Price It Right: A Pricing Clinic for Small Business Owners — Dallas

Bring one current offer. Test the logic behind the price, pressure-check the structure, and leave with one pricing experiment and a clearer “Your price is a story you’re telling. Let’s check if it’s true.” Pricing gets complicated when one number is trying to carry too many assumptions. Did you include the real cost of delivery? Does the scope match the price? Is the difference between your packages meaningful? Are you pricing from evidence—or because the number felt safe six months ago? Price It Right is a two-hour practical clinic for small-business owners, freelancers, and independent professionals who want to examine how one current offer is priced. This is not a general networking night. Bring one offer. Bring your current pricing structure if you are comfortable using it. Then work through three pricing frameworks, complete a private Price Truth Check, and join a structured three-person review. The final decisions stay yours. WHAT YOU WILL WORK ON The workshop introduces three common ways to think about pricing: COST-PLUS VALUE-BASED TIERED OFFER DESIGN None of these frameworks is presented as the one correct method for every business. The goal is to identify which assumptions are driving your current price and which assumptions still need evidence. FRAMEWORK 1 - COST-PLUS Start by looking at the economics of delivering the offer. Consider areas such as: • Direct delivery cost • Labor or owner time • Contractor cost • Software or production cost • Relevant overhead • Desired operating margin The exercise is designed to identify costs that may have been overlooked. It does not certify a correct or profitable price. FRAMEWORK 2 - VALUE-BASED Ask: What problem does the offer solve? What changes for the customer? Which part of that value can I actually substantiate? Am I relying on an assumption that has not been tested? Do not invent a financial return merely to justify a price. If the value cannot be quantified credibly, describe it without manufacturing an ROI claim. FRAMEWORK 3 - TIERED OFFER DESIGN Explore whether different customers genuinely need different scopes. A working structure might include: CORE The essential service or deliverable. EXPANDED Additional scope, access, complexity, or deliverables. HIGHER-SCOPE A materially larger engagement. A higher tier should represent a real difference in scope or service. It should not rely on artificial feature withholding or deceptive price anchoring. THE PRICE TRUTH CHECK Each attendee completes a private worksheet. COST What does this actually cost me to deliver? SCOPE What exactly is included? CUSTOMER Who is the offer designed for? VALUE What useful outcome can I honestly describe? ASSUMPTION What am I assuming about the customer or willingness to pay? EVIDENCE What evidence do I actually have? TEST PRICE What price or range do I want to test next? Your test price is selected by you. DFW Business Growth Collective does not certify a participant’s price as correct, legally compliant, financially optimal, or appropriate for an entire industry. PRICING REVIEW TRIADS Participants are placed into groups of approximately three. Each participant receives a short review window. Suggested structure: 2 MINUTES - EXPLAIN THE OFFER What is being sold? Who is it for? What does the customer receive? 3 MINUTES - STRUCTURED QUESTIONS Peers use the provided review questions. 2 MINUTES - CLARITY FEEDBACK What remains confusing? 1 MINUTE - PRIVATE NOTE Write down the issue you want to reconsider. PEER REVIEW QUESTIONS Examples include: • What exactly is included? • Which cost may be missing? • What part of the offer is difficult to understand? • What evidence supports the value claim? • Is the difference between the tiers meaningful? • What would you want clarified before buying? The triad format is not designed for businesses to agree on prices. COMPETITOR & PRICING BOUNDARIES Participants should continue to make pricing decisions independently. Where practical, the organizer may separate businesses that appear to be direct competitors. The workshop does not encourage participants to: • Agree on current or future prices • Coordinate price increases • Set a minimum industry price • Divide customers or markets • Coordinate bids • Exchange competitively sensitive future pricing plans You may use rounded, hypothetical, anonymized, or private numbers where appropriate. You are never required to tell another participant your exact current or future price. CHOOSE YOUR TEST PRICE PRIVATELY After the triad, return to your own worksheet. Ask: What do I want to test? That may mean: • No change • A different price • A price range • A narrower scope • A different package structure • Gathering more evidence before changing anything The workshop does not require every attendee to raise prices. CLIENT PRICE-CONVERSATION SCRIPT Before leaving, write a short working script. CONTEXT What is changing? PRICE What price are you prepared to state? SCOPE What does that price include? EFFECTIVE DATE When will the change apply? OPTION If appropriate, is there a smaller-scope alternative? A working structure might be: “Beginning [date], my price for this scope will be $____. That scope includes ____. If you need to remain within the previous budget, we can discuss a reduced scope.” Adapt the language to your actual business situation.