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Transparent pricing strategy: the basis for real collaboration

For marketing service providers it is becoming more and more important to lay the groundwork for a successful customer relationship as early as the order and price negotiations. With these tips you can work well together.

The agency landscape and the requirements of the commissioning companies are subject to constant change – not least due to increasing digitalization and current circumstances such as the ongoing pandemic. The timing of the projects is getting faster and the budget is being questioned by customers far more often than before.

The issue of transparency – more precisely: the right, transparent pricing strategy – is therefore becoming an increasingly relevant criterion. Because: Transparency in the pricing of marketing services is one of the most important levers for sustainable, trusting customer relationships – especially in digital disciplines such as online marketing or e-commerce.

The pricing strategy must make the benefits tangible

What is the most common reason for contract negotiations and ultimately business relationships to fail? With the money, of course – or better: with non-transparent offers and billing models. Nowhere is this more true than with highly complex digital topics. Agencies should therefore clearly communicate to their customers from the outset that the point is not to sell time or hourly or daily rates. Rather, the service offered and actually provided must have a clear, reliable and comprehensible value. This is ensured by the fact that the customer and agency jointly agree on firmly agreed, time-limited overall projects – including defined services, agreed goals, project durations and an associated, fixed price.

The focus is not on the time sold, but on the know-how of the service provider with which he fulfills the defined customer goals. It is the same for both sides how many hours there are. If the agency works efficiently and successfully, this is an advantage for itself, from which the customers also benefit. You can quickly see the successes and know that the agency in the background will provide the agreed services for the specified duration of the project and keep an eye on the common goal.

How the project is subsequently settled can be flexibly agreed – depending on the customer’s wishes. For example, a monthly installment or a monthly installment can be considered – more traditional. Or both sides agree on a one-off payment or a โ€œ50 percent in advance, 50 percent halfway through the project periodโ€ solution. Everything is possible.

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Transparent communication is essential

But how exactly do you come up with such offers and strategies? The following situation should clarify the whole thing: A customer contacts her agency with the order to set up an e-shop for her new product. So far so good. The task is clear. The briefing on the functionalities, the design and the technology as well. But: Marketing decision-makers often only see this specific measure because they need it in the current situation. It is often forgotten what goes with it so that the planned platform actually achieves what it is supposed to – sell.

The agency could now simply carry out the order and create the technically and creatively best and most beautiful digital sales room for the customer that has ever existed. She’ll be delighted – but only for the time being. Because the hoped-for result will not materialize, the expected turnover will fall short of expectations. Why? Because nobody can find the shop on the net, because the accompanying marketing or branding was not thought of. And that means that the customer relationship will collapse in the medium term.

The agency’s goal must therefore be different. The client should: not want to sell in a shop – i.e. an individual measure – but discuss and analyze with them what they want to achieve in concrete terms, why this is relevant for them and how exactly the expectations can be met.

The first step is to define concrete goals and expectations in joint discussions and workshops with all relevant decision-makers – buyers, marketing and sales managers, etc. This could be something like: “We want to generate 15 million euros in sales with a new product in the first year.” Only then can tailor-made strategies and measures be agreed and operationalized in the context of binding, targeted offers, the final prices of which are based on the forecast sales targets . This can then be a shop – but it doesn’t have to be. Sales platforms, apps, digital brand campaigns or a combination of everything are also conceivable.

Under certain circumstances this can be more expensive than the originally planned order. Ultimately, however, the customer has more of it. Put quite rationally: With a higher investment, you can plan with concrete, comprehensive sales for the new product.

Such a pricing approach, however, requires openness, an exchange on an equal footing, the will for transparent cooperation and, last but not least, trust on both sides. In the end, however, success is almost guaranteed because the client: receives a comprehensible, binding estimate of the project costs, which is set in relation to clearly defined sales targets. Then nothing stands in the way of a sustainable, quality-oriented and appreciative cooperation.

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