Why we moved to a transparent pricing strategy: Making scary decisions, Part 3

Around half a year ago, we did something that’s unusual in our industry – we published our pricing online.

On the surface, going against the grain in this way might seem a bit cray-cray, and there was some significant debate internally about whether or not we should do it. But when you break it down, it actually makes sense – after all, transparency is part of our DNA, so why should we make an exception when it comes to our prices?

We want customers to know how much it’ll cost them to work with one of our fireteams for a week. We’ve never differentiated our prices by customer, and publishing cost makes the decision-making process easier for them. They also know that we won’t charge them more just because of their size, start-up status, time-constraints, market gap, funding, or some other feature of their company or situation. What’s more, many of our customers have a high-level idea of how long a project will take, so informing them how much we charge up front means they can easily estimate their overall costs – they know where they stand from the off, which sets a positive, communicative tone for the entire working relationship.

This is all part of our culture of no surprises, and it means that the price won’t be the sticking point that kills an otherwise positive sales process when a customer is deciding who to hire, which would result in wasted time for all everyone involved in the negotiation. Knowing the cost of our services also helps potential customers see the quality and value we offer. It’s quick, upfront, transparent, and easy to understand.

When we first decided to publish this information, it was scary to take the plunge, simply because no one else in our industry does it. But although it’s not common in the consultative and custom development space, we see SaaS companies doing it a lot. And frankly, we can’t think of a good reason to be any different. In fact, it’s strange that this isn’t a more common practice considering how many industries publish their pricing. In any case, it’s been a turning point for us because it shows the world a lot about our true nature.

Looking from our customers’ perspective, it must surely feel great to have this information too. We want them to feel that they’re being charged fairly, and looking back now, we firmly believe we should have done this right from the start. Anyway, we’re happy that we’re doing it now and the results are clear – our customers appreciate our transparent pricing policy and ultimately, that’s what matters.

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Check out the SOUTHWORKS blog for more on how our way of working breeds success – and of course, if you want to check out our pricing, you can view it here.