By Fred Martel

Business is not driven by price alone. Those who strive to be the lowest price walk a fine line between success and failure.

The problems many businesses have cannot be cured with a rigid pricing program. Profits come from a discipline of good business practices which include proper hiring practices, continuous training, proper supervision, managing overhead and, of course, and proper pricing standards.

A good business plan also includes a marketing strategy – a blue print you follow to get the best publicity and exposure from your every move. This factor is widely overlooked in all levels of business in our industry, from contracting to wholesale to manufacturing.

Let us define the marketing function before we get to the core problem. Your ideal goal is to get each customer to get excited about the job your company performed for them. How, you may ask, does that happen? The answer is perceived value, i.e., customers get more than they expected for the price! You must consider the marketing factor. It is okay to charge higher prices if you can show value for the price!