This is one of a series of occasional articles about dealing with the downturn and what you can do to get your business fitter to survive, whilst many of your competitors may fail. The idea of Taking Your Business to the Gym comes from the view that over the last 8-10 years things have relatively speaking been easy. Company liquidations have been at low levels both consumer and business to business markets have been strong and companies have had no real pressure to look at themselves and seek improvement.

Many have but most have become a little complacent training clients over optimistic and so flabby. This recession has thrown an assault course in the way and you’ve got to get fit quickly to make it through. Pricing is perhaps one of the most misunderstood issues in business, if used properly it’s one of the simplest ways to help you maximise your profits. Easy then, so what’s the problem? Simple question: who sets your company’s prices is it determined by you or the market? All those who said the market – Your Wrong – it’s YOU!

It’s one of the most basic misconceptions about business whilst the market might dictate general pricing levels individual companies set their own prices. The problem with owner managed business is that they assume that they must be the cheapest to survive. If I had a £1 for every time I’ve heard this I’d be very rich – sadly I’m not. Why do so many people think like this? It’s conditioning, let me give you some examples You’re visited by a salesman who can’t articulate the benefits of his product. What do you tell him when he asks for the business, I’m sorry but it’s too expensive. You’re visited by a salesman who you just don’t like.

What do you tell him when he asks for the business, I’m sorry but it’s too expensive. You’re visited by a salesman who just doesn’t get the point you’re trying to make. What do you tell him when he asks for the business, I’m sorry but it’s too expensive. You’re visited by a salesman who’s too pushy. What do you tell him when he asks for the business, I’m sorry but it’s too expensive. You should be getting a message by now pricing is rarely the issue, price objections are mostly a cover for some other objection. So why is it we know we’re not telling the truth when we hide behind price, but assume others are telling the truth when they tell us we’re too expensive. I really can’t explain I can only assume that we just don’t want to face the real issue so we accept pricing as the issue. So now you know let’s look at what you can do.