Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:31 — 9.4MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS
Deciding whether you should advertise your managed services pricing online can be challenging. This blog post discusses the pros and cons of advertising your MSP rates on your website.
To give you the answer straight away. My belief is no; you shouldn’t be posting your prices online. Here’s why:
If you have ever attended a few webinars for a paid product, you would have noticed a standard format. They often talk about the pain point, how it makes you feel now, and how their product or service is the solution.
It is usually only in the last few minutes of the webinar that they mention the price.
This is because the price needs sufficient context before it is mentioned. You can’t just say “buy my course for one thousand dollars”.
You need to point out that you understand their pain point. You want to get them thinking about how they feel now and how it would feel with that problem solved. Then discuss how your solution solves that problem.
Once you have set that up, you can mention the price because now it’s not a sticker value; it’s a solution to a pain point.
Bringing it back to your managed services website, it lacks that context when you post your prices online. It often seems too high for just some monitoring, backup, and edge protection.
It’s not about just installing some software. It’s about understanding the client’s needs and solving the business’s problems.
It’s about allowing them to work more efficiently. It would avoid that million-dollar fine if the client’s patient database was leaked.
That is worth the price, but the prospects don’t have all that context established when the price is posted online.
Conversely, a price that appears too low can hurt you too.
There is a link between the price and the perceived level of competence.
When a business owner is looking for an MSP to babysit their priceless data, they often won’t go for the cheapest option. They may have had a figure in their head that was higher than what you are offering, and now they are wondering why you are so cheap.
They might think you are new to the business and don’t want to take a risk on anyone inexperienced.
They might think that your MSP is too small and couldn’t handle someone more significant at your prices.
Whatever the case, it is hard to hit the right price point when you post your prices. It tends to be either too expensive due to the lack of context or too cheap.
There are a couple of exceptions to this, though:
I believe it’s OK to list your prices if you are selling a commoditized item like Microsoft 365 licenses. The problem is that you are now selling a commoditized item that will be price shopped. You generally want to create a tailored solution for each client, which is difficult to price beforehand.
If you are getting a lot of tire-kickers, you can mention a minimum of $150 per seat and upwards.
Other than those two exceptions, I believe you shouldn’t be posting your Managed Services prices on your website.
What do you think? Leave a comment.