The Devil's Advocate

88

Set fire to your price list

There’s a sensible way to set your prices. You take all your input costs and staff time, then add an industry-standard margin, and end up with a simple and clear price list.

You might as well build a bonfire of cash outside your office and set fire to it.

Your costs only tell you one thing – if you’ve negotiated a good price from your suppliers. Your price is completely different. It’s what your customers are willing to pay on any given day, in any given place, for any given reason. You’d be better off using a psychologist to set your price list rather than an accountant.

There are all kinds of factors you can use to vary the price of what you sell.

Take the example of hardback books. When publishing yearbooks, ...