Charging for your Product, Service, or Process
I’ve been in a very small discussion regarding how best to charge customers for ones product, service, or process. Granted we’re all discussing this inside a Plaxo Pulse discussion area called Blogging for Business, but the issue is valid and I’d like to take a moment to provide insight into my current predilection.
Scott Andrews, the CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions, posited the following:
“I’m offering a training program and access to a resource center filled with downloads, screen prints, slides/audio recordings, links to helpful widgets, tools, code, and methods to make money with blogs and grow traffic to blogs.”
:
:
“I’m trying to determine the best way to position the price for this program …”
I suggested that Scott think of offering to his customers a price break for his product in return for ad space and a share of revenue. This seems like an affiliate program at first glance. However, an affiliate program is not tied to the purchase of a product or service, just the real estate on the page. I’m suggesting he charge less for his product with the intention of being able to tie the success of his product to a share of the profits his customer attains.
The product, service, or process one sells as a package in essence provides your client a big benefit. Why not provide them the opportunity to share a percentage of the back-end value instead of paying 100% up front? This is important because now you’ve got skin in the game by not charging them too much. Any increase in their traffic, which also provides proof that what they bought from you truly works, in turn pays you both back, handsomely.
Look at it this way: you are making your client successful and you both share in that success. As your product proves itself, taking them from nothing to something, they have invested a modest amount and you’ve shown your commitment to your product and their success.
And, for an internet business, this is like promising to help the farmer clear the weeds, by hand, if your product fails. It’s a solid and sound hand shake.
TAGS: Plaxo, Plaxo, revenue, affiliate, commitment, internet business, StaffITRight, efficiencies, Intelligent Business Resourcing
December 14th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
What’s this blog for? I’m curious.
I thought that was very intuitive “….now get back to work…”. I’m constantly working, and yes day and night. I take time just to see if anyone commented. Thanks
December 15th, 2007 at 12:53 am
This is a corporate blog for the product(s) that my business partner and I are building right now. You’re actually here, “early”, in that this is way premature to actually making this available to a wider audience.
Yep, the “get back to work” is because I am FIGHTING with my WP template to get the header back to displaying on a ’single’ page, as is used here for individual posts. I’ve been using winmerge to compare to another one of my blogs and its templates - ugh … not sure how I got around this before.
(note to self: leave yourself a breadcrumb next time)
Thanks for stopping by! I plan to go back and read more on your site. I was just installing CommentLuv and through BlogCatalog I saw you had some hints on getting more traffic with said plugin!
Sweet! And thanks again!
January 19th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Is this model of charging revolutionary? Are there examples of similar approach put into practice? Sounds interesting.
January 19th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Well, I wouldn’t ever consider anything I suggest, revolutionary. I am quite often using something from the past, or something I’ve learned from someone else, and, used a bit of creative license to an end … ???
I believe that one key factor missing from sales is, well, a heart-felt and hearty handshake. I’ve posited here is a form of handshake, or a business agreement that looks to provide your client more even though you are able to gain some benefit as well. Even though the reward is not obvious or in some respects immediate, it does still result in a form of reward (either monies or traffic - which traffic can produce monies too).
If/When I have completed the product currently under development, I plan on utilizing what I have posited here in this post. I’ll report back on the success, rest assured!