Should my pricing be public 2.0

Last week you may remember I shared some of the links to my blog that I found in the Great Relinking 2024... it's now a thing.

Well, one of those was my popular blog, Should my pricing be public?

Within this blog I explored the pros and cons of the public pricing process:

Pro: You can quickly weed out the ones who absolutely cannot afford you

Pro: It’s clear you have nothing to hide

Pro: It’s obvious that your rates are the same, regardless of who the client is (and how cashed up they are)

Con: You’re less likely to communicate as much as you should

Con: It limits opportunities for you to upsell

Con: it allows your sneaky competitors to undercut you

Ultimately I ended up saying it really depended on who you were serving. Because there are pros and cons to both, I suggested that we need to take a little from column A and a little from column B.

Overall, the cons mostly outweighed the pros. The only reason I suggested having a ballpark is to quickly weed out those who absolutely cannot afford you. Apart from that, having them work for your prices gives you far more opportunity to communicate and seal the deal.

We want to do everything we can to encourage them to reach out, and keeping your rates private does just that.
It also keeps your competitors guessing….

Well, I have an update… kinda…

So back when I published this blog a few years ago, I had some pretty particular feelings around the publicity of pricing and how clients could access the ticket price of our genius.

*spoiler alert*

I’ve learned a few more things that have helped me form new thoughts about this topic. And rather than ditch the original recipe, I thought I’d simply add the extra nuggets of wisdom to the end of the blog and share it with you here.

Some things should be private…

I still think things like hourly rates and bespoke project pricing should be held a little closer to the chest. For those scenarios, the price will vary and differ greatly when taking into account things like the type of client and the value you’re bringing to the table.

A great way to navigate this process is to have your prices on the other side of an inquiry process like submitting a brief or an opt-in download of a services guide. This way, you’re managing expectations and creating something that accurately reflects the job at hand.

BUT some things should be public.

If you’re someone who offers productised services, VIP days, or creative retainers, having your price readily available for consideration is important in the buying process for the client. They’re looking for solutions to their problem, and they need the answer fast.

Of course, you don’t have to have these prices in big, bold letters across the page, but you can offer some starting from numbers, tiered pricing or have those interested provide their email details to download the price list.

In the end, depending on how you generally communicate with your clients and the process you go through to take them from interested to client, you have to decide what works best for you and your own freelance offerings.

I hope I've given you a little food for thought when it comes to the publicity of your pricing, but also want to remind you that you will always be learning and growing what you know, just like I am.

You can go back and change your mind. It doesn't mean you were wrong, it means you did the best with what you had when you had it, knowing that tomorrow you might gain more.

And isn't that what we're all trying to do?