Your Product and Pricing Strategy

"Your Product and Pricing Strategy" is an essential lesson for shopVOX users aiming to master pricing in the custom sign industry. This workshop emphasizes developing a clear strategy to avoid loss and achieve business goals, focusing on product prioritization, scheduling, and overcoming roadblocks, ensuring consistent profitability.

Your Product and Pricing Strategy: Mastering the Art of Pricing

Welcome to the first lesson in our workshop on perfecting your pricing. Today, we're focusing on creating a robust product and pricing strategy. This foundational lesson is crucial for achieving your business goals and avoiding common frustrations in the sign industry, where projects are often custom and mispricing can lead to significant losses.

Why Pricing Strategy Matters

Pricing your work accurately is challenging but essential for success. Many shop owners inadvertently price too low, leading to unprofitable projects. By leveraging tools like shopVOX, you can systematize your pricing strategy, making your business more scalable and ensuring consistent profits.

What We Won’t Cover

In this workshop, we won't discuss specific pricing for products, material choices, or employee wages. These topics, while important, are best discussed in our group chat. Instead, our focus is on teaching how to develop a pricing strategy, rather than dictating specific prices.

Core Focus Areas

Foundations of pricing
Managing materials, markups, and wastage in shopVOX
Configurable pricing scenarios
Discounts and sales commissions
Order types, categories, and minimum orders

Starting Your Pricing Strategy

To craft an effective product and pricing strategy, start by identifying your product plan. List all products you offer—from banners to vehicle wraps—and prioritize them based on total sales, profit margins, popularity, or personal preference. This clarity will guide your pricing focus.

Scheduling and Commitment

Once your product plan is set, create a schedule for pricing work. Choose specific days and times to focus on this task, whether dedicating a full day weekly, a half day from home, or a few hours daily. Commitment to your schedule is key to reaching your pricing goals.

Overcoming Roadblocks

Challenges are inevitable, but identifying potential roadblocks and planning to address them is essential. Common obstacles often include our own procrastination. Utilize the worksheet to list these challenges and remember, you're not alone—our experts and your peers are here to support you.

Next Steps

Make a copy of our product strategy worksheet available via email or group chat. Complete the worksheet to develop your strategy, then share your document in the group discussion channel, ensuring proper permissions for feedback. Collaboration is key to perfecting your pricing strategies.

Remember, we're here to support each other in this journey. Let's work together to make the most of this workshop. See you in the next lesson!

Transcripts are automatically generated with AI and may contain errors.

00:00:00Speaker 0: Hey there, shopVOX users. Welcome to our workshop perfecting your pricing. Today, we'll be focusing on the first lesson,

00:00:08Speaker 0: your product and pricing strategy.

00:00:10Speaker 0: I'm super glad that you're here because having a solid plan is crucial to achieving your goals and avoiding frustration.

00:00:17Speaker 0: Before we jump in though, let's remind ourselves why we're here in this workshop.

00:00:22Speaker 0: Pricing your work can be super difficult and frustrating at times, but it is critical to your success in the sign industry because projects are

00:00:32Speaker 0: mostly custom. You really have to nail your pricing or you're gonna end up doing a lot of jobs at a loss.

00:00:38Speaker 0: And in fact, I've worked with a lot of shop owners over the years who price their selves way too low.

00:00:45Speaker 0: So at some point, you turn to shopVOX to help you with your pricing

00:00:49Speaker 0: and

00:00:50Speaker 0: you probably realize it's a great tool for growing and systemizing your business. I'm sure you have some frustrations with it, but you have experienced a lot of frustration in setting it up and really dialing it in so your pricing can be trusted inside shopVOX.

00:01:05Speaker 0: Trusted to have others on your team handle quoting jobs,

00:01:09Speaker 0: trusted to produce profits for you consistently.

00:01:12Speaker 0: So we're here to get there together.

00:01:16Speaker 0: So before we dive into the lesson, let's cover a few things of

00:01:20Speaker 0: what we actually won't cover

00:01:23Speaker 0: inside perfecting your pricing.

00:01:28Speaker 0: We won't cover exactly how much to charge for blank.

00:01:33Speaker 0: We won't cover what materials to use for which products.

00:01:36Speaker 0: We won't cover how much to pay your employees.

00:01:39Speaker 0: And I I just wanna note that these are all fine topics and you're super welcome to discuss them in our group chat.

00:01:47Speaker 0: But that's not the point. We want to teach you how to price,

00:01:51Speaker 0: not give you the price.

00:01:53Speaker 0: So with that in mind, here's what we will cover during perfecting your pricing. We'll cover the foundations of pricing, how to properly manage your materials,

00:02:03Speaker 0: their markups and wastage inside shopVOX,

00:02:06Speaker 0: how to create configurable

00:02:08Speaker 0: pricing scenarios,

00:02:10Speaker 0: how to do discounts,

00:02:12Speaker 0: sales commissions,

00:02:14Speaker 0: types and categories,

00:02:15Speaker 0: minimum orders, and much much more.

00:02:18Speaker 0: With that, let's get into the lesson content for today, creating a clear product and pricing strategy.

