The Price of Being Affordable

I've had a lot of conversations with business owners over the years about pricing.

What's interesting is how uncomfortable that conversation can get.

Most owners have no problem talking about rising labor costs, insurance, utilities, equipment, supplies, or just about everything else that has gotten more expensive. But when the conversation turns to what we're charging our clients, suddenly we get nervous.

We start wondering what people will think.

Will they complain?

Will they leave?

Will the cleaner down the street be cheaper?

I understand it. Nobody wants to feel like they're taking advantage of people, and nobody wants to lose a good client over price.

But I've also watched owners work incredibly hard to keep their prices "affordable" while the business slowly becomes less affordable for them to own.

That's the part we don't talk about enough.

There is a cost to being the cheapest or even just trying really hard not to be expensive.

Eventually something has to give.

Maybe it's the equipment that should have been replaced two years ago. Maybe it's the raise you can't afford to give a great employee. Maybe it's the additional person you really need on the team. Or maybe it's the owner who keeps working more hours because there isn't enough profit to create another option.

None of those things show up on the price board.

But they're real.

I've never believed people choose a drycleaner based on price alone. They choose based on trust, convenience, quality, service, relationships, and a hundred other little things that are hard to put a number on.

That doesn't mean price doesn't matter.

Of course it does.

I just don't think being affordable means what we sometimes convince ourselves it means.

A business has to work for the client.

But it also has to work for the owner, the employees, and the future of the company.

Otherwise, eventually there isn't much of a business left to protect.

Sometimes the price we're most afraid to raise isn't actually the most expensive price we're paying.

Dave