Setting Profitable Prices, + Website: A Step-by-Step Guide to Pricing Strategy--Without Hiring a Consultant

Content: Preface xv     Author Credentials xv     If You Can Afford a Pricing Consultant ... xvi     Don   t Have the Cash to Invest? xvii     How Big of a Rush Are You In? xvii     Chapter Summaries xviii     Acknowledgments xxi     PART 1 HOW TO SET PRICES FOR MAXIMUM PROFITS 1     Chapter 1 Why Pricing Is the Key to Your Success 3     Raise Prices   or Sell More Products? 3     Big-Company Case History 5     Tiny-Company Case History 5     Chapter 2 Why Most Companies Stink at Pricing (and How You Can Do Better!) 7     The    Myth    of Creating Demand Curves 8     How Your Competitors Are Setting Prices 9     Cost-Plus Pricing 9     Match-Your-Competitors Pricing 11     PART 2 HOW THE MARKET WILL VALUE YOUR NEW PRODUCT 13     Chapter 3 Analyzing Your Competitors    Prices 15     You Do So Have Competitors! 15     How to    Pick    Your Competitors 16     Direct vs. Indirect Competitors 16     How Consumers Evaluate Prices 18     How to Get Profitable Ideas from Your Competitors 19     Chapter 4 Environmental Factors That Can Affect Your Pricing 21     Environmental Factors Overview 21     The Economy 21     Competitors 24     Government Regulation and Legal 24     Social Trends 25     Technological Change 26     Chapter 5 Pick the Positioning of Your New Product 29     There Are Only 3 Choices! 29     The Psychology of Price Positioning 30     Penetration Price Positioning 31     Skimming (or Premium) Price Positioning 35     Competitive Price Positioning 38     Learning More about Competitive Pricing 40     Chapter 6 Analyzing Your Buyer Benefits/Drawbacks Relative to Your Competitors 43     Uncovering What Buyers Really Value/Hate about Products in Your Marketplace 44     Learn More about Calculating Buyer Valuation of Different Features 44     Chapter 7 Picking a    Ballpark    for Your Best Price 47     You Will Not Be    Stuck    with Your Decision! 48     Can   t Make a Profit at that Price Range? 49     Not Sure about Your Results? 49     Learn More about Buyers    Reactions to Price Ranges 50     PART 3 YOUR COST ANALYSIS 53     Chapter 8 Evaluating Your Costs 55     The Ideas Behind    Target Costing    and    Target Engineering    55     Types of Costs 56     The Hardest Part of Calculating Costs 57     Reasons for Launching a Product that Doesn   t Cover Overhead 58     PART 4 FINE-TUNING YOUR PRICE 59     Chapter 9 Is Your Profit Potential Acceptable? 61     If You   re Happy with Your Potential Profits 61     If You   re Not Happy with Your Potential Profits 62     Next Step 66     Chapter 10 Psychological Adjustments to Your Price 67     Understanding    Barriers    in Prices 68     Staying below Barriers 68     Increasing Prices up to Barriers 69     Numbers that Say    Discount    to Buyers 70     Test Your Knowledge! 71     Visually Appealing Prices 72     Selling to Businesses 73     Learn More about Thresholds 74     Learn More about the Effect of Numbers 75     PART 5 TESTING YOUR PRICES 77     Chapter 11 Testing Prices 79     The Psychology of You   in Setting Prices 79     Can You Test? 81     The Difference between Testing and Research 81     Chapter 12 Using Google to Test Prices for Free (or Almost Free) 83     Two Methods for Almost-Free Testing!! 83     Using Google Optimizer to Test Multiple Things 87     PART 6 PRICING IN SPECIAL SITUATIONS 91     Chapter 13 Pricing Services 93     Imagine No Chapter 13! 93     The Complications of Setting Prices for Services 94     The Myth of Pricing Based on    What You Want to Earn    94     Pricing by the Hours versus the Job 94     Finding What Service Competitors Charge 96     Picking Your Price Positioning 97     What Your Price Says about Your Firm 97     How to Charge Higher Prices to Those Willing to Pay More 98     Chapter 14 Pricing New Products/Services, Part 1: When Your Brand Is Unknown 101     The Problems in Pricing Something New 101     Price Equals Quality Buyer Perception 102     Does Quality Equal Likelihood-to-Buy? 102     Understanding    Bargain Hunters    103     Price Preferences by Product Type 103     Detailed Research on Buyer Price Position Preferences 104     Additional Research on Preferred Prices 107     Learn More about Risk and Pricing 110     Chapter 15 Pricing New Products/Services, Part 2: Competing with Established Brands 113     When Your Competitors Are Established Brands 113     Risk Avoidance 116     Price Premiums for Known Brands 117     Discounting Differences 120     What Causes Customers to Switch to a New Brand? 124     What Happens after Buyers Switch? 126     Shocking Findings on Brand Names 127     So What Does it All Mean for Pricing a New Product/Service? 127     Chapter 16 Pricing with Discounts 129     Discounts: A Double-Edged Sword 129     When Discounts Worry Consumers 130     Determining Best Discount Levels 136     Discounts    Effect on Quality Ratings and Purchase 137     Concluding Thoughts on Pricing, and Especially on Testing Prices 139     Appendix of Worksheets 141     Bibliography 157     About the Author 171     About the Companion Web Site 173     Index 175