Also referred to as A la Carte vs. Prix Fixe in French restaurants, which one you choose, depends on what your needs are and the best price. Everyone loves to save money and for good reason. Have you ever bought a music album that only had one or two good songs on it and felt ripped off? This would have been to good time for itemized pricing. Ever been burned by going over your minutes on your cell phone plan? This would have been a great time for the unlimited plan (all-inclusive)

Generally, for itemized pricing each item is priced higher than the cost of the same item in the all-inclusive pricing. The all-inclusive price might seem higher at times, but again, it depends of what your needs are and it may end up saving you money in the long run. For the purposes of this blog and while still keeping with our theme of great customer service, we will focus on Answering Services.

Most answering services offer itemized pricing. This is fine, the only problem is that usually their basic price does not include at least the basics. Every answering service answers calls and then delivers the messages to their clients in various ways (by email, text, call transfer, etc.). It’s at two-step process. Most answering services charge extra for the second step, the message delivery. They offer an initial low price quote for their minute plans and then tell clients that they charge extra to deliver the message. Also, some charge extra to answer during holidays, or for bilingual service, or even for message recap service.

When there is a charge for step two of a two-step process, this moves into the “nickel and diming” category.  For example, if a valet was charging you extra for “Driver time”, this would be nothing more than nickel and diming. Global Messaging offers simple pricing that covers the entire service. No extra charges for message delivery, or for transferring calls to you. No nickel and diming here, and our packages give our clients even higher discounts based on their needs. So whether you’re dining at a fine French restaurant and calculating the price of wine by the glass or by the bottle or buying music online, know all the charges before making your purchase.

The psychology of pricing. You may know someone who has no problem buying a new car or expensive piece of Jewelry, but they will complain about the price of something inexpensive. For example, they may complain about the price of a hammer or they will bring their own candy to a movie because they find the movie theater candy too expensive.  This seemingly odd behavior is easily explained by the their perception of Value. These people find the expensive hammer and the cheap hammer to be pretty much the same. They both hammer nails, so why pay more? The candy at the movie theater is exactly the same as the one at the grocery store, so why pay more? (The grocery store actually has a better selection of the higher end chocolate which is cheaper than the regular candy at the movies).  Compare this to their new car purchase. The new car is (or should be) worry free, has the new rear view camera, navigation system, heated and cooled seats, Luxury Brand Name, etc.  It is not the price in this case, it’s their perceived value. This kind of customer gets joy out knowing they got the best deal on items perceived to be of regular (normal) value, even if the savings is not a lot of money.

If your product or service is not a luxury item, but one that has a lot of competition and therefore has a regular value in the market place, compare your pricing to your competitors. If your price and value are in on par with your competitors, be ready to offer a discount. “Why pay more?” is what a lot of your clients may be asking. This can be best explained by looking at Macy’s. Macy’s seems to have a sale every week and sometimes their sales associates tell clients if the item they are looking at will be on sale in a few days. This is a great idea because it creates more return business to Macy’s due to the client appreciation (Why pay more when there is a sale in 2 days?) Knowing that you didn’t pay more is one of the best feelings you will experience as a client. At Global Messaging we believe in giving as many discounts as possible to our clients. Our clients stay with us long term because of the value we offer.

Once you offer a discount, make sure your client knows how much they are saving, so they can perceive the value and feel good about the discount they are getting. Be it a one time discount on a single purchase, or a monthly discount, make sure your client knows the value in dollars. When your clients are getting a great deal for the value they are receiving, they will be more likely to stay with you long term.

What about simple vs. Itemized pricing (nickel and diming) vs. Bundle pricing? We will cover that in part 2.

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