Setting prices for your product or service is an inexact science. I think the guesswork that goes into setting prices also makes it tempting to leave prices unchanged for too long. But leave them too high and you lose customers. Leave them too low and you lose margin. Two questions to ask when prices might be out of date:

1. Have my costs changed? This changes your minimum profitable price.

2. Have my customers’ alternatives changed? This changes your maximum marketable price.

In a typical business, prices should probably be evaluated once or twice a year.

We are most likely to change when:

• There is a problem…
• That we care too much about to just tolerate…
• That we can’t get away from…
• And is challenging but not overwhelming.

These “optimal” conditions remind me of some of life’s most difficult and painful circumstances. Apparently optimal change comes through experiences that feel extremely sub-optimal.

If you want to change, reach out for the resources you need, then face into the difficulty as honestly as you can.

As a training exercise, I’ve been taking a look at proposals before our sales reps send them out to customers.

Before I even look at the proposal I ask the sales rep “What’s important to this customer?” It might be lead time, price, color matching, control of a specific frequency, you name it. I can’t evaluate the job we did preparing our proposal until I know what’s important to the customer who will receive it.

This implies another truth: Effective sales involves listening a lot, not talking a lot. If you listen, customers will tell you all about what’s important to them. You don’t even need to ask, they’ll start telling you from the minute you answer the phone. Once you know, you can make a relevant and genuinely helpful proposal.

I love dashboards that show the vital stats of an organization at a glance. I recommend them wholeheartedly.

There’s a danger though. Once that beautiful real-time dashboard is a click away, it can be tempting to spend too much time checking results. (I’ve been known to check real-time sales stats before, during, and after a staff meeting.) It feels good when the numbers are up, but checking progress can be a distraction from creating progress.

Create progress through clear strategy and deliberate, consistent action. Check progress often enough to know what’s working and what’s not. Know the score but focus on playing the game.

I participated in this exercise with a seminar speaker recently. It’s fun and surprisingly eye-opening.

Thinking about your business, your organization, or any unit of your life, write a list of the main things that make it what is.

Example: If you own a restaurant: We make food. We have menus. We charge for food. We have tables and chairs.

Next to each item, write a brainstorm list of what you could do if that item was reversed.

Same restaurant example:

• We don’t make food… People bring in their own food. The customers cook the food. A different guest chef makes the food each week.
• We don’t have menus… Every entree is a surprise. The chef decides what will be served based on that day’s market. The servers memorize a clever way of selecting food.
• We don’t charge for food… We charge by the hour for the table space. We charge an annual membership fee. Everything is a suggested donation.
• We don’t have tables and chairs… We use bleachers, like stadium seating. People sit in seats that can be driven around like bumper cars. [Your idea here.]

I love how this exercise brings out ideas that are normally hidden behind the obvious answers.