Changing the structure…of price.
Sometimes in business we realize that we are heading in the wrong direction and we either need to (A) jump ship. OR (B) Change the way we’re doing things.
This realization came to David Lano & myself while we were working on our Control Yours business last month. We realized that our current pricing structure was not designed for long term growth or future employee involvement (even though we were providing a hell of a deal to small businesses). Something needed to change.
Changing price is a tricky thing because of what it does to your brand (it can help it by making it look more exclusive, or it can hurt it by making you look like you are a money whore), and because of what it does with your current customers (if something isn’t added to your products/services and your price increases dramatically, it can really hurt your business because of how greedy it makes you look). $$ is a very emotional topic with individuals, and unfortunately for us, individuals run businesses, and businesses are our clients.
David and I took an approach that you may have seen many times over and we believe that it was the best thing for our business. We raised our rates from 75% (on our smallest package) to almost 300% (on our largest package). We have created different subscription packages that people can choose from (4 main packages), as well as offer different services within the different packages (to help differentiate between them). Before we were just including everything to everyone at one really cheap price, on our way to business suicide.
Did we gouge the current customers that were with us from the beginning and hit them with the 300% price increase right away? No, not even close…we “Grandfathered” them into our new pricing structure while keeping their current monthly pricing (and they will pay that same price until they either quit our services or upgrade to a new package). It’s a good deal for them since they were with us since the beginning, and because we didn’t burn them, they can and will remain fans of Control Yours.
If you’d like to take a look at our current site with changes in place, please copy and paste the following link into your browser [ https://www.controlyours.com ], click on the ‘details’ tab and choose ‘price’. If you have any constructive criticism for us (or just bitching & moaning), we are open and willing to receive it!
Thanks again & have an Awesome Day!
~Chais Meyer

