best help you.

You’ll discuss the frequency of your meetings and if there is any “homework” that they may want you to do before your time together. More than likely, they’ll send you some paperwork to fill out that will help them identify your current obstacles and background. 

Once your sessions start, your time together will be spent discussing what goals you have for your future and the things that are keeping you from achieving them. While your coach won’t tell you the exact roadmap or steps to take, they will help you define them for yourself. At the end of your time with a life coach, you’ll walk away with actionable steps to get you on the path to where you want to go. 

Work with Me

I’m a Life Coach based out of Atlanta and I have over 15 years of experience in the coaching industry. I like to call myself a “confidence coach,” because I feel like my mission is to empower driven, passionate entrepreneurs to launch, grow, and scale their businesses and achieve the success they deserve. 

I found my way into the coaching industry after serving in several leadership roles including my current position as Corporation Relations Manager for United Way of Greater Atlanta.

I earned my Masters of Arts in Human Resource Management and Development from Webster University and my Bachelors of Arts in Communication Theory and Rhetoric from the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

In conjunction with my coaching business, I created a Business Clarity Mastermind that’s open to the public and teaches practical strategies and tools to take action and grow your business. 

If you’ve been spinning your wheels about where your life is headed and still haven’t found any traction, I would love to talk about how I can get you back on track and moving towards the future you envision. Your path to progress is just one click away. 

Paid Advertising Specialist, Silvia Coletto: Because You Needed Results, Like, Yesterday.

Paid Advertising Specialist, Silvia Coletto: Because You Needed Results, Like, Yesterday.

In Position2Profit, we’re all about partnering and shining the light on vetted professionals that rock their industry. Why? Because we’re all committed to growing and scaling our businesses. How do we do this? By consistently learning

Whether you’re ready to hop on a call with Silvia after reading through this post, or you simply want to check out her website, you’ll find your business will be in a better position after reading this than it was before. Because Silvia Coletto, founder of Paid Ads School, is an online advertising witch, casting up ads that genuinely drive results. 

Who Is Silvia Coletto? 

Silvia Coletto is the proud founder of Paid Ads School. She creates and launches paid advertising campaigns to generate interest, leads, and sales from your products or services. 

Paid Ads School Takes The Guesswork Out Of Paid Advertising