This is a complete post from John Dodds entitled “Pitching Your Price”:
“The cake stall In Borough Market was laden with goodies and my eyes were drawn to the succulent chocolate brownies – and then to the price. £1.50. Not cheap.
But wait – with two words the vendor totally changed my reaction to the price. For these brownies were not £1.50 each. These brownies were £1.50 per indulgence.”
John’s short story illustrates two aspects of business:
- Making a service memorable and,
- Earning a premium price.
Brilliant.
The words per indulgence change the usual exchange of “X money” for a square of chocolate, into an exchange of “X+ money” for satisfaction. The cake seller is saying “pay me an amount and you’ll be satisfied.” Of course the price is high, but you’re not limited to a square either. PLUS, the word indulgence has a powerful ring to it too – marketing at it’s best.
What about you,? Could this work for a musician? Is there a way you can charge for satisfaction instead of your product/service? As I wrote in Pricing the Value of Your Music, “the difference between success and failure will be measured by your ability to deliver beyond everyone else in ways outside of music.” So, what if you didn’t charge per song download? What if you charged for 30 minutes of downloads either by the length of the music or the time spent online with access to your catalog?
What about live? Ozzy did it with this year’s Ozzfest, could you? He got sponsors, but chances are you’re already doing this if you ever play a gig for free but sell your swag. Could you go one step further and package stuff into a bundle as part of the ticket. Ya know, sell an indulgence instead of a performance?
I’ll bet you can.