00:02:25Speaker 0: So one of my kids had to do a project on Christopher Columbus recently

00:02:30Speaker 0: and I'm sure you already know that story.

00:02:32Speaker 0: But originally,

00:02:34Speaker 0: he set out to find a newer, faster trade route to Asia.

00:02:38Speaker 0: And instead, he found himself a whole new continent full of wealth, riches,

00:02:43Speaker 0: whatever.

00:02:44Speaker 0: Sounds great.

00:02:46Speaker 0: I I we hold him up as a hero.

00:02:49Speaker 0: And as long as you're having good intentions,

00:02:51Speaker 0: it seems like you'll do well. But,

00:02:54Speaker 0: I say all of this, this misguided story here, to

00:02:58Speaker 0: tell you that unlike Columbus,

00:03:00Speaker 0: we cannot afford to go off course

00:03:02Speaker 0: and hope to stumble on unexpected

00:03:05Speaker 0: riches. If we don't price our work correctly, there's no hidden treasure waiting for us.

00:03:10Speaker 0: Instead, we're gonna find ourselves lost, frustrated,

00:03:13Speaker 0: and unable to reach our business goals. So by developing a clear

00:03:18Speaker 0: product and pricing strategy,

00:03:20Speaker 0: we can ensure that we stay on track and reach our desired destination

00:03:25Speaker 0: which is a thriving

00:03:26Speaker 0: and profitable sign business.

00:03:29Speaker 0: So we have a quick worksheet

00:03:32Speaker 0: that will guide you through identifying your product plan, setting up a schedule,

00:03:36Speaker 0: and recognizing potential roadblocks.

00:03:39Speaker 0: Once you've completed the worksheet,

00:03:40Speaker 0: you'll have a road map to guide you through perfecting your pricing.

00:03:44Speaker 0: First, let's talk about your product plan.

00:03:47Speaker 0: We want you to list all the products that you sell, whether it's a banner, vehicle wraps, channel letters, or something

00:03:54Speaker 0: else that's unique to your business.

00:03:56Speaker 0: Then you will prioritize

00:03:58Speaker 0: these products based on their importance to your business.

00:04:02Speaker 0: There's a couple different methods you could use. It could be by total sales, profit margins, popularity,

00:04:08Speaker 0: or even your personal preferences.

00:04:10Speaker 0: By doing this, you'll have a clear idea

00:04:12Speaker 0: of which products to focus on when developing your pricing strategy.

00:04:17Speaker 0: Alright. Onto our schedule.

00:04:20Speaker 0: Now that you have your product plan, let's create the schedule.

00:04:23Speaker 0: Decide when you'll dedicate time to work on your products and pricing. Be specific and choose days and times and block that off in your calendar.

00:04:33Speaker 0: I've seen lots of folks do this many different ways. The more successful folks that I've worked with,

00:04:40Speaker 0: you could batch this by

00:04:42Speaker 0: working a whole day once per week or a half day from home, or you can dedicate

00:04:47Speaker 0: one to two hours every single day. Whatever works best for you. Those are the two methods that I've seen work best,

00:04:55Speaker 0: in general. But by setting a schedule, you'll ensure that you stay committed

00:04:59Speaker 0: to reaching

00:05:01Speaker 0: your goals.

00:05:03Speaker 0: Finally,

00:05:04Speaker 0: let's talk about roadblocks.

00:05:05Speaker 0: We all face challenges that could derail our progress.

00:05:09Speaker 0: To overcome them, it's essential that you identify these roadblocks and have a plan in place to address them. In the worksheet,

00:05:17Speaker 0: we ask you to list potential obstacles that might get in the way of your pricing efforts.

00:05:22Speaker 0: And let's be honest, lot of times it's ourselves that are getting in the way. And I just want you to remember that our experts and your peers are here to help you stay accountable,

00:05:31Speaker 0: which is a a big part of this, and navigate through these challenges. So don't hesitate to share your thoughts with the group.

00:05:39Speaker 0: Alright. So that is it for this lesson on product and pricing strategy.

00:05:44Speaker 0: Your next steps are

00:05:46Speaker 0: make a copy of our product strategy worksheet,

00:05:49Speaker 0: which you can find in the email or in our group chat.

00:05:53Speaker 0: Fill out the worksheet by answering the questions and putting together your product and pricing strategy.

00:06:00Speaker 0: Next, you'll share your strategy doc within the group discussion channel

00:06:05Speaker 0: and make sure that you set the permissions

00:06:08Speaker 0: to at least commenter or or read so that everybody can see that document.

00:06:14Speaker 0: And remember, we're all here to support each other in perfecting our pricing strategies. So don't be shy. Let's work together and make the most out of this workshop.

00:06:23Speaker 0: Thanks.

00:06:24Speaker 0: I'll see you in the next lesson.

Next Lesson

Calculating Your Shop Rate

In this insightful lesson, Brian delves into the intricacies of calculating your shop rate, moving beyond the simplistic square foot pricing to a more precise and profit-oriented approach. Through engaging storytelling and practical examples, he illustrates the importance of understanding your true costs and leveraging tools like a shop rate calculator to ensure profitability in the sign and graphics industry.

Your Product and Pricing Strategy