R.S. wrote:
[snip]
What pricing model is fair ?
I don't know. However I know, what is reality: it is necessary to fing
competitive vendor, get their offer, including migration assistance, and
re-negotiate the original agreement. Result: 1/3 of original price. In
fact, I don't care what pricing model they prefer, how many programmers
they hire, especially how many sales specialists have income from my
account. Competition gives me reasonable prices, because I have an
alternative.
But then you get into today's mentality: everything is price,
nothing is quality.
We have the same problem in pricing training. In fact, just
about any non-monopoy business has difficulty setting the
"right" price for their products or services.
We are fanatic about keeping our courses current and in developing
new materials as fast as our resources allow. Our competitors don't
do that, generally speaking. Instead, they compete on price. And
in a market mentality that price is everything, we will lose even
if we have the better, more appropriate offering.
For years we have only offered discount prices in very special
circumstances, feeling our prices are fair and competitive. But
we find, as one poster in this thread pointed out, management
loves to get a "discount" - real or perceived. So we are
considering re-structuring our prices then offering discounts,
so that the net is about the same but the training coordinator
can boast about the discount they got! It's a bit of a sham, but
perception is reality today. [Any comments on this strategy?]
Actually, playing mental games with it is kind of fun. Suppose
we set our daily rate at x_dollars, then how many different
discounts can we offer so that the net is y_dollars? What do
you base discounts for training on? New client rates, first
time a course is taught rates, bulk training rates, preferred
client rates, small class size rates, large class size rates,
???
Kind regards,
-Steve Comstock
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