How not to raise prices

I recently received a letter from a firm that did some work for me over the past year. It was short and sweet. They wanted to let me know that they were raising their rates in 2008 due to the “increasing cost of doing business.”  Guess what?

As a customer, I don’t care about their cost of doing business. I only care about mine. They did not mention anything about how they’ve become more productive or how they are increasing the value they are providing.

When employees want to ask for a raise, most career gurus will advise that person to articulate the value that they are providing to their employer and to demonstrate their impact. The fact that the employee has a car payment or a mortgage payment or gas prices are higher is not really relevant.

Same thing applies if you are an outside supplier. If you want to raise prices, increase value to the customer.  Then make sure to communicate that value so that your customer perceives it.