The Price Of Growth

When I merged my service business with another one, my new business partner approached me with a plan to raise prices on my clients to get them up to speed with the rest of the clients.

I had been a self-employed, solo practitioner working out of my spare bedroom and had nearly zero overhead (I even had a milk crate as a desk chair for a while, there).

Now I had an office with employees and everything that comes with that – a legion of computer hardware, desks, printers, on and on and on.

But I also had a new world of services to offer, and much more bandwidth. In other words, I had created a lot of value for my clients overnight.

On paper, it’s an easy choice, but it can be difficult to actually reach out to someone and let them know that I am now expensive.

In this case, I was raising prices by over 50%, and I was really concerned about losing customers, or at least making them upset. I had been their trusted advisor, walking side-by-side with them in their business growth, but I knew it was time.

It was a simple decision, but it turns out it was difficult to actually take that trail.

In the end, I didn’t lose one client with the price raise. 

The strong relationships I had built really helped us kick off our business together. Customer service, providing loads of value all the time, and helping their businesses grow paid off when I needed it.

How are you going to strengthen your customer relationships this week?

Onward and upward,
Simon Trask